And finally...the Dream Team at Dream a Dream

The last supper........

Today is my last day at Dream a Dream - well at least until I return for my second fortnight sometime early next year to follow up etc. Last night the "Dream Team" all went to Kalpana's home for dinner. Kalpana is one of the Leadership Team and had us all round for a very scrummy meal. It was my first visit to an Indian home and to home-cooked food which was amazing....especially the jalebi.......sweet lattice-like fried loveliness!! All very bad for the diet and the heart no doubt, but nevertheless delicious. We all sat on the floor and devoured the excellent food and company.

Yesterday morning I was frantic writing up my reports and soon I will be presenting my recommendations to the Leadership Team. I have already taken Vishal (the Director) through these reports and hope that the Leadership Team are as positive as he was.

Yesterday morning I visited a school funded by the Round Table of India where Dream a Dream runs some of their programmes. The kids at the school mostly come from a local slum area and, again, I was struck by their hunger for learning. As a white man I was quite an attraction. See the pics! The conditions in the school were very very basic compared to our own standards but the standards of behaviour were great - if a little Dickensian at times. On entering the classroom, all the kids (mainly 12/13 years old) stood up and said good morning. They then sat down and in turns stood up individually to say their names. Teachers clearly have no problems with behaviour - unlike Christophe, the young guy I am coaching who is spending his first two years of work as a teacher in a pretty challenging school near Heathrow through an organisation called Teach First. He always tells me that about 80% of his time is spent trying to keep control! It wasn't like that at yesterday's school.

The terrorist attack at Mumbai has dominated Indian TV - as it has done across the world. To let you all know that I am fine and thanks to everyone for your text messages asking if I am OK. Even if they arrived in the middle of the night/early morning!!!! Hey...thanks for waking me up about a dozen times each night for the last 2 nights!!!! Seriously, it is good to know I have such wonderful friends and family all concerned about me.

This is my last blog posting as I fly home tomorrow morning. I'll have to leave the hotel at 04.30 to get to the airport by 05.30 for my 07.45 flight to Heathrow. I land at about 1.00pm and hope to be home at about 3.00pm - probably a bit wobbly with jet-lag and general exhaustion after my pretty intense 2 weeks here.

I'll have to get used to the cold weather at home as it has been mild here - although very wet for the past 3 days.....and SO muddy too!!

It's been a wonderful two weeks here spent with some amazing people. I'll miss the Dream a Dream team but will be staying in touch via email and before I know it, I'll be back

So thanks for keeping up to date with my travels and experiences. I hope you have enjoyed reading my entries and look forward to catching up with you soon.

You decide, no you decide, no you decide......

Top left: Hamsa

Above: Claire and Kalpana

Left: Anju

Below: Vishal

In the group picture, foreground left: Sonali and Sunil

You will no doubt be puzzled at my heading for today's blog. It comes as a result of a fascinating discussion I had this evening with Vishal (Dream a Dream's Director) and some of the DaD team. In essence, all about the Indian attitude to making decisions. There are so many occasions when an Indian will leave the decision to do something to the next person - always being ultra-accommodating and never wanting to assert him/herself. I've witnessed it on several occasions whilst I have been here and never really understood it.

Lunch times in the office we invariably go to Cholera Cafe as you will have read. But if I were to make a suggestion or give a choice, it is difficult to get a clear yes or no. Instead you generally get an "if you want" response.

Vishal and a few of us left work this evening for a beer. I went on the back of Vishal's bike and was observing the Bangalore traffic which, as you've seen from my video on an earlier blog posting, is pretty horrendous. And I'm always amazed at why I haven't seen any accidents.

Well, I think this accommodating approach comes into play on the roads too as drivers sort of make way for other cars, bikes, rickshaws, cows, carts, pedestrians etc. And it works!!! Of course if a Westerner were to drive on these roads there would be multiple pile-ups as we are generally such assertive and competitive drivers.....

Just a thought I wanted to share with you and another little insight I've had into the Indian way of life.

Posted on this blog today are some pictures of some of the Dream a Dream team. We all went out for a Biriyani lunch today........Made a change from the daily masala dosa!!

Another visit to the slum....

The largest slum in Banagalore is just across the road from the office. I went back with one of the managers from Dream a Dream and this time took my camera. Here are a few pictures - such desparate conditions but most people look happy. Behind that apparent happiness though is extreme poverty and, at times, violence that exists within the family unit. Wife beatings, child abuse etc. There is no running water in the slum and as you can see from one of the pictures people rely on a sump - an underground reservoir in which the water collects. There is no official electricity provided to the slum dwellings so most people tap (illegally and dangerously) electricity supply from the main cable. And of course there are no toilets, so people make do in whatever way they can finding a private place to carry out their ablution. It is all incredibly humbling and when you see these conditions, it makes Dream a Dream's mission so much the more urgent.

