5. first stop, Udaipur.

MOU's and DO's and jargon which I can't make head or tail of.

Reviews, agendas, debriefs and meetings all through the day. 

Where am I? 

I've landed, on my first day in the organisation, in it's bi-annual review and agenda-setting process! 

Articulation of goals, inputs to achieve outcomes and constantly being aware of our emotions is what this process is about. 

Geographically I'm bunking at the Oriental Palace Resorts in Udaipur, a hotel just minutes from the station. Almost all of it has been booked for the team. We're occupying the passages, the lawns, the foyers, the restaurant and basically, any available space has been given a functional use.  It matters not that the temperature is soaring, or that our outdoor exhibit on last year's academic progress was almost soaked in the sudden drizzle. It's information overload for me, but it's also great fun. 

So, the review process was on the 10th, 11th and 12th, after which we had Sunday off, to explore Udaipur. 

Grabbing the opportunity, I took to the streets and conversed with locals, attempting to feel the pulse of the city in a day. I haggled with the auto-driver and got a decent cut to the Lake Palace. Sure that I didn't want to risk my back, I decided not to enter the Palace through it's never-ending staircases and in stead moved around it. 

Crazy wires, Street downhill from the entrance of the Palace.

Lazily roaming the streets, giving the crowded areas a miss, I wandered into tiny shops selling the best Linen pants I've seen! Comfy, soft and perfect for summer, these pants were picked up by several people from my team, as I later got to know.


Almost every wall, on the way to the palace from any direction, has the most beautiful wall-art. The paintings have a royal theme and depict the lives of the Maharajas and their subjects. Local attire, tradition, rituals and even food are themes that are inter-woven with the palace life showcased on these walls. I then followed the paintings! I didn't know where I was going, or what I might be lead to, but I just kept following what I thought was a clear sequence of events until it ended at a broken, dilapidated structure.

last painting to the sequence

Sweaty and exhausted I looked for a place to sit and saw a cut-glass inlay workshop across the street. The rest of the afternoon, I spent with the labourers and artists who were making 60 feet peacocks and 30 feet lotus flowers by cutting bits of coloured glass and embedding them into a plate-like base. I even learnt how to cut the glass without breaking it!


Having built-up a huge appetite, I located a quiet restaurant overlooking the lake and the palace. The restaurant itself seemed like it belonged to a huge, royal family. I ordered white-sauce mushroom pasta and apple strudel with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream for desert. Bliss!
As I watched the birds glide smoothly through the clear summer sky, I knew, that doing all of this alone had been a great idea. I can't imagine myself moving around in a huge group that looks touristy!

As I emerged from the restaurant, I came across a man who was chiseling out an intricate design on a solid, black stone box. I had to buy it :) Makes for an ideal gift to any of my JB teachers!

I made my way back to the hotel just in time to catch the sunset from one of the sprawling back lawns. No one from the team knew about this lawn till the next morning, when their stupid cricket-ball landed right on me! What was I doing there? What I always do when I'm with a group: find myself a nice place to hide. I'd lie on a hotel towel, with my laptop beside me (I use it primarily to blast old, classic hits) and watch the birds fly west, every evening.

Sunset, Oriental Palace Resorts, Subash Nagar, Udaipur. 

It's hot, and I'm tired from all the exploring. Next up, is a strong cold-coffee as I float in the pool. Going now, too tempted! After all, I'm heading to a no-luxury place in three days!!

Adios!

4. the departure

on the way to the station, mom n me.

Mom = emotional,

Dad = hyper.

Porter = rich (carrying stuff for two years) 

Compartment B1, seat number 22 Mumbai-Udaipur.

And what is it that i''m planning to do on the journey to Udaipur? Read the book filled by my teachers the week I was leaving school. And letters written by them to me, in the years that followed.

3. her life, our stories...

Earlier this month, on the 2nd of May, a great soul departed...

She's my reason, my foundation and a positive answer to the question, 'Can anything be eternal?'
What follows, isn't a tribute because tributes are for those who do not make it to the present.

To the woman who I owe my present to: Ms. Shirin F. Darasha. 

What we say, cannot and never will be enough. There are those rare events, or people in life, who you can never describe just because they are eternal in a sense and saying anything, however genuinely expressed, will always be limited. This limitation, however, does not apply to feeling.

