Well I got home on Sunday and to be honest I'm still not sure if I want to be here. I had such an amazing time in India and learnt such a lot whilst I was out there. It was a brilliant experience and I'm glad that I was given the chance to go and be a part of the gloabl fellowship programme. The time I spent in India will never be able to be recreated in any way as no amount of money is able to get some of the experiences I was given. I don't know what's going to happen over this next year on my gap year but one thing I do know is that I am going back to Bangalore, I want to xperience more of Bangalore, and more of India.

Thank you for giving me this once in a life time experience!

On Sunday I spent my last day with my host family having spent two weeks. I had the most amazing time there. For two weeks I have experienced Indian hospitality, and it is hospitality to the extreme. For the last two weeks I have spent my time with a family who have shown unfailing generosity and kindness. I was hardly allowed to do anything for myself and wasn’t allowed to pay for much myself either. I know that the Indian culture is to treat guests as God but I didn’t realise that I would be treated so well. I was always offered more food at meals and given snacks when I got back from school. I had to constantly tell them that I was full, especially when they tried to insist that I had ‘half more’. My family was also extremely liberal as they had lived in Manchester for a few years and have just moved back from Dubai so they weren’t a conventional Indian family at all, but I still got an amazing experience of family life and I discovered a lot about their education. I’m already planning to go back on Thursday when we get the day off work for our exam results, and to be honest that’s one of the things that I am most looking forward to this week. I already really miss my host family so much; especially my host mum’s cooking but also the personality and the whole atmosphere of the flat.  Despite the early mornings I also miss the atmosphere of the school, and even the bumpy bus journeys. The teachers, especially Manju Ma’am, were all so accommodating and welcoming and you could go and talk to them about almost anything. The school was totally unlike any of the schools have been to, yes mine were friendly but I couldn’t just go and sit in the Principal’s office and talk to them for 30 minutes because I was upset and you don’t see children coming in on their birthday to give the Principal sweets. Manju Ma’am had a relationship with all the students, especially as she has seen a lot of them go through the school. I also felt that her and Geeta Ma’am went above and beyond the call of duty, making sure that if we had done things after school that we were still able to get home safely, for example on Wednesday Fran and I went to a handicraft fair. Manju Ma’am was meant to be meeting us there so we thought she would be able to get us in an auto home, as she didn’t come Geeta Ma’am  came in her chauffeured car 45 minutes from school to pick us up and take us home in 2 different directions when she only lived 10 minutes from school. Yes his happened because we were guests of the school but you probably wouldn’t find that occurring in an English school on a program like this. Yesterday I really struggled as it was a long day, despite not having to get there until 10 every morning, and I’ve got used to the day ending at the end of school at around 2:35, not leaving the company until 7 this evening was a struggle, as I had started getting extremely tired around 3 o’clock, but I’m sure once I get into the swing of it and out of my old habits I will be fine.

There are 26,000 Universities across India (which are then split into large amounts of colleges) and 4500 of them specialise in Engineering Technology. At the moment only around 14% of people coming out of grade 12 are going into University, which is a tiny amount in comparison to the U.K.  The aim is to have this figure up to 20% of people enrolling by 2020 and up to 40% in 30 years. The REVA College that we visited was set up in 2004 and has quickly become one of the top 175 colleges that are under the VTU. It was started with just 4 technology courses; there are now 5 as well as around 7 straight Science courses. This University has a common entrance exam for all the 175 colleges and it accounts for 50% of the reason as to why you get into university, the other 50% comes from the 12^th grade exams. I consider it that the students become one statistic amongst many as opposed to an actual person as they are in England as nothing about their personality is looked at when they apply, just their results. 100,000 people sit the entrance exam every year and only half of them get given a place, so in some ways it is like England in that not everyone gets a place at their chosen university.

