Moving On

It is with some sadness (yet with some excited anticipation too) that I will be saying good bye to Doon School and Dehradun. I am heading off to Jammu and Kashmir today (April 3rd or "yesterday" in India, as such I am probably already on the train or at my destination).

I am SO excited to go on a vist with Banita to her home! It's going to be wonderful!
I am sure to have more blog posting to do but, again, am not sure what the time will be like for the Internet(s). As such... I will try to post updates when I can but it might be a bit delayed. But that doesn't mean I don't love you.

Unexpected Picture with the Goddess Kali to prove I still love you.

Report Card for a Month at Doon

(as a final reflection on what I've learned while at the Doon School in Dehradun I composed this article to share my experience and gratitude with the people of Doon - April 3, 2011)

Report Card for a Month at Doon

When I came to Doon School at the beginning of March I had signed up to teach but also planned to learn as much as I could. At the end of this short term I felt I should assess myself, a report card of sorts. I expected to have a grade in Teaching Yoga to Youth and Social Service in India. The unofficial course descriptions for these two classes being "adapting the instruction of yoga asana for a class of teen-aged students" and "supervising students and participating in a variety of social justice projects" respectively. While assigning myself a grade for how well I taught yoga doesn’t seem proper I can evaluate how much I've learned. From class structure and planning to the excellent questions asked by the C-Formers, my perception of yoga warrants 70%. For Social Service my "assignments" were varied and three had substantial impact: the Bindal School, the John Martyn Memorial School and the trip with O and T House A-Formers to the Almora area. It impressed me to see the Doscos who served the Bindal students; inspired me to experience how the John Martyn School embraced education; and the expedition to Almora-area villages and the A-Formers with whom I explored provoked a deep inquiry and motivation about how to contribute meaningfully to society. Those four words (as both revelation and complication): impressed, inspired, inquiry and motivation were precisely what I needed for my own future endeavors: 96%.

That is where I expected my evaluation to end. However, I came to realize I had also attended two "unregistered" classes the first being Foreign Languages. As it turned out Hindi was not the primary language I was learning and I'm sure I picked up more in both "Body Language" and "Doon School." The latter unexpected language learning came quickly as I navigated new (to me) definitions and concepts like "passing out," "forms" and "cricket" (which I formerly only understood as 'fainting,' 'paper questionnaires' and 'small chirping bugs with wings' - actually, I had heard of the sport of Cricket before, but had never seen it played, let alone watched World Cup matches on T.V.). My effort in Hindi was a lot less impressive than I expected so I can only grade myself 50%.

My final course? It would have to be entitled something like Practicum in Excessive-Control Prevention. I knew I had a great deal to learn on the subject - with my background in event planning, organizational management and even post-secondary studies all the drives to schedule and over-plan are in overdrive while the ability to allow for flexibility and spontaneity is in sore disuse. I must admit I did not expect to have the experience of allowing life to unfold of its own accord in the midst of a well-structured and disciplined environment of a high-caliber residential school. Perhaps it was because of this that I could allow myself to enjoy what life had to offer from yoga lessons and art projects to dancing the jhoda, playing Holi and accompanying American exchange students – I was continually reminded to relinquish the impulse for meticulous over-management and enjoy every moment. Even though I have a lot more to learn, these life-lessons were revolutionary and worthy of an 97%.

It was a month of learning I won't soon forget. The lessons, the exercises and the classes were, of course, critical but were it not for all the people here at Doon - their creativity, cleverness and camaraderie - I doubt I would have learned nearly as much. So to all of you, my teachers, I extend my gratitude.

Stories

After a long drive from Almora to Dehradun (13.5 hours to be exact) I had many ideas for "blog posts" and "stories" but I am having a very difficult time trying to figure out which is which and what will be what.

One really great one in my mind's blog post category (from Amritsar actually) has now become much longer than the length suitable for a respectable post and it's more of a short story. Sadly, I do not (as of yet) have a venue for said stories and so will be writing them down without a definite home for them. My point though is that I don't want to write about it on the blog in a half-hearted way and spoil the story. Make sense?

So this is kind of like an apology of sorts... I have a few great stories to tell you but really don't feel like

a) the blog is the right place for them
b) I have time to finish/polish/type them to share yet
c) I want to make two versions of all these adventures since then I wouldn't actually have time for more adventures/reflections.

Why am I telling you all this now? Well... on the Almora trip there were at least three new adventures that I started to write in my journal, then lo and behold! They all turned into stories. Sorry.