"Give me good people, and I'll make them good teachers." - Ms. Darasha

School Hall, Quadrangle.
The old piano in the hall, accompanied our songs:
Little Wooden Head, Inch-worm, Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, All things bright and beautiful, and many more.
My mother remembers playing Saankli on the freshly waxed floor, as a child and I can never forget the times we've got sore throats singing (almost yelling)
Hai! Hai! Hai! Hai! J.B. meri Hai!
The teachers are nice,
they are full of spice,
Come to J.B, Come to J.B
J.B. meri hai!

Quadrangle
Where I learned to win, whether I won or lost the match.
We assembled here to welcome her back, after she'd retired.
What a day that was!

Bulletin board outside the Principal's office.
Trademark J.B. style.

Overhead buttresses, passage
She taught us all that.
How to identify a Doric pillar from an Ionic one,
and which European structures had the most impressive Rosette window

Library steps / Home for Commerce students.
Each tile tells a story. Just listen.
Two years, after I'd passed out, I was still sitting here.
So much so, that I was asked to stop haunting the school  (against popular opinion), by someone who was never quintessential 'J.B.'

Staff-room passage
The light at the end of this passage is but a symbol of their warmth.
By far, the most important people occupied the little room at the end of this narrow passage.
You should know it's my future work-place.

Pen stand, Staff-room
What the mug says: major understatement.
Ever Forward is J.B's motto.
But we imbibed it because it was also her motto.

Low wall, Passage
Used to peek through these holes to see if she'd left her office.
Poke your head out: balcony seats for Basketball matches

The same passage, again.
To my left, the ONLY air-conditioned room (Computer Lab) in school: I always found a reason to be here.
To my right is the 'milky-chai' smelling room, where a helpful peon or maid could always be found.

2nd floor Balcony, Primary Wing, directly facing the Principal's Office.
Stood here to cheer (Jasmine House) for any match I wasn't a part of.

Staircase, Primary Terrace
Our Yoga classes are held here.
These steps are also a hide-out for students who're bunking class.
More importantly, the windows by this staircase  have an amazing view of the Victorian buildings in the vicinity.

The classroom that always got flooded, due to the leaky ceiling.
 Find me a prettier room to learn in than this one, you probably won't be able to.

Black and White close-up of the high wall.
Dead pretty.

Tree outside the window, Classroom
Stole looks at it as often as I could, while I learnt about the Aztecs and Kachina dolls, the decimal point, it's damned existence and the Venn diagrams, the Savannah grasslands and the Pygmies and as I struggled to memorize Mora re Mora!

Main staircase.
The sound of urgent footsteps of several students on this staircase, just before a big match, still brings a smile to my face.
The warm sunbeams on the dark wood make for a pleasant sight, a lovely play of light.

Window, close-up, Main staircase
Saturday afternoons, post Math tuition, were spent sitting right here.

School Bus
I could write the story of my life, by simply narrating incidents that took place in the school bus!
The place to make friends, to play pranks, to sing your heart out, to finish left-over food in your snack box so that your mother doesn't scream at you, to share secrets, to practice balancing skills, to find space away from a broken family, to copy home-work before reaching school, to...

Basketball net.
Location: RIGHT under the Principal's window-sill!
Score! My team didn't beat the opposite team, but I beat my double-vision with a 2-pointer!
The sky always seemed this beautiful.

School-bell. Good friend.
Those friendship bands convey the respect felt for this huge, brass bell as Patil rang it 5 minutes early when your teacher was boring and 5 minutes late when you had a test. (Not)
If you were nice to Patil, he let you ring it. I was always allowed to ring it. :)

Entrance, School building, J.B. Petit High School for Girls, Fort.
First home, first family.
Indebted to you, to her, for life and more.



--------x-------

And these are just some of the many responses that I've read. 

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-05-03/mumbai/31555134_1_sun-shine-students-school-assembly 

http://purnimasampat.wordpress.com/2012/05/02/tribute-to-a-great-educator/ 

http://www.facebook.com/notes/jeena-billimoria/goodbye-ms-darasha-the-soul-of-the-jb-petit-high-school-for-girls/10151034754987178 

http://www.prisonerofagenda.com/obituaries/the_power_of_one.php 

http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=10150274953083247

http://www.facebook.com/groups/307361206004953/

2. jinx of the super-moon

Seriously?
SERIOUSLY!


Yes, I have been watching re-runs of Grey's Anatomy continuously, but that's not what this is about.

I know why this thing has always been stuck on my desk: (see the picture)


I am still in Mumbai! My ticket didn't go through for the second time. I had a V.I.P quota ticket which didn't go through. See! It's the freakin' Super-moon or whatever!