35% of the world’s top universities are in the U.K. and students from India go to the U.K. to further their education because the quality is better, we were told that Indian Universities need to be improved. A way in which the REVA College was planning on trying to improve was by bringing in more of a balance of extracurricular activities and considering bringing personal statements for when students apply. This would maybe mean that the campus would be slightly livelier as when we were walking round it was incredibly quiet almost as though the soul of the university had been sucked out. It was the total opposite of an English University campus which is always buzzing and full of life as people play games and chat. There were a few groups of people sat around talking and what I noticed was that all the groups were made up of a single gender. I didn’t see a single mixed gender group, which someone said may explain the arranged marriages if they didn’t interact with each other.

In India a student commits suicide every 1 and a half hours due to stress levels or not getting onto the university course of their choice. In fact India has the highest suicide rate in the world. Part of me is not surprised that the students get so stressed as they have 42 hours contact time a week, and then on top of that they have work to outside of classes and they have to be back on campus by 9 every evening, so because the centre of Bangalore is about an hour away from this particular campus it is nearly impossible to go out and have fun. The staff say that they can tell when a student is depressed and that they can help them and make sure they have counselling but with a college of 4000 students, how can they keep an eye on everybody? Someone is bound to be missed. The Bachelor of Engineering course is a 4 year course and the post grad course that most people take afterwards is another 2 year. If they don’t attend 85% of their lectures and practical’s they are unable to take their exams.

The college also has a system where they allow underprivileged students to study at their university free of charge, at the moment there are about 45 underprivileged students starting every year, but this is an almost insignificant figure and it needs to be increased. However it’s not just the students that they take care of, they take care of the families of their underprivileged students if they have to. At the moment they are supporting a student who is in their final year at university as well as their younger sibling who is still in school, but again one family isn’t many out of all of the families who need the help in India.

13^th Blog – 10^th, 11^th and 12^th Standard

I spent part of my morning with Fran in a 10th grade Geography lesson this morning. One of the first things that struck me was that the teacher was male. At the school the only other male teacher I had seen was the yoga teacher. The students in the class are GCSE year age equivalent yet they showed the teacher absolutely no respect. They were always talking and they didn't interact with him, and when other students were talking they just talked right over them. In this classroom it would have been a miracle if silence was heard, even when a student was being told off the rest of the class were just laughing, there are no consequences of any of their actions no punishment is handed out unless it is a serious case of misbehaviour. The sad thing is they won't even learn their lessons by doing badly in their exams as they all go home and work hard because they realise that they did not work in class and have to catch it up. In this class the teacher was marking their tests in the lesson but he hadn't given the students work to do, most of them were sat around doing nothing, finishing homework or just chatting to their friends. The boys - like in a lot of schools - were the major source of disruption. At the end of the class they were given back their tests and the students were all competing with each other to see who had got the best mark, one of the students went to the front desk once all the papers had been handed back and started arguing with his teacher over his marks, and the teacher just stood back and took it without a word.

In the afternoon we went to an 11th grade double economics lesson which had been arranged especially for all five of us. The difference between this class and the 10th grade class were obvious from the second the teacher walked in through the door. Almost immediately the class wa silent and they remained silent for the rest of the lesson apart from when they were asked a question and they remained quiet if other students were talking. They were also doing their own subject work. Though I did see three girls passing notes but if mobile phones are banned what do you expect? I think that maybe the economics teacher (who was female) was treated with more respect than the geography teacher because male teacher are seen as people who didn't make it in what they wanted and are looked down upon on the other hand women usually teach because they have a passion for the subject and they don't actually need to work as you can't support a family on a teachers wage. I learnt a lot in the economic lesson like there are 25-30 policies for the eradication of poverty in India, and begging on the streets is like being part of the mafia as they all are working for someone else so they see very little if any of the money that they collect.

