I must apologise to my regular readers (hopefully that’s not just my parents…) for neglecting to update my blog recently. I have had a string of people coming to visit since I last wrote, something I wasn’t expecting so soon into my time here. It was amazing to have visitors and for them to see the Baale Mane. It has also served as a great opportunity to see some more of India including the beautiful backwaters and beaches of Kerala over New Year and later Mysore for a long weekend. Over New Year Alex and I flew to Trivandrum, in the south of Kerala, staying first at an eco-lodge on the backwaters called Friday’s Place http://www.fridaysplacekerala.com.  Mark, who is from the UK, owns and built the place himself. It is quite a unique experience staying here because you have to get a boat to get there and the cottages are built on the banks in between loads of small canals. However, you have to be able to deal with no running water and make friends with the gigantic spiders that like sitting on your mosquito net! For the second half of the trip we went north of Trivandrum to relax on the beach near the fishing village of Puthenthope. While I would recommend where we stayed http://www.palmleaves.in/main.htm , this place should definitely come with a few warnings…like don’t expect things to happen quickly and keep a tab on how much food you are ordering (they don’t volunteer the prices of individual items and it really adds up!). However they served amazing fresh seafood (after a few hours wait!) and there are hammocks on the beach to watch the stunning sunsets from.

My parents also managed to squeeze in a 10-day visit in mid-January amid their numerous other commitments back in the UK and the fact that they are about to become grandparents soon with my sister Athena due in March! A massive bonus while they were here, other than gaining a crash course on Tipu Sultan – it is usually my Ma who serves as the walking guide book, but this time the detail came from my Father and his long-time friend Stephan who joined us for the trip, both keen enthusiasts on the topic – was being able to see Mysore Palace lit up on the Sunday night. There are roughly 10,000 light bulbs involved and the scene is breath-taking not just because of the lights but the general atmosphere too. The palace grounds were filled with tourists, both Indian and foreign, as well as locals taking a warm evening stroll with family and friends. A couple of young lads took great delight in sidling up next to my 6’3” Father, or to them that strange grey-haired British gentleman, in order to get their picture taken.

All the visitors who have come and gone so far have fallen a little bit in love with Baale and the girls here, and I can guarantee it will happen to you too if you decide to visit!  On return home M & D Chenery decided that they wanted to make a contribution of some kind, and, seeing as they saw first-hand our struggles with transport and because our only means of getting around (the auto rickshaw) had been returned to the lender, they decided that a new auto would be just the right thing for them to give. Not only that, but it seems the offensively noisy and brightly coloured autos flooding each and every road and side street became quite a fond memory of India for them both. In particular for my Father, who apparently since the trip has taken to doing ‘auto impressions’ in the morning, just as effective as an alarm clock according to my Ma and sister Lizzy.

Back at Baale things have been busy busy busy (as ever!) with some of our future plans taking firm strides towards realisation. It was back in December when I wrote my last post and mentioned our plans to extend the Baale Mane campus. All we were sure of at that point was that it was high on our list of priorities. Remarkably, soon after that post Chris Harrison received an email from Ajith Andagere, a local architect offering his professional services and assistance should we ever need it – I am sure he was not banking on us coming back to him so soon, nor quite so eagerly! Ajith happens to live just around the corner from us on the Nrityagram campus (a dance school near Taj Kuteeram) where his offices are temporarily based http://www.andagereassociates.com . He had passed by our wooden sign at the top of our road many times and always wondered what Baale Mane was. He contacted us on the off-chance – an amazing and lucky coincidence for us! Things have moved forward at a good pace since our initial communication and a team of architects have been back and forth between Nrityagram and Baale Mane measuring the existing buildings and available space for the new buildings. The architects also enlisted the help of some of the girls who showed huge enthusiasm towards the new project and dashed about with the tape measure under their instruction.

Over the coming months we hope to enlist the help of a team from Paris Mines Tech, an engineering college in Paris. The team are colleagues of the guys who started ‘The Road’ project http://www.theroad.fr/?page_id=46 , fundraising money for Baale Mane by attempting a bike ride from Bangalore to Paris. The team from Mines Tech would like to be involved in some way with designing an area of the new campus that will serve as a space of leisure for the girls. They would like to help fundraise for this and are also planning to visit us later on in the year to spend time with the girls. Please keep updated on the project by visiting this page http://www.baalemane.org/donate.

