Ode to a Mumbai Train

First of all, I must apologise to a few people. I did actually quite enjoy my train ride, so please don’t think I’m having a go. Anything mildly offensive to the city loyalists should not be deemed derogatory, but rather ‘poetic licence’.

I must also apologise to the numerous English teachers who attempted to instil poetic principles into my educational experience. All I remembered was that rhyme is important and that the syllables should be somewhat consistent (I’m sure there is a more correct use of terminology for this). I also remember the word ‘pentameter’ though I am unsure if this is related or what it actually means.

Last of all, I should apologise to you, the reader. When I promised to deliver an ‘ode’ I didn’t consider

         (a)    what an ode is (I still don’t know – I doubt if this is an ode); and

         (b)   how bad I am at following poetic formats

Considering the lengthy apologies I have needed to write, its probably a good idea to avoid the ramblings below in their entirety. Should you choose to continue, you do so at your own peril and no subsequent action on your behalf can be considered to be the fault of the author.

Ode to a Mumbai Train

O Mumbai train, O Mumbai train,

how our trip disturbs me.

The crowd around, that does surround,

is very tight and sticky.

Though to be fair, my wallets there,

I shouldn’t be so picky.

And I navigate, (I can’t be late),

despite it being tricky.

The group behind, burst into song,

seemingly without cause.

Yet when they stop, it does feel like,

they’re worthy of applause.

I must ponder, very briefly,

if they follow any laws.

As many men, at reckless stance,

Are hanging out all doors.

A window gaze, lets my eye see,

folk walking on the tracks.

I try to think, of anything,

that this train journey lacks.

Perhaps it might, be more bizarre,

with a busker playing Sax?

Or could it be, that I might see,

a madman wielding an axe?

But no I won’t, I’ve now reached my-

final destination

And as I think, it was not a-

total aberration

Though carriages, cry out for a-

source of purification

I’ve decided, there are worse forms-

of city transportation

My trip was not, something that could,

be described as too long

So to say that, it wastes ones time,

would be exactly wrong

There is I guess, the small fact that,

you must deal with the pong

And the teenage, entrepreneurs,

who sell books­ among the throng­­­

You saved me though, from city streets,

where all cars only beep

And got me to, downtown Bombay,

very much ‘on the cheap’

I will say that, its not a place,

where I’d feel safe to sleep

The memory though, without a doubt,

I’ll surely want to keep

Vision Rescue

I know I promised you an ‘ode to a Mumbai train’ but until that is finished, I thought I would give an update on the serious side of my time in Mumbai, and that is helping with Vision Rescue.

This is an organisation who help the members of the community who have been given a raw deal in life. They work with Drug Addicts and Sex Slaves among others, but the area in which I am helping them is the aid that they 

offer to street kids. These little guys are aged anywhere between 1 and 12 and without Vision Rescue, their lives would be considerably meeker.VR owns 5 vehicles – 3 buses (which have been converted into makeshift classrooms) and 2 medical vans (one dental, one general medical aid). These are driven around to designated areas in Mumbai and when that destination is reached, the kids are taught a lesson and fed a nutritious meal.

Yesterday I got the opportunity to go on the buses for the first time, and it was a truly fantastic experience. Because of a big day today when all the kids from each site (300+) were invited for a Christmas program, there were no lessons yesterday - meaning that there was a bit of spare time for us to do what we wanted and we decided to make the most of the opportunity. There is currently a team from Durban, South Africa here and together with them, I was able to tell these kids the good news of Jesus. Some of the South African girls taught the kids a Zulu worship song and then with the help of my translator JP, God was able to use me to teach these kids about what Jesus has done for all of us.

It was just a simple message, but it was an enormous privilege and you never know what seeds it may plant in these kids’ lives. God is truly great!

Prayer Points

·         Praise God for being AMAZING!

