Well, it was a short trip, but I am back safely from Mysore! Kristen, Navee, Maddy, Kasie, Matt and I were up bright and early yesterday (Friday) morning to meet the car that was supposed to take us to Mysore at 6am. Professor Moledina arranged this trip, so unfortunately, there was a miscommunication- we thought we were leaving at 6am, but the driver thought it was 7am. Whoops. So after we waited outside for an hour, we met our driver who loaded up our bags and helped us pile into the car. We began driving, and then we actually had to switch cars on the outskirts of Bangalore. When we met our new driver and began driving, we didn't go very far before our driver stopped and bought flowers to offer to Ganesh, the Indian god whose figurine was residing on the dashboard- Ganesh is the god of travel (among other things)- so this was quite suitable as we headed out of Bangalore. About an hour out of town we stopped at a kamat for breakfast. The place was an open air restaurant where we all had a good breakfast and were lucky enough to see several monkeys while we ate. Two of the monkeys even had babies clinging to their stomachs- they were adorable until one of the moms hissed at us a little- then we quickly went on our way.
We drove on for a little while, seeing the beautiful countryside the whole way. I hadn't been out of Bangalore until yesterday, so it was nice to see some open spaces and hills. At about 1pm we reached the Swami Vivekananda Youth Movement (SVYM) Tribal School. This school is a rural center that is only for the tribal children of the area. The residential school is free for students and families, although they do accept donations as families can afford it, and there are about 400 students that are from the 1st standard to the 10th standard. We toured the school facilities- it is a very impressive campus. There are open air classrooms for the first few grades, and then there are enclosed classrooms for the upper grades. There are biology and chemistry labs, a computer lab, a library, and they also learn Kannada, Hindi, English, math, social sciences, and drawing. The students are expected to be self-sufficient: they do their academic work, clean their rooms, take care of their own dishes after meal times, etc. Our tour was lovely, but at one point, some children- I believe they were 2nd standard- waved us into their classroom, so with their teacher's permission, we walked in. I still can't quite pinpoint why, but I felt extraordinarily awkward, out of place, and like we were imposing the second we walked in. I had my camera, but it seemed unthinkable to take photos of the kids. I didn't feel like I should be there, it seemed that we were doing more than disturbing their lesson, it seemed undeniably strange that we were touring these children's lives; that we were observing them and their environment and then just driving off in our air-conditioned car to our next stop. Don't get me wrong, the facility was wonderful, as were the children. All the kids clearly knew a little English, they all asked, "What is your name?" and when I told them Sam, I would ask them their name and they would shyly say a name that I could never hope to remember, which made me feel extremely guilty. I don't know, something about walking into the classroom made me question our purpose there and the place we had there, if we had any place at all.
Before we left the campus, we also toured the teachers training college that is on the same grounds, and they were kind enough to serve us lunch. After we thanked our hosts, we got back into the car and drove just a few kms to our next stop- the SVYM Ayurvedic Hospital. It is a small hospital in the same rural area as the tribal school, which also works mostly with the tribal populations. They don't only do ayurvedic treatments, however, they take a holistic approach to treating all ailments, and their treatments usually include western medicine, ayurvedic medicines, and yoga. It was a very neat facility to see, although we had a short visit.
Then we headed out of that more removed rural area and headed to the larger SVYM hospital. We had a tour there that took us through every ward of the hospital- certainly something that would never fly in the states. We walked through the mens and womens wards, the labor and delivery room, the dentistry ward, the lab, etc. On the same campus there is also a school, which we saw one wing of. After we finished our tour, we were about to walk back to the car when someone came out and asked us if we would like to meet the CEO of SVYM. We said of course, and so she showed us upstairs where we waited for a few minutes. We were then called in to Dr. Bala's (the CEO's) office, and although we were expecting to just shake his hand and leave, we sat for a good 15 minutes or so discussing our day touring the SVYM facilities and what work we are doing in Bangalore. It was a great opportunity to meet someone involved in a prominent social enterprise.
After we thanked Dr. Bala, we got back in the car and drove into Mysore city to spend the night in the SVYM hostel. When we arrived at the hostel it was about 8:30pm, so we immediately went down and had dinner. After dinner, we were all pretty tired because we had gotten up so early, so I went to bed at about 10:15.
After sleeping very well on the hardest mattress I've ever slept on (it made a thudding noise when I sat down on it), we all woke up this morning, had breakfast, and were on the road by about 9am. We decided that with our free morning we wanted to go to Mysore Palace, but along the way, our driver pointed out a Catholic church, Saint Philomena's, so we stopped there on our way. It was a beautiful church that we were able to look through quickly and then get back on the road to the Palace. We had about an hour to tour the Palace, which was absolutely incredible. It used to be the home of the King of Mysore, and it was built right around 1900. The grounds are beautiful and covered with gardens (and a few extraordinary trees which provided some much appreciated shade), and the Palace itself was exquisite. I'll post pictures later, any description I give won't do it justice.