One of the colleagues I visited the slum with told me that that she has a nanny to look after her 4 year old daughter. Her nanny was married when she was 11 years old (pre-puberty)! In her early 40's now, she is a grandmother!! At least her daughter was married at 16 years old which represents a slight improvement and is now 22 years old with 3 daughters. What is so distressing when I hear stories like this is that children here are robbed of their childhood at such an early age.

End of Week One

It's been a great first week at Dream a Dream. So much to learn and see and have already started to work on the key aspects of my project here. Some of my highlights this week was the visit to the slum area, the afternoon spent at an orphanage and the warmth of the welcome I have received by everyone working at Dream a Dream. They share a hugely ambitious vision for a more equitable and fair society and do some really great things towards delivering on their dream. But the task is huge and I have only seen the tip of the iceberg. For those of you who have visited India, you will know that this is a complex country full of contradictions. But this is also a fast-growing economy and there is real optimism in the air.

I grabbed an hour this morning (Saturday) to visit the City Market. Like most Indian markets, what strikes you is the noise, the hussle and bustle, the colours, the commercialism, the smells (good and bad!) and the friendly people - many of whom are eking out a living selling a few items artistically displayed to maximise appeal.

Now that I have been here a week, I feel I am well into the groove of Indian life. I do what most Indians do when crossing the road...i.e. look for a small gap in the traffic and stride out holding my hand out. Invariably, traffic stops or slows down and all is fine. Though there have been one or two scary moments!! The traffic is so heavy that cars, bikes, buses and rickshaws don't go that fast so stopping or slowing down is relatively straight-forward. Well, that's my theory!!

I have had a great meeting with Vishal today and will be seeing him again for another meeting at 5pm. Tomorrow I hope to go to Bangalore Palace and the Botanical Gardens where, fingers crossed, I will be able to escape the continuous traffic noise and the pollution.

Many of you have asked for more photos so here is a selection (above) of the orphanage, the endearingly named "Cholera Cafe" where we get our lunch during the week, and the market.....

Keep your comments on my blog entries coming. It's good to hear from you. And apologies for not emailing you....am having problems with sending emails other than via webmail which is fiddly and time-consuming. Till the next time......

Let's do the head wobble and other things......

For those of you who have been to India, you will be familiar with the head wobble. I'd forgotten just how confusing that this can be when a shake of the head means yes and you think it actually means no. It's becoming contagious and I'm catching myself doing the head wobble too from time to time!

Talking about contagious things, I went out today to pick up a take-away masala dosa for my lunch. That, for the uninitiated, is a thin flour batter that is fried and filled with spicy potato, served with a chutney and samba (a watery curry gravy). It is really scrummy and an ideal snack. All for 15 rupees - about 25 pence. So lunch doesn't come expensive. My only challenge was I had to cross the sewer/river just by the office and the smell put me off my food....but only for a few seconds as I do like my food.

I've also had to get used to Indian tea and coffee - both served hot, very milky and very sweet. For someone who usually takes black coffee, no sugar, it takes some getting used to. But thankfully I do get one decent americano coffee each morning on my way to work at a coffee chain called Cafe Day - the Indian version of Starbucks....and they have outlests everywhere.

Four days into my assignment and I have collected a good knolwedge of Dream a Dream and the key issues facing the organisation. I have just agreed with Vishal (the Director) and the Leadership Team exactly what I will now deliver for them before I return to the UK. Time is running by so fast and there is much I want to do..........

Soon I am off to one of the NGO partners, an orphanage about 30 mins by rickshaw from the office. There I will see another Dream a Dream programme in action. On Saturday morning (at 6.30am) I'll be attending the hockey programme to see how they are delivering life skills through sport. More of that another time.

It's all in the language

My hotel is just off a road called Brigade Road. So you would think that it is simple to ask the rickshaw drive for Brigade Road when leaving the office in the evening. But nothing is quite so simple. I just get greeted with a stare. So I repeat....Brigade Road. Another stare. And this goes on for a few times until the driver says "Briggerd Road".

I'm learning Indian English very fast and clearly my educated Queen's English needs some tailoring. Such are the delights of living and working in Bangalore!! We Brits were here for 200 years and this is clearly the Indian revenge on us!!

Today's visit to a community centre

The highlight of my day today was a visit to a community centre - one of the NGO partners of Dream a Dream (DAD) where some of the DAD team run regular creative arts sessions for kids aged 6-12 as part of their life skils learning and development. This is one of about 7 programmes that DAD run with kids from disadvantaged backgrounds. Most of the kids live in extreme poverty - on the streets, in slums or from very poor homes/neighbourhoods. Visited the community centre to experience a creative skills class take place. It was fabulous and inspiring to see such animated young faces. 25 kids in all attended - 4 of them were siblings. Their parents had died and were being brought up by an older brother. He was at work so had they not had the community centre to go to then they would be playing around in the street.

