Ruth Carr

Teething problems

Having left the embrace of VSO I "shifted" into my flat at the weekend.  And as the estate agents might or might not say...

The flat offers ample accommodation including a lounge, kitchen, bathroom and bedrooms for each of two tenants. This stunning property includes a lady who cleans (general), a lad who cleans (toilet), a whistle-blowing security guard (active throughout night) and a karaoke singing mother-of-landlord (downstairs).

The scope for development makes this an attractive proposition and particular attention should be brought to the following features:-

1. intermittent running water (or by turn, ironically, flood water),
2. running hot water in the toilet (but not the shower),
3. no working air conditioning in one bedroom (mine),
4. an odd cockroach,
5. a fridge which freezes all contents (use of frozen aubergine as missile may provide solution to number 4., see above).

Oh how we laugh!  No, really, we do laugh.  There's nothing that can't be fixed and after all it's all part of what we came for. We think that by the time we've gone through the list we'll have the ultimate des-res and understand just a little bit more about India.

Lunchtime in Delhi

I've arrived in India, or rather into the hands of VSO India.  I think that there is a fair amount of babysitting for the newbies and we won't know that we've really arrived until we get out there on our own.

We are being fed, watered, dropped off and picked up.  And being fed in the most wonderful way.  They have a Cook here in the office and when it comes to lunchtime everyone gathers in the board room (there must be about a dozen of us) and we all have a hot meal together.  It's not like a canteen, it's like a family meal.  People talk about what they've done and what they've got to do, about their weekends and evenings, about whether yoga can get rid of a double chin.

It's a contrast to sitting at the desk with a soggy sandwich between meetings.  But then in the UK we don't seem that keen on having family meals at home either.  When I left they were running a dreadful gravy advert which showed families pledging to spend at least one evening a week eating together.  Well I don't think that would happen here

I have probably been in smarter boardrooms but I have to say that the pleasure of a shared "family" meal beats any office lunch that I've had in the UK.

Ready for off...?

Well tomorrow is the D Day (Delhi Day) and it's hard to know whether I'm ready or not. Everything that I can think of has been organised to within an inch of its life but surely there must be so much more that I haven't thought of. 

When people ask me questions I realise the gaps. Where will you be staying? (Not sure). What will you be working on? (I'll find out the detail during my induction). Is someone meeting you at the airport? (I hope so).

But I should have a lot of the answers by the end of the week and it's time to get out there and get on with it.