One Step Beyond

My first 1,5 week of internship have already passed. It has been a week of ups and downs, really. And not just that one day was good and another bad, but within the 24 hours of a single day many feelings are being processed in my mind.

The first couple of days were sort of awkward. That of course was to be expected, as I did not (and still do not) know the customs and rhythm of this workplace. It turns out that each individual here, at least on the floor I work, basically works alone. Me and another young colleague sit in one room in one corner of the floor. In the middle of the floor there is the general administration desk and then next to us on the other side behind that middle-desk in the other corner of the floor is another room where the staff sits on the floor for the best part of the day, working and discussing. But of us policy-people many also seem to be working from home. Essentially there are therefore no clear office hours, nor seems there to be a structured general meeting of some sorts where everyone comes together.
This is obviously quite different from the office culture in Holland where there would be frequent meetings amongst people from the same or different departments; or people would have lunch together. The latter does happen, but then the people who work together also have lunch together, so there seems to be fairly little communication between the different departments.

I have felt a bit out of place the last couple of days. It turns out that many people do not (wish to) speak English, which makes it rather hard to chit-chat and just get to know people. Even worse, I think, is that they do not even say hi whenever they come in ‘my’ office space. This felt rather weird in the first week, but now, on Wednesday of week 2, I am kind of forcing myself upon people. Hopefully they will realize somehow that I am not scary or anything. At least I have accomplished already that a group of younger girls ask me to join them for lunch. Not that I partake a lot in their conversations – which are in Telugu – but that doesn’t matter much at this point. If there is something to talk about then that will probably automatically happen.. at some point.

Unfortunately I appear to be less able to cope with the many big and/or small unpleasantries of India up to now. I do not wish to complain - I am the one who chose to go here in the first place – but not having electricity or a reliable internet connection seem to entirely obstruct my working rhythm. Adaptation is key, but adaptation is hard also. And it is not that I can do nothing when the power is out. I could instead of working behind the computer read up on handlooming in one of the many books that are standing here In our own little library, or I could go to the ground floor of the office building to sit with the weavers and see how the weaving goes in practice. But I am still in the modus of wanting to finish one thing before starting too many other (small) tasks. That, to me, seems the most effective way of working. But that does not seem to be the normal way of working here. And that difference in attitude almost made me homesick the other day.

Oh, and one other final Major Annoyance: the men on the street who just piss, spit and throw away garbage wherever they like. Can you imagine the smell in most places beside the road? … yeah, I thought so.
But there are of course also many beautiful things about India. Somehow the children who go to school seem so kind, interested and innocent. They seem cheerful. Which is quite a stark contrast to many other people you see on the streets. And every now and then there is the sweet smell of incence or of jasmin in the street, or of a busy street vendor who apparently sells some good stuff. Who could ever not like those smells?! This very morning I had second breakfast on the roadside at one of those street vendors: a dosa (sort of crepe) with some veggy-uniony spoon of filling and some cheesy sort of sauce. Really quite nice!

Other happy news of today: I paid our electricity bill. This goes as follows: you get a bill from the apartment guard at the parking lot of our building. Then you gather money and go to the office of the Water and Sewage Board of the city, which in our case happens to be a couple of streets away. Then you find your way in that complex, take a number and wait to pay. Once done you you’ll get a receipt and are urged to leave as quickly as possible. Quite an experience! :P Me and my flatmates had no clue what to do with that bill, but after some asking around we finally managed to at least mark that one as ‘finished’ on the to-do list. Left on that list are: making use we get new drinking water, increase our internet data bundle and/or change internet provider, and pay the other bills of water and internet (so be expected sometime soon). Also I am trying to find out how to get a USB-datacard of my own so that I can use that as internet provider when the power is out once again.

More happy news:
- I got used to my hard bed
- I got used to showering without a shower but instead a bucket of water.
- I no longer seem to have belly trouble
- I know how to take the bus to/from the store
- I bought a new set of clothes at our store, and a very first present for my sister ^^

hmm.. so those are some of the daily concerns over here. Last Sunday, in order to also do something nice other than working, me and my flatmates went like real tourists to the tombs of the Qutb Shahi dynasty and the adjacent Golconda Fort on the other side of Hyderabad. The distance from our apartment to there was about 17km and took us about 45 minutes in a cab in the crazy traffic of India to get there, and everything along our route was city. So, yeah, Hyderabad is pretty big. But it would have taken us at least an hour if we would have taken a bus; and the busses are not exactly like the Connexxion or Veolia busses back home.. ;)
But the park that surrounded the tombs was great. It was spacious, green, and best of all: there was no noise. Such tranquility none of us had experienced in a long time already, so we were all kind of happy about going to that place. There were also quite some families who went there with loads of food and just hava a picknick. After that we walked to the Golconda fort, about 2 kms further down the busy and broken road. It wasn’t exactly a really pleasurable walk but we got there and then climbed up further on the hill to the actual fort. It was hot, so I was sweating like crazy, but on top we watched part of the sunset and enjoyed the wide view. But as I had not seen any lights on the path uphill I also figured it would be best to be down again before the sun had really gone down and we would have to climb down without proper light. That could potentially kill a man.
The sound and light show, finally, was by itself slightly disappointing. Highlight was maybe even the small fire that broke out below a wooden frame… but that was somehow discretely put out and no-one even talked about it. We went home with another cab, which was nice and comfy and well worth the money. And then, after that one day of no work, the new week already began. I guess I have to get used to that one-day-weekend, too.

But this message has already become longer than I’d hoped. Photo’s can be found on facebook. I am happy that I could add some more colours to the spectrum there :) It makes life just a little more pleasant.
I hope you had fun reading my babbling. There will probably be more sometime soon.