What I WILL say about the trip was that it was really great to spend time with some of the boys (and two girls) from Tata House and Oberoi House who I didn't know before. AND to be able to travel to a new and slightly remote part of Uttarakhand to see some breathtakingly beautiful scenes and some amazing people passionately working to make their lives better (with the help of other amazing, passionate people who are selflessly working to ensure that first set of wonderful people can get the support, training and encouragement they need. USNPSS is quite the organization and I KNOW I will be taking a great deal from this trip towards my future endevours.)

p.s. I also have some GREAT pictures!! But  you will have to see me in person for those.

Preparing for a Technocolour Surprise

I went out this morning: clean pale skin, long blonde hair, light denim pants, white t-shirt (and two white "under-layers" just-in-case-of-water-splashing).

I came back later this afternoon: green and yellow arms, pink & red face, orange-yellow-pink hair, rainbow spattered jeans and a neon camoflauge t-shirt that also tattooed my skin. I was plastered, layered in colour!

Post-Holi, Final Form

Happy Holi!

I spent an equal amount of time playing Holi and I did washing it off... scrubbing face, scrubbing clothes, scrubbing bathroom after the fact. Only slight fear? When my hair was rinsing reddish-pink after the second wash, but no harm done. Except for a patch of un-exposed skin (still) retaining a beautiful florescent-watermelon-with-vibrant-green-dots...

Let the HOLI-Playing Begin!

I arrived at the school outside the Rose Bowl at 10:12am and within 10 minutes the lawn, paths and students didn't look the same. I was given a packet of light-green dust (of an All-Natural vairety) and tried to figure out the game. An adult learning to play. A grown-up trying to celebrate a childhood she never knew. A Yes Ma'am being politely smeared with the powdered colours of Holi.

Girls of Many Colours: Where's Lyndia?

So you may be wondering - music? dancing? organized chaos? What's NOT to love? and more importantly... why? I asked around. I looked things up... and I learned the following:

- there are two kinds of Holi but it's kinda morphed into one celebration, always in the spring. Always on the Last Full Moon Day of the Feb/March lunar month.
  a) bonfires lit on Holi-eve for the Holika Dahan (or burning of Holika - a religious story in which God prevails.).
  b) colour! commonly played with both dry and wet colour, water guns, water balloons
- it's a festival that equalizes all people (and no one is safe!)
- always to the sounds of the Dholaks (traditional drums).

Dance! Dance! Dance!

- sometimes it gets out of hand and people in the streets start throwing less friendly colours... like paint.
- celebrations are bigger in North India but are epic in West Bengal where they start with music and singing at 6am! Also celebrated in Nepal & Sri Lanka.
- things usually calm down by lunch. Or at least by 2pm.
- it AWAYS rains just before or just after Holi. (This year it was the evening before so the colour-dusted streets are fun reminders of my first celebration!)
- at Doon they are still respectful and as I was encouraging one boy to throw the colour on me he advised otherwise "Actually Ma'ma it can get in people's eyes." - good point my multi-coloured-young-sir. Good ponit.
- There are sweets and snacks all OVER the place!



Colour Layer 1 of approximately 7

 Obviously... I LOVED IT!

F.R.I. on Fri

I went to my first museum in India today: the F.R.I. on Fri(day). I like it.

The F.R.I. has some beautiful natural sculptural works (that you aren't supposed to take pictures of) that they label as diseases with latin names - trees, fungi, bugs... but it does make sense since the Forestry Research Institute is just covering their mandate.

Natural Sculpture on display

 The shapes and textures and colours... were amazing!

This beautiful area and stupendous building (not only a museum but a large campus with a few different schools and a University that has M.Sc and Ph.D. programs in forestry and environmental sciences) were a great early afternoon adventure!

F.R.I. building (one of three wings)

Fuls (Hindi for flower) in the garden posing for a picture

Fools (English for those who wear goggles*) posing for a picture
(*note: googles are the Hin-glish name for Sunglasses)

 It was already well over 23C degrees at 10:30am when we started our adventure to the F.R.I. but that didn't stop me! Oh no! I was definitely going to see the uhh... at that time I did not actually know what the place was called... uh... the... um... National Forestry... something... say "Department" was the only way I could help poor Banita as she asked for directions. But in our defense it seemed that two of the five guys who could indicate our course of travel thought it was called the F.I.R. and one of them had no clue what we were talking about (and we were less than 1 km away from the place).


NWFP = Non-wood forestry Products

What did I learn today? Well... there is a lot of great information, beautiful design and important history associated with the forests in India and, by default all over the world. As one sign I saw yesterday said "a Tree is an International Smile." Awww. But really, after seeing the "Social Forestry Museum" and the vast array of non-wood products I hadn't even considered when I thought of forests... I was amazed!