·         Thank God for the work of Vision Rescue

·         Thank God for giving me the opportunity to work with them

·         Thank God for the growth in local Mumbai Churches

·         Thank God that the Christmas program will be a success

·         Thank God that I have been able to find consistent internet

·         Ask God that I might be able to help VR in their sport ministry

·         Ask God that everyone worldwide will remember the true meaning of Christmas

A Bumper Blog for a Bombay Birthday

There aren’t too many people who have experienced a birthday without being wished ‘happy birthday’ face to face, so I am proud to join the exclusive club. I’m not sure how common parties are in that club and considering the entry requirements, it would be hard to imagine that those in it are an incredibly social bunch so perhaps I will have to be a member by badge only.

Its an exclusive club

After arriving in Mumbai last night, I was unsure if there were any plans for my day from Vision Rescue (the organisation I am helping with in Mumbai) and after waiting until 10.00am and seeing no gestures for my involvement in activities, I decided that my day was free to do with what I wanted. The tip from the Goregaon East locals at dinner last night was that the best shopping experience in the suburb was to be found at Oberoi Mall, so armed with that name and 15 Rupees for an auto rickshaw, my day began.

What a Mall it turned out to be. First time I have had to pass through security to pick up groceries in my life! I was frisked and scanned upon entry and despite the wand beeping about 5 times as it swiped across various metallic objects within my possession, the guard nonchalantly allowed me to enter.

The first sight that greeted the eye as I passed the entrance was the giant Christmas house decorated with images and signs advocating a ‘Mr Bean Christmas’ my thoughts flashed through to episode where Rowan Atkinson is stuffing a turkey into a microwave and my mind was left to ponder if having a ‘Mr Bean Christmas’ was indeed something to be desired or not. I decided to move on in order to avoid confusing myself with the contrast of BBC humour and an Indian shopping experience.

Scary isn’t it

A quick sit down in the Gloria Jeans lounge allowed me to check my emails and facebook for the first time in a while (my internet connectivity is proving to be like a Bollywood film plot. Most of the time it doesn’t exist and when it does, its very bad). I was greeted by a gmail inbox of 13 emails and a facebook list of 46 notifications. I guessed what most of those were about, and briefly scanned them (forgive me for not replying individually – but I was only permitted 30 minutes of free wifi and I had several internet reliant errands to run which are considerably more time consuming on a mobile phone). Thank you to all those who did wish me a happy birthday, and I did have an enjoyable day so I appreciate all the wishing that went on, just don’t tell all the other members of my new club lest they be jealous and that would be causing a brother to stumble.

After my internet time ran out, I moved onwards to find a restaurant suitable for my birthday lunch. Today was some form of public holiday in Mumbai, which from what I could work out meant little more than the fact that stores had to wait until 11am to open. These timings meant my dismay at seeing the food court closed at 10.30 had now swept over and passed me by as it was 11.30 and Subway was open for business.

If your wondering, the man’s shirt reads, it says ‘Did I suggest you a COKE?’ and for the record, no – he didn’t

If you’re not like me, you would have been frustrated by the lack of vegetarian options at Australian Subway restaurants where you’ve either got ‘vegie delight’ which is a glorified salad roll or a ‘vegie patty’ which is the same thing, just with something horribly brown and rectangular (its related to a ‘patty’ by name only) on top. Well, welcome to Subway Indian style. If you’re a vegan who likes your vegie delight then there is that for you, however you now have 3 other vegetarian options to choose from as well. Does Paneer Tikka tickle your fancy? Or would you like to say ‘Allo’ to an Aloo Patty on your sub? Perhaps you would look at a Veg Shammi with glee? Despite these vego favourites, I skipped that section of the menu boards. I briefly pondered ordering a Chicken Tikka, a Chicken Seekh or a Chicken Achari but the scrawny featherless animals (the Mumbai market men claimed these to be chickens – I have my doubts) being sold in the street put me off that particular flightless bird.

I decided instead on a Subway Club – in Australia that is turkey, roast beef & ham, and that’s what my friend on the other side of the counter was trying to make my sandwich appear to be containing, however I doubt very highly if there was in fact beef involved, so I’m unsure what the brown circles of processed meat were. Despite this, the lunch was stomachable which is more than can be said of some other dishes that I have tried whilst over here, so I was cheering.

A footlong sub with all salads (except for jalapeños, onion and pickles) and Honey Mustard dressing partnered by a coke and 3 cookies set me back 365 Rupees, approximately $8, very expensive by local standards, but a birthday treat for the day.