We left the economic lesson early and went to a question and answer session with 12th grade. We started off talking about education and nearly all of them said that the Indian education system is to narrow as in 11th grade they have to choose between science and commerce. Humanities and the arts are looked down upon due to the mindset of the Indian people. If more people in the school had wanted to do humanities then they would have done a humanities course. I also asked them how many people were doing a degree because that was wanted to do and not because of a certain career choice. Two people responded and they were both wanting to do a straight science at university, the rest of the students who spoke had a career plan in mind e.g. architecture. We moved onto politics and it was odd as the students admitted that the government is corrupt, they want change but are not prepared to go out and help try and make that change no matter how much we tried to show them that if you didn't try nothing would happen, but they didn't seem to accept this. We were asked about how countries like the U.K. and the U.S.A. could talk about making India and other developing countries think about climate change and making their countries greener when these two countries pump huge amounts of Carbon Dioxide and other polluting gases into the atmosphere every day. This just one of the questions we were asked and our response was that the U.K and the U.S.A. have already made these mistakes and don't want India etc to make the same mistakes especially when the impacts on their own country could be so much greater.

Saturday stared at 4 in the morning and finsihed at 3 ish on the Sunday morning. We spent the day travelling to places around Mysore. A very long day but well worth it. All 10 fellows their host parners and a few teachers from each school spent the day together. We started at some waterfalls which are on the way to Mysore. We stopped in one place to take photos and while we were there we were asked if we wanted to go boating. Of course everyone agreed, so we moved to a location where we could go boating. We were taken right up to the waterfalls and were s close that we all ened up getting sightly yet - though slightly maybe an understatment for some of the boys. In the afternoon we were taken to a tibetan monastry which was again out of Mysore, the decoration iside the monastry was very bright and slightly gawdy but in some ways it was still beautiful. Outside the monastry was a small row of shops that were selling all sorts of items, some of them were tacky but what surprised me were the knives and the toy guns that were being sold. Someone asked one of the monks if they minded this and he responded with its just children playing with guns, He didn't seem to have a problem which amazed me when we were told as the monks are supposedly pacafists.

There are 144 Delhi Public Schools across the world. DPS Bangalore South gets the best 12th grade results out of all the schools, whilst DPS Bangalore North comes third for 10th grade results. Bangalore got its first DPS school in 2001 (South). It started with 250 students and the first building had to be built in 100 days so that it was ready when the school opened. Bangalore North was opened the following year and in my opinion is the nicer of the 2 schools, this is because North has  campus that is much more spread out and it has more of an environmental aspect. DPS South is in the middle of the city and is a very cramped city. Another reason I prefer DPS North is because the teachers seem so much more friendly than the teachers I met at the SOuth school - maybe I'm just biased because thats the school I'm going to. DPS schools all over the world are catering for middle and upper middle class students although upper class students are welcomed, the schools aims to take average students and turn them into good students. As a school they don't feel under pressure to churn out Engineers and Doctors despite that being what most of the students wanting to be. However DPS did used to be known as the IIT factory.

After we left DPS BAnglaore South we were taken to a state school. All students at all state schools in the country have to wear a blue uniform. This shows anybody who passes them in the street that they are from a state school. We were at a pre-college state school so we asked some of the students what they wanted to do and we got the same answers that we have been given everywhere else, they just have less opportunities until they end up at a state school. This school catered for 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th and 12th grades. We only saw students from 8th - 10th bthough. ALl the gurls in the three different grades had different coloured hair ribbons dependant on their grade and when I asked the principal about this it was pointed out that 8th grade girls had green hair ribbons, 9th grade girld had whit ribbons and 19th grade girls had orange ribbons - the colours if the Indian flag. In the classes there were around 75 students and they were split down the middle girls on one side and boys on the other, I quickly noticed that there were more girls than boys and I'm asuming that this is because it is only 55 rupees for a girl to go to school for a year as opposed too 145 for a boy. The price difference is becuase the Indian government is trying to encourage the education of girls so by making the schooling cheaper more girls are able to come. All the students are provided with a unform, a meal at luncg and a snack at the end of the day, this is because many of them won't get proper meals at home. Some students are also provided with bikes so that they can travel to school, and not have to pay for transport if they are to far away to walk.