I think this poster says it best...



word.



Week off...from Vacation?

So this is Mid-Terms week at Doon School... and that means no classes. I am doing a bit more social service work but mostly art and trying to plan a few tourist-y portions of my India Adventure.

I have several exciting places to ponder but have no definite plans yet. Well, I guess that's a lie. I do have one train ticket booked, but I will save that for another Blog post (it's a solo-excursion for a few days next week). However, I am still enjoying things in Dehradun! Yesterday I managed to replace my alarm clock and this new one is definitely an upgrade! It has 9 different tones to choose from for the alarm sound, lights up and has a timer and thermometer - which means I can now tell you that's it has officially reached 30C degrees here (since when I got the clock back home it was 29.5C and that was already after 5pm).

Yes, it even has a "Birthday Reminder"

Back to trip planning for the post-April 11th (and then off to a day/residential program for children who are differently-abled for social service today).

Oh and on Sunday March 20th it's Holi. For those of you who kinda know... it's the festival of colour! Sounds like a good time :)

The Urge to Plan

As I am trying to practice contentment and living in the present moment AND going with the flow... I am feeling an overwhelming urge to PLAN SOMETHING. Oh no. Not now... There have been lots of intersting events going on in and around Doon and I have been having both fun and inspiring experiences - for which I am truly grateful but the last two days have started to sound like a ticking clock and I feel I should be "Making Plans" for the rest of my time here in India (1 month and 7 days to be precise).

I am no longer so sure I will be making it all the way out to Bodh Gaya on this trip as I have come across and been accepted to a different Silence Meditation course that is both closer to Delhi/Dehradun and will be a habitable temperature at the time of said course. The fact came to me that in Bodh Gaya around the beginning of April it can be will be HOT. We are talking a minimum of 27 degrees Celcius and highs more like the mid 40s. I have faith in my ability to be silent for 10 days... but not to spend 10 days in plus 43 degree temperatures. No. No thank-you. So this other retreat (which also allows for laying meditation, walking meditation and some silent morning yoga - none of which were permitted in the Bodh Gaya one) it is! As it turns out the Doon School is also going (for the four days prior) to work in a small village in the exact same area of Nainital! Coincidence?

Best part of it all is that the organization that Doon will be working with is AMAZING and I am just starting to learn more about some of the amazing and truly inspirational work they have done in fostering community, supporting women and educating children through their Badwali program (more about that later). Anyway, it is totally the kind of thing I'd like to see first hand and OF COURSE be able to help out with!

So maybe I'll just stick around here a little while longer and join in on these other projects in different areas of Uttakahand and plan two or three mini-trips (i.e. Agra, Delhi, Corbett Park) and then leave March alone. Ironically/coincidently/appropriately my alarm clock also broke last night. I take it as a sign to give up on the over-planning and go with the flow.

Pictures of Doon School



Main Building



SpongeBob on Campus

Banita at the Art School

Art School Exhibition Floor

Ceramics Studio/Class

Yoga School!

Flash Cards

Flash Cards - there are some lessons here and a few pictures - I hope the "Flash Card" idea comes across for some of them.

Lesson 1: It's hard to keep up with a daily blog, that's for sure, but I am glad I haven't been on the computer each and everyday... it just wouldn't seem like a holiday then!

Lesson 2: there are SO MANY little stories that have been coming up - it's amazing! But sometimes it feels like the little stories are not very Blog-worthy. They are the kind of stories you can casually mention over tea in some Canadian coffee shop or on a Skype call or something. The trip to John Martyn Memorial School is one of them (the two pictures are from there). Actually.. that place was nothing short of inspiringly amazing...

 

Lesson 3: It feels really weird when everyone (mostly everyone... or at least 500-ones) call you ma'am.  Most notable is when I am seated at the head of one of the (20?) tables in the Common Dining Hall (CDH) and am asked "Do you need anything ma'am?" or "Can I re-fill the butter ma'am?" or "How was your day ma'am?" or "Can I speak to someone at the other table ma'am?" etc. etc. etc. It took me at least seven days to not jump, cringe or look to see who was being address when I heard all this "ma'am-ing."  Nope. Just me.

Lesson 4: Volunteers may not be entitled to sick days... but I had to take one on Monday. Luckily by Tuesday all was well but guck, what a lacklustre 12 hours. BUT I am now terribly appreciative of "only having a cold." At least I can sleep, eat, talk and NOT nap for a whole day.* However, the next day (when I was back at the whole "eating thing" I did whip up the Indian equivilant of KD - good old Mac and Cheese! Mmmmmm!

