My First Week

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My First Week

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Hello everyone,                                                                                                        

My name is Sebastian and I will be spending a year in India working for Laxmi.
I just completed my first week in Delhi and I want to briefly express my thoughts and experiences here in this blogpost. 

The flight to Delhi was rather relaxing. I spent most of the time sleeping and talking to the other volunteers, which helped to relieve some pressure and to share some feelings on the upcoming year. 

The arrival in Delhi was the complete opposite, rather stressful and most importantly very exciting. After completing our entry in the unofficial second biggest city in the world, which involved the baggage claim and Visa control we got greeted by our taxi driver and a literal wall of heat and humidity, that being quite unexpected after our short stay at the climate controlled Indira Gandhi International Airport. 

After about one minute on Indian ground we got more greetings, but this time from our first tourist trap. We got approached by two friendly men, who proceeded to take our bags without a comment and after reaching the car they were pressuring us into paying them for their services. Which meant that after ten minutes, we already left ten Euros behind. 

The most exciting, but at the other hand most scary part of our first day, was undoubtedly the taxi ride to our airbnb, in which we experienced the traffic first hand. I previously watched some videos online about said topic, but nothing can replace the experience of actually observing it in real life. I think the best way of describing the traffic in Delhi is a beautiful chaos. Lanes and traffic rules technically exist, but only technically. People just try to squeeze into the tiniest spaces between cars, bikes and bicycles, which resulted in us nearly hitting five bikes and nearly getting pushed off the road by 5 more trucks. Some are driving in the opposite direction carrying loads which consist of multiple times the volume their vehicle possesses. And people are confidently walking over 6 lanes while counting on the other road users to slow down and make them way. But despite all that everyone somehow manages to predict the actions the others will make while always barely missing the crash. This creates the beautiful chaos I was talking about and that leads to a surprisingly efficient and fascinating driving experience which still makes me wonder if I should be excited or if I should panic. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The first full day in Delhi was just as exciting as our arrival. Our day started with meeting Jyoti the coordinator for the Ecoselva volunteers in India. With her we shared our first Indian meal and made our way to buy a sim card. This also marked our first auto ride or as we call in Germany Tuk – Tuk due to the engine sounds. The auto drive was nearly as exciting as our taxi ride, because it could fit in all the tiny spaces left by the trucks and cars. So far I only took one short bike ride with Krishna, but I am looking forward to get a real taste of heavy traffic riding one.

At the end of the day we visited M-Block Market, bought food and got passport pictures taken, because you need loads of those for the Indian bureaucracy. What I also wasn’t aware of, but which shouldn’t be a surprise, is that fast food chains adapted their menu to the taste of the Indian population. Which means you can get paneer wraps at McDonalds or tandoori subs at Subway. Of course we needed to try that as soon as possible, which led to us buying dinner at Subway. 

 

 

On the second and third day we covered the typical seminar colloquium, which contained the topics of Indian culture, history and the differences or similarities to Germany. Don’t get me wrong those two days were one of the most interesting in the week, as Jyoti has a wide knowledge about Indian History, Traditions, current climate and much more. She also seem genuinely intrigued to learn more about Germany which made for a great two sided conversation. Apart from that we got to know about our future volunteering locations in more detail, which made the anticipation grow by a lot. 

We spend our last day of preparation with Krishna, Jyoti’s son. He is 21 so in our range of age and gave us some inside into the mind-set of young Indians. Our journey started with a traditional breakfast and after we finished we visited an ancient city, which entailed magnificent structures. We also got a burning sweet dish called fire paan and ended our day on a highlight with a visit to a Sikh-Temple. We were fortunate enough to see a Sikh-Service and it was fascinating to experience something so special in our first week. 

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Sunday was the last day and all the volunteers were brought to their respective location, which was quite convenient for me, because I just needed to stay in Delhi. So that was also the first time visiting my future workplace, the office of Eat Right Basket. It is a cosy office located in Noida. I was able to meet most of the employees and got a tour through the building, where I immediately got to experience the warm and welcoming atmosphere of the place.
Regarding my work, I’m not 100 percent sure on where I will fit in to the machinery, but I’m confident that I will find my place and that I’ll able to pull my weight as best as I can. 

This is where my first week in India ends. All the experiences I’ve been able to collect so far were really great and I’m excited what the following year will bring. 

Thank you for taking the time to read this. 

Sebastian 🙂

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