After the Palace visit, we all stopped for a quick lunch, and then we dropped off Kristen, Maddy, Navee and Kasie at the Mysore bus station because they are heading off to Ooty for the rest of the weekend. Because of the wedding that my group was invited to, I had to come back to Bangalore this afternoon, and so did Matt because he has some work to catch up on. We had a pleasant ride back to Bangalore, and after long last, it finally started raining here! The monsoons are now more than two weeks late, and a lot of people were getting worried because without rain, obviously the agricultural areas would struggle. Now I am settled back into the apartments for the evening and will be heading out tomorrow to pick up my sari (hopefully!) and have a nice quiet day in Bangalore!
We drove on for a little while, seeing the beautiful countryside the whole way. I hadn't been out of Bangalore until yesterday, so it was nice to see some open spaces and hills. At about 1pm we reached the Swami Vivekananda Youth Movement (SVYM) Tribal School. This school is a rural center that is only for the tribal children of the area. The residential school is free for students and families, although they do accept donations as families can afford it, and there are about 400 students that are from the 1st standard to the 10th standard. We toured the school facilities- it is a very impressive campus. There are open air classrooms for the first few grades, and then there are enclosed classrooms for the upper grades. There are biology and chemistry labs, a computer lab, a library, and they also learn Kannada, Hindi, English, math, social sciences, and drawing. The students are expected to be self-sufficient: they do their academic work, clean their rooms, take care of their own dishes after meal times, etc. Our tour was lovely, but at one point, some children- I believe they were 2nd standard- waved us into their classroom, so with their teacher's permission, we walked in. I still can't quite pinpoint why, but I felt extraordinarily awkward, out of place, and like we were imposing the second we walked in. I had my camera, but it seemed unthinkable to take photos of the kids. I didn't feel like I should be there, it seemed that we were doing more than disturbing their lesson, it seemed undeniably strange that we were touring these children's lives; that we were observing them and their environment and then just driving off in our air-conditioned car to our next stop. Don't get me wrong, the facility was wonderful, as were the children. All the kids clearly knew a little English, they all asked, "What is your name?" and when I told them Sam, I would ask them their name and they would shyly say a name that I could never hope to remember, which made me feel extremely guilty. I don't know, something about walking into the classroom made me question our purpose there and the place we had there, if we had any place at all.
Before we left the campus, we also toured the teachers training college that is on the same grounds, and they were kind enough to serve us lunch. After we thanked our hosts, we got back into the car and drove just a few kms to our next stop- the SVYM Ayurvedic Hospital. It is a small hospital in the same rural area as the tribal school, which also works mostly with the tribal populations. They don't only do ayurvedic treatments, however, they take a holistic approach to treating all ailments, and their treatments usually include western medicine, ayurvedic medicines, and yoga. It was a very neat facility to see, although we had a short visit.
Then we headed out of that more removed rural area and headed to the larger SVYM hospital. We had a tour there that took us through every ward of the hospital- certainly something that would never fly in the states. We walked through the mens and womens wards, the labor and delivery room, the dentistry ward, the lab, etc. On the same campus there is also a school, which we saw one wing of. After we finished our tour, we were about to walk back to the car when someone came out and asked us if we would like to meet the CEO of SVYM. We said of course, and so she showed us upstairs where we waited for a few minutes. We were then called in to Dr. Bala's (the CEO's) office, and although we were expecting to just shake his hand and leave, we sat for a good 15 minutes or so discussing our day touring the SVYM facilities and what work we are doing in Bangalore. It was a great opportunity to meet someone involved in a prominent social enterprise.
After we thanked Dr. Bala, we got back in the car and drove into Mysore city to spend the night in the SVYM hostel. When we arrived at the hostel it was about 8:30pm, so we immediately went down and had dinner. After dinner, we were all pretty tired because we had gotten up so early, so I went to bed at about 10:15.
After sleeping very well on the hardest mattress I've ever slept on (it made a thudding noise when I sat down on it), we all woke up this morning, had breakfast, and were on the road by about 9am. We decided that with our free morning we wanted to go to Mysore Palace, but along the way, our driver pointed out a Catholic church, Saint Philomena's, so we stopped there on our way. It was a beautiful church that we were able to look through quickly and then get back on the road to the Palace. We had about an hour to tour the Palace, which was absolutely incredible. It used to be the home of the King of Mysore, and it was built right around 1900. The grounds are beautiful and covered with gardens (and a few extraordinary trees which provided some much appreciated shade), and the Palace itself was exquisite. I'll post pictures later, any description I give won't do it justice.
After the Palace visit, we all stopped for a quick lunch, and then we dropped off Kristen, Maddy, Navee and Kasie at the Mysore bus station because they are heading off to Ooty for the rest of the weekend. Because of the wedding that my group was invited to, I had to come back to Bangalore this afternoon, and so did Matt because he has some work to catch up on. We had a pleasant ride back to Bangalore, and after long last, it finally started raining here! The monsoons are now more than two weeks late, and a lot of people were getting worried because without rain, obviously the agricultural areas would struggle. Now I am settled back into the apartments for the evening and will be heading out tomorrow to pick up my sari (hopefully!) and have a nice quiet day in Bangalore!
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