Through Ajith we have been introduced to some more of our neighbours, Arati and Naved Venkat, who also live near Taj Kuteeram/Nrityagram and are beginning the rural branch of an already established vocational training programme called EKLAVYA and an English Language course for all ages called PYGMALION. Again, they have been introduced to us at exactly the right time given that their project ties in to an existing idea to create a structured programme for girls entering 1st and 2nd PUC. We hope that this will help them with the transition from Baale to the outside world, a daunting and intimidating prospect for a lot of them currently. With Arati and Naved we plan to launch a summer programme beginning with career and aptitude testing and the EKLAVYA programme to help the older girls develop a skills set outside formal education. We are also planning on organising a number of careers talks and visits to different vocations/places of work – many of our girls are keen to get into the police force so I am very excited to arrange for the guys (and gals) in uniform to come to Baale to give a talk! 15-year-old Chaitra, whose dream is to become a pilot, will not forgive me if I don’t manage to get the Indian Air Force along too, so I’d better start working on some contacts there!  If you are from Bangalore and work in a sector that you think might be of interest to the girls at Baale Mane please do get in touch (Vicky@baalemane.org).

Over the last month the 10^th Standard and 1^st PUC girls have been studying for their preliminary exams and in the next few weeks they will begin their finals. Most of the girls, including the very little ones in 1^st and 2^nd Standard, diligently complete their homework in the evenings without needing to be prompted and the focus has intensified since the exam period began. When the sun has gone down I often enjoy sitting in the courtyard with my book listening to their murmurs as they recite English poems or their times tables. A few weeks ago, during these unusually calm few hours at Baale, I was asking some of the 10^th girls what they had been studying for that day. Fathima began listing some topics, most sounded familiar to me except for one which she kept calling “zebra”. What is zebra?! I was intrigued, until I realised that she actually meant “algebra” – since then every so often I’ll ask her if she has finished her zebra homework and we have a good little giggle about it.

WOW… I just re-read that and I feel a little exhausted – I am going to stop staring at this computer and take a stroll down to the railway line before the girls get back from school and the peace and quiet is lost for the rest of the day. 

Thanks for reading!

The Open Day was a huge success. We were about 300 in total on the day and the girls performed a varied showcase including cultural dances, the Dollu Kunuta (Drum Dance) and singing. The final act was a drama piece and from what I can understand- because it was all done to song with no words – it was a story about a cow and a tiger. The tiger is about to eat the cow when the cow asks if she can first go back to see her children and say goodbye. The tiger assumes this is just a trick but the cow gives the tiger her word. The tiger reluctantly lets her go. After an emotional goodbye with her children the cow returns to the tiger as promised. The tiger is so shocked that the cow kept her word that he does not eat her, in fact they become friends! Not sure that is exactly how it would go down in the animal world but a nice story none the less.

I loved how excited the girls were about dressing up in their furry costumes and, as it became increasingly hotter, I was quite impressed that they managed to maintain their enthusiasm to wear them for most of the day!

The Open Day was also my first time wearing Churidar (Indian dress) and, from the pleased reactions of the girls I think I carried it off OK! I say this because the girls are pretty brutal in their honesty, particularly when it comes to fashion and hairstyles. If they don’t like what you are wearing they will tell you immediately and if they don’t approve of your hairstyle they will just sit you down and proceed to de-tangle an arrangement that had just taken you a good ten minutes to perfect. However, I am learning to appreciate this as my usual scruffiness that my sister Athena tends to highlight on occasion, is slowly being replaced by a more groomed Mr Vicky! Athena you will be so proud!

Aside from my vanity I am pleased to inform you all that there will be some very positive developments happening here at Baale in the near future, which I hope you will choose to be involved with and support. This will include two new buildings to provide more space for staff and girls as well as new vehicles to increase our mobility and access. We are also working hard to develop a mentoring system so that each of the older girls will have their own mentor to support them with confidence building and the practical attainment of their future goals and ambitions. We have great ideas but we also need the financial and practical support to see these ideas become reality – Let me know if you are interested in helping out.