On Tuesday morning we had a Sanskrit lesson that we continued today where we were taught a Sanskrit prayer. However I also wish we had been taught more basic Sanskrit especially since it is the mother of all languages and most languages including Latin derive from it. After that we went to performance put on by sixth standard. They were dispalying that dispite India being full of differnt states, casts and religions they are still one country and one people. They displayed this by wearing dress from all over the country and performing dancing and music from the different states. After they had finished we were asked to sing something and we chose 'We Will ROck You' by Queen - the only song we all knew part of well enough to sing. We were taken upstairs as the parents of the students had prepared food for us to taste from the different areas of India. The children wouldn't let us say no to the food and I ended up with a banana leave full of food that was delicios but I couldn't finish.

In the afternoon we went back to A.S.K and taught the third and fourth standars 'Heads down THumbs up', 'Apple Pie' and 'Insey Winsey Spider'. THe children were quiet and reserved. But they enjpyed the gmes all the same and they learnt wuickly. This is in stark comparison to the second standard kids who I spent time with yesterday afternoon and didn't learn quickly, yes they were younger but they were loud, boisterous and had a confidence that oozed out of them. All in all the afternoon with the A.S.K. kids was more rewarding - especially more than the headache gained by working with second graders but both days were fun. Yesterday morning we spent the day in Manju Ma'am's office talking to her and other senior members of staff about the school, education in general and other topics which are usually classed as taboo topics in Indian homes - like sex education. Manju Ma'am is an amazing principal. SHe has a special bond with all the children and they all enjoy coming to see her. When we were there a small boy came in with a box of chocolates because it was his birthday, he gave on to her and then the rest of us and Manju Ma'am gave hima hug and chocolate bar. She's always there to talk to. I wish my teachers in England had been more like that.

This morning second standard put on a short performance on Family life. There are three types of amily - joint family, small nuclear and large nuclear. In a joint family the entire family lives together, in a smal nuclear family grandparents will often live with the family and both parents will go out to work. In large nuclear families it will just be the parents and children, the mother will look after the house, cook and quit often go out to work as well.

Today was a good day but not one of the best of the week, but it will pick up again I know for sure. 100%!

x x x

Yesterday I went ‘home’ to Saloni’s having ben picked up by her and her dad. I was nervous in the morning despite having met the whole family on Wednesday evening and getting on well with them. The community that they live in is beautiful and very green - everyone seems very friendly!

I went with Saloni on the bus to Delhi Public School North, the teachers who live in the communities get the same buses into school as the students do, this was one of the first things that struck me as strange, the second one was the fact the kindergarten kids get the buses in as well so there are children from as young as 3 getting the bus to school every day. Quickly I learnt about the rivalry between the North and South schools, apparently I’m not allowed to like the five fellows who have gone to the South school for the next 2 weeks. At the assembly we were introduced as friends of the school which fitted in well as yesterday was Friendship Day, which happens on the first Sunday of August every year. We were given a traditional welcome by a small amount of students from the 6^th standard. I was embarrassed especially as everyone from 4^th standard to 12^th were laughing at us. We were then asked by the principal to introduce ourselves to the school. I was glad that the boys went first as I had no idea what to say so borrowed a few of their ideas but fitted them to me.

Fran, Jinal, Brook, Connor and I were given a tour of the school by out hosts. We were shown right from the Kindergarten classes to the 12^th grade rooms and then we were taken to the Butterfly Garden. These are incredibly beautiful, full of flowers and plants. I wish we had gardens like that at schools in England. After lunch our hosts went back to their lessons and the five fellows went to A.S.K. the school for the under privileged children. The eldest children in this school were 4^th Standard but they are going to be taking it up to 12^th Standard. We talked to students in the 4^th standard who could understand English but not our accents. We were asking them about what they wanted to do when they were older. We got a lot of the usual 8/9 year old response – police, cricket player. But along with that we had a couple of doctors, two district collectors and an engineer.

The day has given me a lot to think about it. The school has 4000 students of an age range of 15 years. The whole day has been overwhelming and tiring but I am looking forward to tomorrow.