Throughout my facebook and email session that morn, I had become aware of some positive news from Perth regarding the plight of the Australian cricket team, hence my post lunch operation was to avail myself of a TV showing the game. I went to the mall’s ‘Café Coffee day’ which is a western style coffee house found all over India but they refused to change the TV from the Bollywood channel that nobody was watching, so I continued on…ground floor – nothing…first floor – nothing…second floor – nothing…third and final floor – SUCCESS!! A high end restaurant entitled ‘Cream Centre’ was showing Australia v England on both their wall TV and via a projected screen. I mean no sarcasm when I call it a high end restaurant, despite the name and the fact that they were showing cricket, it was very plush. I sat on a leather armchair and ordered a side of French fries, to which the waiter asked ‘that’s it?’ My response of a point to the screen and a wink seemed to make him realise why I was there. Perhaps my earlier request of a ‘seat where I can see the TV’ could have also eluded him to the fact that I was more interested in the visual offering than the edible.

  

An hour and a half into my viewing, the number of empty tables around me amounted to the number of wickets England had left (none) and I realised that it wouldn’t be too long before I was asked to vacate my seat. To this point I had consumed my side of fries and a bottle of water, needless to say my meagre contribution to the workload of the restaurant’s accountants would have seen me be the first patron requested to leave. In light of this, there was only one option available to me and I cried out ‘Waiter, dessert menu please’.

A look of victory crossed the waiter’s face as he handed me the dessert menu and when my eyes got a chance to gaze at it between overs, I began to see why. The cheapest dessert option was a ‘Double choc nut brownie Sundae’ for 179 Rupees (The fries were only 95!) hmmm, after a few minutes of thought (which doubled as another delaying tactic) I decided that it was a small price to pay if I was to see Australia give themselves a chance to regain the Ashes, so I reluctantly agreed to proceed with the order. The sundae was delicious and Watson’s decision to blast 14 runs off a Stephen Finn over further vindicated my purchase. The loss of Hughes soured my meal a little bit and when Ponting got out, the Maitre De decided that it was also time for my innings to come to a close. In summary, a handy innings from T Scoular left him with the following career statistics for RCW (Restaurant Cricket Watching).

Restaurants Attempted: 2

Succesful Viewings:1

Average: 0.5

Longest stay in chair: 2 hours and 13 minutes

Total expenditure: 368 Rupees

Viewing to Cost ratio: 22 Seconds/rupee

Prayer Points

Praise God for being so generous

Thank God for my safety during travel

Thank God for the comfort that he is when I have no idea whats going on

Thank God for the opportunity I have with Vision Rescue

Ask God that my work with Vision Rescue might be helpful to them

Ask God that I will rely on him through all times – especially when things are going according to my plans

Just letting everyone know, my internet troubles are continuing, when I avail myself of a decent connection, I will update again.

Stay tuned for 'A Bombay Birthday' and 'Ode to a Mumbai train'.

Can’t Bat, Can’t Bowl, Can’t Throw

Well, it turns out that no matter where I play cricket, I struggle to contribute – please see below for brief match report from the staff-student cricket game from this afternoon.

Staff 2/70 (9.4 overs) def Students 9/69 (12 overs)

The afternoon haze had lifted from the Hebron School and the mat which constituted the pitch upon which the intra school battle would commence was 

primed and ready for some quality cricket.

The staff team had a new mystery man known as ‘Mr Tim’ and there was a lot of anticipation surrounding the chances which the staff team had in beating the students. The dominance of the students team in these fixtures is somewhat resemblant of QLD’s State of Origin success in recent years, and so there was much hope in the big footed recruit that he could deliver.

The students won the toss and elected to bat, the staff’s South African captain Patrick threw Mr Tim the ball and his instructions were “I’ve been teaching these kids for too long, let it rip”. As the students opening bats took 6 off his first over and also survived his second, there were calls from the crowd for a refund on their money. I don’t know how you can refund nothing, however they were certainly justified in their disappointment.