That is it for now. Hope you enjoy the photos!

As I write this there is a baby monkey looking at me through my bedroom window and I am feeling incredibly grateful that the window is closed- seeing as I couldn’t handle a frog in here I doubt I could do much better trying to remove a monkey.

There is certainly not a shortage of things to update you all with. I’ll start with the anecdotal first…

My new and improved vegetarian diet has done little in my favour so far. I am reminded daily of the Greek tradition of eating, which I became very familiar with from a young age from the many meals eaten under the watchful eye of my Grandmother. In India I am encouraged to take second and even third helpings at every meal and if I really am full I must put up a certain degree of protest before my ‘feeder’ finally accepts defeat.

A further challenge while establishing initial communication with external partners is that because the short version of the name Vikram is Vicky, and being a popular name for a man in India, I keep getting replies to my emails calling me “Mr Vicky”. This has continued to be a source of amusement to Mary who is often cc’d in on the same emails and I can hear giggling across the desk from me.

The big event this month was the trip to Mahabalipuram and below is a short review.

Unspeakably early on Saturday 5^th November Baale Mane staff and girls loaded onto two buses generously donated by our friends at Red Bus www.redbus.in to begin the journey to Mahabalipuram, a historical coastal town about 25km south of Chennai. The trip was organised by Bella and made possible by the extremely generous donations made by her friends.

The buzz about the trip began well in advance, as did the packing preparations! I was asked daily whether I had finished “packing my dress” and it was thought of as quite unacceptable that I was planning to do this a few hours before we left. I finally submitted and allowed a couple of girls to help me choose some clothes to pack. I ended up with about eight different outfits laid out on my bed, which I felt was a little excessive for two days away.

Staff preparation involved dividing the girls into teams, each led by a member of staff and a girl in 1^st PUC. This division caused quite a stir but was eventually met with enthusiasm and the girls began arranging pre-trip meetings and made badges for each of their team mates. I was a proud member of the “Chennai Super Kings”!

The journey there took a little longer than anticipated and unsurprisingly we hit very heavy traffic going through Chennai. This made it almost impossible for us to stop anywhere for a toilet break for the last four or five hours of the journey. Having (over)confidently polished off two cartons of maaza (mango juice) as well as significant amounts of water I was beside myself for most of this time, and, despite trying to communicate this to the driver, the urgency of the situation was not quite being conveyed in any seriousness! I survived without humiliation but it certainly goes down as one of the most excruciating journeys of my life!

We were all relieved to arrive and the journey there was quickly forgotten – although I am still getting flashbacks… After settling in and having breakfast we headed to Dakshinachitra to begin our programme for the day. This consisted of a tour around the cultural centre and exploring the model village of traditional South Indian homes. The girls then took part in some activities including ornament painting and pottery. In the afternoon and evening the girls learned some traditional folk dancing of Tamil Nadu, which was great fun to watch and amazing to see how talented all the girls are! The drumming gradually increased in speed as did the dance moves and after about 45 minutes of this the girls looked like they’d just run a marathon.

The following day we had a tour around the temples of Mahabalipuram, also known as Mamallapuram, some of which are over 2,000 years old. First was the Shore Temple, which as the name suggests, was right next to the beach and absolutely stunning! Then the Pancha Rathas (Five Chariots) and finally The Descent of the Ganges and Arjuna’s Penance depicted in relief on a magnificent monolithic rock.

There was also “Krishna’s Butterball” – a phrase I thoroughly enjoyed hearing our guide repeat over and over again, which is an enormous natural rock balanced on the edge of a stone hill. The girls took great delight in being photographed underneath it and pretending to hold it up. There was also a particularly slippery section of stone which had obviously been used regularly by visitors as a slide, ending in an enormous puddle at the bottom of the slope. The trick was to try and stop yourself before landing in it!

The final activity of the trip was the long-awaited visit was to Tiger Cave beach. It is quite a special thing to see a child experience the ocean for the first time and I got to see that 60 times over which was indescribable. There were gasps of excitement and a mad rush to remove footwear in order to charge into the waves. They showed no hesitation and within minutes the majority were wet from head to toe and covered in sand, while staff stood at the sidelines trying to monitor the mayhem! It was an incredible sight watching the girls splashing about and playing in the waves and I hope that the photos give you a sense of the excitement and happiness it gave each of them.