Lesson 5: The Lizards won't hurt you.
I know this. My mind knows this. My heart believes it... but I've also had near-premonitions of a little critter scurrying across my face at 3am or getting trapped in my purse or joining me for morning yoga. BUT maybe they (there are two of them) can be my friend because they seemed to come out during the Hindi (and Punjabi) dance music-videos on t.v. We may get along, in fact.

Lesson 6: I spend a lot of time in the Art Department. When the question is put to you as the volunteer yoga teacher and social service assistant: "Lyndia where will I be able to find you today, the art department?" It makes you think... and made me smile :) I am getting to do ALL MY FAVOURITE THINGS each day - yoga, art, social service, eat Indian food, talk with awesome people. SWEET. Which reminds me... I've actually be able to work on some art while I've been here! SO AWESOME! I will be sharing more about that later but suffice it to say I am totally lovin' it.

Lesson 7: There ARE stupid questions. Yesterday I think I asked at least seven.... the best one:

Me- What do you call those little mini baby mangoes?

Banita: yes.

Me- huh? Oh... mangoes... right.



Banita and Lyndia



I Quit

After my first day at Doon School volunteering... I Quit!

I Quit my worrying about scheduling.

I Quit my panic over planning.

I Quit running from place to place.

I Quit, well... I'd say I quit my job... but I already did that!

I LOVED my first day! Even with a cough and head cold and some very potent oral remedies (making me both dizzy and detatched in the afternoon) it was FANTASTIC. And I am not overexaggerating to sell issues of Lyndia's India either!

First - I had a nice breakfast at the Foote House table of C-form students (the younger grade). I was announced/introduced at the post-breakfast assembly and it was official. The students are all required to address the female teachers (now I am one too) as "ma'am" which feels very formal and I keep wanting to say "it's just Lyndia" but the rules are well established and well followed here so I won't ever say it outloud :)

Second - I went to the on-campus hospital for some medicine and can safely say from the vantage point of the next day that they were well worth it.

Met the enthusiastic, intelligent and supportive yoga teacher KPS and observed my first class, was introduced to the group (1 of 5) and then even got to teach for 5 minutes at the end. When will I teach again? Well... as of now (Friday) it's already done! The best-est part of all?? One of the students (a girl, one of very few - and only as she is a daughter of one of the teachers) beamed at the affirmative response to her question of "Will you be teaching us at our next class?" And then today (at said "next class") she came up to me and asked if I could meet with her some afternoon too! I. WOULD. LOVE. TO. (but now I am getting ahead of myself... I need to focus on why YESTERDAY was awesome, not today...)

Then I felt all my medicine kick in and compile side-effect on top of side-effect... I was exhausted, dizzy, and very unfocussed. So I did the only logical thing - after lunch I took a chai break, had a cookie and went to sleep. And MISSED my after-lunch scheduled Social Service class.  ....luckily I was napping at the home OF the Social Service teacher so she knew exactly where to find me! :)

I woke up JUST IN TIME and she took me over to where the Doon boys were... teaching at the Bindal project - where the children and youth living in the dried river bed a few blocks from the school come for tutoring, classes and EVEN YOGA! Six Doon boys were teaching two yoga classes and I came to and came in just as they were starting. I got to supervise these great young men instructing the eight young women at the Under-the-Bridge school in yoga. I also was instructed to take photos (so: done and done!)

Bindal Students I taught yoga to for 10 minutes ;)

Then the best part of the class was when the yoga teacher said that the Doon boys would assist and translate while I got to teach some asanas to these girls! YEEEE-HAW! It was SO FUN! I've never had such a great 14 minutes of yoga teaching before! I had them dancing and laughing a bit too and a few times my poor translators could only say "just please watch ma'am." At least we all had fun and apparently I will be able to do this two or three times a week (again, just found out today).

Girls at Sapera Basti (village) I was *supposed* to teach yoga to but they wanted to tour us around the village and show us their house and bedrooms and jewlery and posters of favourite Bollywood actresses.

That, all that... that was the cake. So the icing?

I missed my walking partner/roommate and was accompanied home by someone new (the librarian who lives in the main floor of the home I stay at)... someone who actually just took me back via SCOOTER (aka. Scootie).

SO AWESOME!

p.s. today I taught my first class in the yoga school and I will have about four per week.

First Day at Doon

I turned in my backpack for this first day of school. (Bought a handbag in the market yesterday and a new outfit just for it though...) I am here at Doon School ready to volunteer and looking forward to both the social/community project aspect and the yoga (and anything else they can possibly think of so task me with).

I have started really getting into the Hindi study (now that my brain has settled/pushed away a bit of the yoga-theory that was filling every possible space).

