Week 8. Has it really been that long? I’ve been living in India for 2 months. In some ways I feel ingratiated into the way of life here and in others I still feel like a fish out of water… a very white fish. Candolim, where I have my apartment, is a very touristy area teeming with white people, but Santa Cruz, where I stay and work during the week only has one white person – me. On Saturday I was walking from the volunteers apartment to the boys home (a hot 20 minute walk) when someone pulled up next to me on their bike and asked if I wanted a lift. It was Raj from church and he had recognised me from the back of my white head!
So this was a week of wonderful things! I’ll start off with the trivial and end off with the momentous.
Everyone knows I love good movies – movies that communicate deeper ideas and concepts and leave you contemplating for weeks after the credits roll. This week I watched 2 movies that I would easily put in my top 15. Call Me By Your Name is a profoundly human movie that took me by surprise. It has one of the greatest final shots in film history – a shot that doesn’t cut away but just sits and keeps going until you feel like a mirror is being held up to your most personal heartbreak. The other movie is a loose adaptation of one of my favourite science-fiction novels Annihilation. It’s an unsettling movie, just as the book is unsettling, with its mutations and themes of grief, depression and being broken down into something else, but for anyone who likes depth to their films, this one is a must-see.
For the past month or so I’ve wanted to bring back some Hindi songs into the Sunday morning song lists at church. Since I’ve arrived, the songs have been almost exclusively in English and it’s important and encouraging to people to sing songs in their native language. It’s not my native language though, so it’s taken me a while to get my mouth around the new ways of producing consonants. The t’s are less sibilant, the r’s roll, the v’s and w’s are one and the same. Then there are the vowels which all have the capability or being nasalised and possible producing a new word. Just last week I went to say “main khush nahin hoon” (I am not happy) but my mouth instead produced the sound “main khuch nahin hoon” which means ‘I am not something’. And yesterday in church I led a song completely in Hindi (the thoroughly embarrassing video can bee seen here). It was a milestone moment for me and fortunately went well enough for the congregation to be with me all the way (although I’m not entirely certain of this as my eyes were shut out of terror and concentration). I also preached in church yesterday. Another milestone moment.
The biggest moment of last week, however, was the opening of a new extension onto the junior boys home here at BLC. All the children from BLC were there in their best clothes, plus dignitaries, construction heads and guests and friends of the project. There was a ribbon cutting, food, music and celebration. Dignitaries tested the patience of their juvenile audience in the speeches while letting the microphone slip down to their bellies. I had another flirtatious advance from another Indian woman. It was a jubilant, colourful and wonderfully Indian success. I smiled from beginning to end.
The new renovation extends the first floor dormitory and the second floor classroom as well as providing a brand new set of washrooms on the ground outside. It’s a big step and a landmark occasion for this amazing charity and its incredible owners Martin and Beena.
Sidenotes:
- It’s exam period at the moment and I’ve been helping the senior boys with their revision. This week they were prepping for the subject ‘Cooperative Studies’ – urban cooperative consumer societies, federations, trading. Helping them with this was like the blind leading someone with 20/20 vision.
- This blog entry is not a begging bowl, however, if you feel compelled to give, you can do so via this JustGiving link or send an email to hello@willadammusic.com and I can provide my UK bank details.
- I’ve written a 7th song, an extract from which can be heard here.
- My brother was also preaching in his church this Sunday. My mum was very proud. I’m by no means a preacher or trained communicator but I know what I want to talk about and from then it’s just about confidence.
0 Comments