A steady flow of wickets ensured that the students never got out of control and when they finished their 12 overs on 69, they knew they needed early wickets to put the staff under pressure.

Keen to make amends for his poor showing with the ball, Mr Tim was sent in to open the batting and facing up to the student’s opening bowler (Alex Mohandsann), was clean bowled first ball.

Mr Sam from the Travel Office played the Michael Bevan role, consolidating the disastrous start and hitting 3 slog sweeps over the shed on his way to 30* as he guided the staff home with plenty of time to spare.

Mr Sam’s total was only beaten by extras, leg side wide rules ensured that only 35 of the 70 runs were off the bat.

Despite the staff being victorious, Mr Tim’s position in the side looks as certain as Marcus North’s spot in Australia’s middle order.

BACK TO SCHOOL

OTHER BLOG ENTRY BELOW IS A CATCH UP

So, first day and I want to get stuck into what I’ll be doing for the time I’m at the school. However when I get there, I find out that ‘IG day off’ falls on a Monday (I am an ‘International Guest’, hence IG). So instead of doing anything useful, the other IGs and myself hired some motorbikes and drove up to a lookout at the top of the second highest mountain in Southern India.

View from top of the mountain, Ooty is closer to the shot, towards the right but is blocked by the shrubbery

Today I found out what I will actually be doing at the school while I’m over here. I had a brief understanding that I would be helping them out with whatever they need, but that seems as vague to me as it does to you.

So, I might as well pass on to you what I will be doing…

• PE Department – lending a helping hand, to help teach classes and run sporting activities for the different teams at the school.
• Bible Study groups – There are a whole host of different prayer groups and bible studies floating round the school, and some are run by the school in the other parts of Ooty. I had the amazing experience of witnessing a Christmas concert by some of the kids from one of the local bible study groups (see video)
• Anything else that needs to be done, I’m the man for it apparently.

Prayer

Thank God for the time I was able to spend with the kids over the last couple of days and the bonds which we started to create

Thank God for the provision of internet and mobile phone access

Outdated Blog 1 (6th December)

In Short - I arrived - what follows below are the ramblings of a bored man at different Airport Terminals across the globe...

SYDNEY-PERTH-SINGAPORE-CHENNAI-BANGALORE-OOTY

Well, I made it. 4 Flights and an 8 hour car trip over 53 hours can be quite tiring, (especially when a bit of extra cash could have halved the total travel time) but this is definitely the fun way to do things.

I got to escape the transfer lounge at Singapore and explore the city for a few hours, what an incredible place, more Christmas lights in one street than all of Sydney combined! A big thanks to Lucy and Josephine from work who served as my travel guides, telling me everything I needed to know before I got there.

Also when you are used to cityrail, the MRT makes you feel like you are in a futuristic society. Services every two minutes, carriages stopping to the exact centimetre that they are supposed to, and to think I pay more for a student return trip from Pennant Hills to Central than I did from Changi Airport to the city and back.

From there, I ventured on to Chennai. Indian customs is an interesting place, you’re never quite sure if you are going to be greeted by the friendliest smile you have ever come across or the snarl of a 48 year old bloke who hates his job and is just finishing a 10 hour shift. I was closer to the second experience as my kind concierge was incredibly frustrated at my lack of understanding of the Indian immigration process.

From then, I had to find my luggage and get to the domestic terminal so I didn’t miss my flight to Bangalore, sound rushed? Well no, I had a good 8 hours to complete those two tasks, so I thought, then just as I was observing the plans for the upgrade of Chennai Airport, I was whisked away by an airline official who gave me a personal escort through security in order to get me on an earlier flight, I hadn’t asked for it, however it wasn’t a bad thing to happen at all, somehow though, the rush to get it all done seemed to just accentuate the monotonous nature of the elongated trip.

At the end of the day though, I made it to Bangalore and found my taxi Driver Shankar and we drove and slept through the night in order to arrive at the Hebron School. 

Prayer

Thank God for my safe travel, and that I have all my baggage still (the travel review sites for Air India seem to suggest that God was working very hard for that to happen)

Thank God that despite the ordinary travel itinerary I planned that I’m not too tired

Ask God that the kids at the School will be welcoming