Or maybe, these are all signs. Omens. Bad omens which are trying to get the better of me. It's got to be that, because everything happens for a reason, right? There are no coincidences.


Last year, the minute I decided to join the GF Programme, I crash-landed into bed for four months with a dislocated vertebra in my lower spinal structure. Just when I thought I'm healed and ready to go, the pain re-activated itself in July. Ridiculous as it may sound, despite the spinal injury (which by the way will remain this way for life) and the fact that life in a village (after 22 years in plush little South Mumbai) required a fit self, I held on to the programme. Reason being, that this organisation is perfect for me right now and so I re-applied when that mentor-ish person in my life asked me to.


Degree-less, non-graduate that I was, I gave the interview a second time and Voila! I got offered more than I'd asked for. (Not the money, hold on)! In stead of five schools, they said  I should handle 5 GF's, and 25 schools, minimum. Thus, I visited Rajasthan earlier this year, to give my Program Leader interview and got selected after three days of intensive grilling.


Guess what? My final, Bachelor of Arts, in Literature in English, graduation level exams got scheduled to begin the same date as the reporting date of work, for my new profile in the organisation. As if this was not enough, the Super-moon had to appear on the day my work was finally scheduled to begin. Argh!


Of course, my parents and non-well-wishers have a reason to celebrate. My parents were thrilled to have an extra day and took me out for a happy-dinner. Just imagine! A happy-dinner to celebrate the canned departure of the girl who'll never get to Rajasthan to save the children there, from bad teachers! Bizarre! Further, my neighbours brought hand-churned, home-made ice-cream for me because they don't want me to leave! Seriously? (The ice-cream was good, if I may add. One was Cinnamon-Chocolate and the other was Almond-something. So much for just sitting at home).

So basically, I love the moon, but I don't think it's playing fair!


Moving on, something else happened this week, and it has affected me. It deserves a post by itself, so I'm ending this post here.


Celebrate! For, I'm still in Mumbai! :)

1. a start and a finish.

The Super-moon from my terrace.

So it's time! Finally!


(or rather it was time yesterday, until)...


Beautiful though it is, it's the always the moon. More specifically, it is always the full moon that changes things for me. I clearly remember telling my mother that if I'm supposed to begin my journey on a full moon night, something will go wrong! 
Will you stop rolling your eyes, it's a fact! The moon and I have a complex relationship. And it's no surprise that being the 'Super-moon' night, yesterday was just terrible! Almost lost my not-so-cheap phone (read: gift from dear friend), the elevator stopped working, (there was luggage shifting to do), the Internet had a mood-swing just when I had to check ticket rates and it seriously didn't stop there. 


Anyway, now I'm due to leave Mumbai today by the 7.45pm train to Delhi. Staying at one of my favourite people's places in Delhi. He's the mentor-ish person in my life. Always wanted to walk through Delhi streets and soak in the city's sights. So it's odd that my first visit to the capital will last only 48 hours. On the 9th, I'm taking an overnight train to Udaipur, for the first bunch of formal meetings. FYI: I hate the word 'formal.' And it's followed by the word 'meeting' in its plural form. Feeling the joy? 

Okay, it's not all that bad. I am eager to see how it goes when all of us 'determined' people who wish to 'change the face (sorry, personality) of India' meet to discuss the pros and cons of certain structures in our should-be titled Academic system but wrongly titled 'Education system.' 
In the beginning everyone will probably drop heavy, loaded statements or 'I don't particularly agree' type lines that will form our contexts and then busy ourselves with 'integrated agenda-oriented talk.' But, secretly, we'll all be looking forward to the chai-breaks. Because it is an established fact that well-made adrak ki chai is the key to progress in any meeting. Once the kadak chai has entered our systems, and thawed the ice in our communication, we'll get off the chairs and park ourselves 'informally' on the floor, where the first bits of constructive discussion will take place. For some people, this is the 'judge and categorize the genuine doers or workers from the Fab India* khadi-kurta clad idealists or whatever' stage.


The reason for the the above rambling is my excitement and nervousness. 
With less than three hours to go, I'm in a hurry. The Rubberband planner, Puma shorts, sketch-book, pastels, J.B. sand-tube^ and camera charger among other important things, are all still waiting to be packed!


See you super soon!







__________________________________________
*Disclaimer: No offence meant to the people who shop at Fab India. It's jargon for 'people who get the look right, but contribute minimally to the solution,' in my system.
^J.B. sand-tube: Just wait for the next post! :)