My commute to work takes about 20 minutes by auto rickshaw and costs a mere 20 rupees - about 30p. This morning was pretty intense, understanding more about the challenges that DAD faces - listening and learning and absorbing vast amounts of new information presented in a wide range of Indian dialects - puts my listening skills to the test!!

But they are a great bunch of people at Dream a Dream and have been incredibly welcoming.

Almost mastered the art of eating with my hands - well right hand only - for obvious reasons. But that does test my dexterity as I am left-handed! Rice is a major challenge so I generally eat curry with breaad - roti or naan. Am staying in a hotel with a great vegetarian Indian restaurant and having some great food - but curry for breakfast is a bit of a challenge. Resorting instead to cornflakes and fresh fruit and toast with pretty dodgy jam! Hopefully will find somewhere tonight that serves meat!! Plenty restaurants but I am still orientating myself around the local vicinity of the hotel.

Back to the slum of yesterday, I forgot to mention that it sits next to a river - well an open sewer really that carries an enormous amount of waste and debris from Bangalore that collects on the river banks. Tomorrow if I get time I'll take a pic and you'll see what I mean. But as I said in yesterday's entry, there appears to be general happiness despite the appalling conditions. I saw a women's self-help group in action in the slum. A group of women who meet periodically and pool meagre amounts of money. This money is then loaned out at pretty near zero interest rates to help any one of the women in need. Great stuff.

Ah well, it's been a long day and I'm tired cos my sleep pattern hasn't quite adjusted to the flight and time difference. Am doing this in the office and am the last person here. Fan is going on the ceiling and the flurescent (spelling?) lights are blaring - along with the constant din of the traffic outside and the hooters going full pelt announcing the presence of every single driver. In that chaos I must try to wave down a rickshaw and negotiate my way home.

See you next time on this blog!

Day One at Dream a Dream

My first day here is coming to an end. It has been a fascinating insight into an amazing charity doing some pretty amazing things. Arrived here by rickshaw and although I thought that I had got the price well down from an initial 200 rupees to 100 rupees for the trip from my hotel, I soon discovered that it should have only cost me 20 rupees!! With about 70 rupees to the £, that is really cheap. Ah well, I now know for the journey going back to the hotel!

Spent the day listening to the key players here who make up the leadership team, led by Vishal the Chief Exec who is a truly inspirational guy. My work for the next two weeks is becoming clearer and there will be much to do around helping to build a satrategy for growth.

Vishal and I have just taken a tour around Bangalore's biggest slum - just opposite Dream a Dream's office. It houses well over 200,000 people and covers an area of about 4 square kilometres. Such areas of poverty are not new to me but it has been some years since I visited a shanty town in S Africa or was last in India etc. The amazing thing is that in general, the people look happy and yet they have very, very little.

I feel a little punch drunk with so much information that I have absorbed today. Hoping to get some photos and video uploaded onto this blog soon!

I've arrived in Bangalore

Arrived at Bangalore airport 30 minutes early after an uneventful flight. Terminal 5 at Heathrow was really impressive and lived up to all it was supposed to be. Whilst busy, there were few queues and the longest I had to queue was at security which took me 5 minutes! We touched down at Bangalore at 5.00am local time (5.5 hours ahead) and took a taxi to my hotel - the Ballal Residency.

Drove from the airport as dawn broke. My driver was, like most Indian drivers, hooter happy reminding me of the chaos on the roads when I was last in India in 2001. En route to the hotel, we passed a golf course and loads of people were playing at 6.30am!!

The hotel is simple but clean and will be my home for the next 2 weeks. I had a quick breakfast (curry of course) and then collapsed on my bed for a 3 hour sleep. Have just returned to the hotel having walked around the immediate area jam packed with people, rickshaws and endless cars and scooters. My biggest shock was to see a Marks & Spencer franchise store just around the corner from the hotel!!

Writing this in my hotel room that overlooks a Police Officers' sports ground and...guess what....a cricket match is on with highly enthusuastic crowds and a commentator blaring from the PA system.

Still feeling a bit wobbly after the flight, the time change and the lack of sleep. So looking forward to a good night tonight and to meeting all the team at Dream a Dream tomorrow.

Getting ready to leave the UK

No-one is more surprised than me to find that I'm writing a blog!! Blogging is a very recent addition to my technical skills (thanks to the help and assistance of Sandra at Adopt a Business) and I thought it would be a great way to keep in touch with family, friends and colleagues whilst I am in Bangalore.

Through my blog, I will be able to share some of my experiences of my work with Dream a Dream and update some choice photos - and even videos. So I hope that you log-in from time to time whilst I am away.

I am writing this first entry whilst in the middle of packing and preparing to leave the UK tomorrow (Saturday). I will hopefully post my next entry from Bangalore in a couple of days or so. Enjoy!