Navadarshanam is a village about 50km away from Bangalore. It was set up 20 years ago by people who had grown up in the city, had money and then decided that the way to happiness is by going backwards, away from development and technology. Therefore the people who live there are making do without televisions, washing machines and ovens etc, the small amount of electricity that they do use is generated by solar and wind - they aren’t connected to the national grid. The houses are all eco-friendly and keep cool in the summer, whilst they retain the heat in winter. They believe that the real way to success is to against development, to create a different atmosphere so they can focus on trying to concentrate on why they believe they are on the earth – love. They also believe that you can’t have absolute happiness if you feel sadness. However I disagree because you can’t truly know what happiness is if you haven’t experienced sadness. Experiencing sadness makes you more grateful and happier for what you have.

The people who live in Navadarshanam respect the nature. They don’t cut down trees, they don’t use pesticides and they don’t allow hunting. They don’t exploit the environment and by creating self help groups rather than workers they have made hard for the people to be exploited as well. They eat what they can grow on the whole with a very small amount of food bought in from the neighbouring town. They also leave their food with its natural colour, for example rice has a natural red polish in it which is normally taken out. India didn’t use to take the polish out of the rice until British colonial rule. The people are living a simple life but claim it used to be easier to live a simple life as it is difficult to do something different in this world.

Navadarshanam is situated next to small rural village. In the afternoon we went for a walk through the village. We walked down to the village school and soon were told that the school was not actually government approved as there weren’t enough children in all the age groups and the teacher hadn’t been properly trained. This was a huge difference to other schools we had visited that were poor as the children didn’t have uniforms, they didn’t get any meals. Even in the slum school they got a free school meal at lunch. We were also shown the inside of a rural village house. They have a huge area in front of the sleeping areas where the cows would stay as well as where they would wash and wash their clothes etc.

Village life is much different to urban life and in the short amount of time that we were there wasn’t enough to get used to the stark difference in the way of life.

Last night we went to Cafe Coffee Day to see a bit about the company and to meet our host families. The time I spent with my host family (Saloni and her parents) went really quickly and I have loads in common and get on really well with Saloni. I’m really looking forward to Sunday morning when I start the two weeks with the family. We met the teachers from the school and they wanted to make a schedule including all the things that we enjoy doing as well as everything else that they had planned for us.

This morning we went to Infosys, a computer software/ consulting company which started from nothing, with seven people and $250 in Pune 30 years ago. It is now a $4 billion company with over 100,000 employees in countries all over the world. It is an entirely Indian company and it is making its way up in the tables and is listed in the 100 fastest growing companies in the world. Their first client was based in New York. In the early 1990’s they got their first European clients and in 1992 they got their first international offices, 9 years after they had moved to Bangalore. In India they now have offices in 9 cities. Global visitors come a lot. In 2002 Tony Blair visited and yesterday (28^th August 2010) David Cameron visited. English is a large reason as to why Infosys has been successful (along with Mathematics). Infosys believe that English is going to be the global business language.

In the afternoon we visited the Hope Foundation School in Bangalore. The Hope Foundation  is an NGO that works with young people and children in India to give them opportunities they wouldn’t necessarily get otherwise. In total they work with over 8000 children across Europe, and give them reasons to stay in school by providing them with a hot meal, sports and debate etc. In the school there are more girls than boys. To help the parents they are beginning to give out small interest free loans of $100-$200 and 99% of them are being paid back. These loans allow them to get out of debt and enable them to start small businesses like making tea or doing ironing. When we went into one of the classes the children got excited to see us and asked us to sign their work books. All the students I spoke to were keen to show us their work and read to us in Hindi, that they were learning at the time.

In the evening we were taken to CNN IBN, one of the countries news stations. We were given a talk about the politics of India and to be honest a lot of it went straight over my head, just like English politics does, but what I did understand was incredibly interesting. We were also told what could happen if things were said that politicians didn’t like. The journalist wouldn’t get into trouble but they would just shut down the News Station in the area. With a channel like CNN it wouldn’t work as they couldn’t shut it down all over the country, just the area so the rest of the country would still know what was happening. CNN is an international News so all the news in all countries that have CNN gets shared. The ban on dancing after 11:30 pm that was put in place a couple of years ago apparently crops up in the news a lot as it seems that a lot of people, especially those who work late, don’t like it.

Night Night x x x