Dhanyavad (thank you... but I already kind of know this one)

Apne kya kaha?  (what did you say?)

Mera nam Lyndia hai. (I'll let you guess this one.)

achchha  (good)

are today's words/phrases... but first: khana!*

(*as soon as the breakfast bell rings and we can commense in the verb of food consumption.)

First Prize for being Early

...goes to: Lyndia!

But this time I've taken "being early" to a whole new, practically obscene level. I cannot believe it. I got so lost in Rishikesh (hours/days/weeks/month(s)) that I managed to break my own best record of timely-ness.

Sometimes I've had people comment on how I am "so punctual" and they ask what my trick is. Usually I tell them it's about planning ahead but that I've been planning like this for so long that "being early" is just habitual and "being ontime" is almost unacceptable as it almost feels late!

Luckily and thankfully the folks here in Dehradun that I've met are not only gracious and welcoming but totally able to overlook that my "punctuality" has crossed a line... so get ready for it. Guess how early I was?

I was approximately 27 hours early. TWENTY SEVEN HOURS! Compound this with the fact that the driver (I ended up hiring a car instead of taking the bus) was actually on NON-Indian time and apparently was ready to take me even three hours EARLIER. Good grief! The Universe is conspiring to make me terribly, unfashionably and very inconveniently early.

So I arrived a day before I said I would. How did this happen? I guess I counted 2011 as an un-leap year and took a day OFF February (sorry February) and simply counted yesterday March 2. Easy, I guess? Unfortunately this means I missed the camping trip BUT came on the day they DEPARTED not returned. Thus, my much anticipated meeting of Mrs. B will be delayed until the scheduled time. Oh poorly-timed, oxymoronic Lyndia, when will you ever learn?

Sunrise from the apartment accomodations

Good news? The patient front gate guards... the confused and immensely helpful staff... the slightly skeptical but supportive driver and then I even got to meet the school's headmaster.

But the best part? Well... that everything's worked out so far! Today (today = Tuesday, March 2nd 2011 - just reminding myself) is a holiday and things are certainly laid back and there's lots of time to see the new surroundings and take in the transition. The impressive, beautiful campus of the Doon School and my accommodations off-campus with... (you'll never guess) an ART TEACHER (Ceramics, Sculpture, Painting, Textiles) who is so awesome and helpful and lovely, named Banita! So I'm invading her studio apartment and she is an amazingly gracious hostess! First she took me for, shockingly, burgers at "Hot Spice" (a little fast food shop) which I was relieved to find out were vegetable patties because I was hoping I was not forcing any "non-veg" dietary options on anyone! But I think I will be able to keep on the bandwagon of the vegetarian diet while I am here :)

SpongeBob on the patio outside the studio apartment

I am really enjoying it so far (despite this silly cough I have assumed for the last couple days - which she tried to aid the relief of with a nice mint, raisin, cinnamon tea and gogul - a local sweetner of some kind that I doubt I've spelled correctly) and frankly, I am just so thankful that no one has even brought up my anti-tardiness again. In the upstairs studio with lime green curtains we shared stories and talked about art and I even got to see my hostess' art portfolio and it was all so lovely!

Toady? I've got the tour of the campus grounds (absolutely awe-inspiring and I DO have pictures... for another day). Now I am chillin' in the Ceramics Studio and wishing my art-inclined friends could see this place! (Kali, Katie, Janae, Heather, Cadence, Dad! others... this is a phenomenal set-up and any high school art teacher would be drooling at the space, materials and the required time teachers have for the own work!)

I look forward to learning how I will be able to be of service while I am here!

First I take Manhattan then I take Dehradun

I hope the title of this post was sung to the appropriate tune... my last (half) day in Rishikesh and my mini-road trip to Dehradun.

After much a bit of deliberation I am opting to take the "first class" method of trasport and feel like some kind of inauthentic glamour queen because of it.

Option 1: taxi to Rishikesh town/bus stop - public bus - taxi to Doon School (and likely getting ripped off for the first and last step. Slightly unclear on the scheduling - likely have to wait an hour or more beyond the travel time).
Required: carry over-sized, now TOTALLY FULL 40-some liter backpack.
Cost: about $12 Canadian Dollars

Option 2: hire a private car from the Ashram door to the school campus (set price & reasonably reliable timetable... i.e. when I order it (give or take aka. Indian time).
Required: carry backpack to door and... uhhh... no that's it.
Cost: about $25 Canadian Dollars.

I opted for the $13 peace-of-mind fee. Just call me a Hollywood Heiress... actually, please don't.

Next stop - Dehradun!