The angst factor is greatly reduced. In fact, I now feel quite at home in Bangalore. I’ve met my roommate. I’m starting to settle in at Parikrma. I’ve even found a great coffee shop, completely with comfy seats, clean tables, soft lighting, an adjoining bookstore (books create such wonderful ambiance), and … good coffee. For $0.50 a cup.
My living situation is … interesting. An experience, to be sure. I’m living in a room just large enough to for the two beds in it. My roommate is a 29-year-old marketing director for a broadband provider. I don’t think we’re destined to become life-long friends, but he’s a nice, agreeable guy. I feel a little guilty about the mess that invariably surrounds me (heh– Sagar will attest that I can completely trash a room, regardless of its size, in about 10 minutes)– his area is impeccable. He even folds his blanket every morning before he leaves for work. Our room is separated from the room next to it by a plywood partition that reaches about 2/3 of the way to the ceiling. Four of us share a bathroom. The showers (bucket style) are mercifully warm– not hot, but at least not frigid, as I had originally feared. The toilet is Eastern squat style. I’m provided two wonderful Indian meals a day– breakfast and dinner. My landlady, who lives in a house just up the street a little ways, is thoroughly kind– bordering on motherly. In fact, I regret having told her my age– as I set out last night in search of an internet cafe, she stopped me: “are you going OUT? At THIS time of night?” “Of course,” I replied. She cautioned me to return soon, since I was new to the area. I had to promise to be back within an hour before she desisted. It’s all good, though. I’m paying an unreal 3,000 rupees ($67USD) a month for room and board.
I’m exceptionally pleased with the school where I’m working. The Parikrma Humanity Foundation has three schools in Bangalore, servicing some 625 students from slums and orphanages. I’ve been placed at the Jayanagar campus, which has some 194 students at present. The idea is simple: Parikrma provides high quality education to children from abjectly impoverished homes as the means of developing communities and breaking the cycle of poverty by giving the children an equal opportunity to compete in a modern world.
The students are just amazing. They have just a voracious appetite for knowledge and an astonishing eagerness to learn. My time will be split between tutoring students needing extra help on a one-to-one basis, and helping develop a computer skills curriculum that will be implemented across Parikrma’s three (soon to be four) campuses.
More information about Parikrma can be found at their informative and exceptionally well-designed website: http://www.parikrmafoundation.org