More photos of the trip can be viewed on our flickr page http://www.flickr.com/photos/baalemane/

And on our facebook page which I hope you will all visit and give it a ‘like’

http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Baale-Mane-Gopalapura/269735353070439

On the long journey back to Baale we stopped off at Kanchipuram, a temple city south west of Chennai on the Palar River. It was stunning to see lit up at night time. There are also two temple Elephants, one was off duty but the other was all dressed up at the front entrance of the temple. You give him one rupee, which he will snatch from you in his trunk and in return you receive a knock on the head as a blessing. A strange but wonderful sight!

In other news…

A couple of weeks ago Mary’s friend Vanaja (who also gives lessons in street drama to the girls and came with us on the trip) took us to the Government Film and Television Institute which is not too fair from the Baale. We managed to get a glimpse of a film being made about Mahatma Gandhi. This was very apt as I am currently reading his Autobiography. The actor playing him engaged us in conversation for a while which was extremely surreal considering he was in full costume and was the spitting image of the real thing! Unfortunately we didn’t get to see much of him in action, as my friends Emma and Claudia well know from working in television, preparing a set can take a very long time and in the end the only acting we saw was Gandhi (in his old age) shuffling very slowly past the camera a couple of times.

Film Set

On Monday 14^th November it was National Children’s Day in India, so as part of the celebrations some college students from Seshadripuram Institute of Management Studies (SIMS) came and spent the day with us on the Sunday. As well as bringing a healthy supply of food and cake for us all they also arranged a full day of activities like musical chairs and dance and art competitions. Unsurprisingly, considering their focus of study, the day went brilliantly and required very little assistance from the staff, which meant that we all got to enjoy the festivities too!

In the same week we were also excited to receive Bina and Sumitra from Ipartner India www.ipartnerindia.org , a UK based philanthropic organisation and a valued  partner of Baale Mane. The girls performed the Dollu Kunuta (drum dance) to mark the occasion.

Currently we are in the midst of preparing for the Baale Mane Open Day on Sunday 11^th December and our annual strategy meeting with all the trustees during which we will be discussing some exciting future developments!

If you are planning on joining us for the Open Day please send us your RSVPs as soon as possible. The girls are busy preparing a rich cultural programme for our guests including the Dollu Kunuta (drum dance), folk dances, street drama and singing. For those of you who cannot make it I will be sure to take plenty of photos and update you with all the action from the day.

Thanks for reading,

Mr Vicky!

I spent my second week predominantly at the FRRO (Foreigners Regional Registration Office) trying to register my employment visa, which reduced me to a tearful wreck on three occasions. The entire process managed to involve most of the Baale Mane Trustees as well as Bella, my excellent predecessor who deserves special mention in this post for so many reasons – but particularly for hosting me and looking after me so well. I received my registration and approval to work in the country with the same heart-racing anticipation I felt while waiting by the phone to hear my A-level results! I am trying not to think about the fact that I have to renew my visa and re-register in just under six months’ time…

While going back and forth to the FRRO office with new documents blazoned with the desired amount of rubber stamping, I took great comfort in the fact that I managed to navigate my way around the city. I also learned how to negotiate firmly with the auto rickshaw drivers – although I suspect I was overcharged.

During the same week Chris Harrison, the Chairman of the ‘Friends of the Baale Mane Trust’  in the UK was here for a visit and so we managed to squeeze in some meetings with potential partner NGOs in Bangalore.

At the end of the busy week I was happy to get back to the Baale Mane and see Mary and the girls. Mary is the manager who has been with the girls since the home’s inception 11 years ago. Her involvement here goes far beyond any normal job description – she has passionately dedicated her life to helping these girls. It is because of this passion and dedication from Mary, and others like her, that the Baale Mane has developed quite significantly over the last few years. Intended only as a temporary and basic shelter for girls in the city, its bright yellow home now sits proudly among beautiful agricultural fields. The Baale is supported by a board of Trustees in the UK, ‘The Friends of the Baale Mane’, and ‘The Baale Mane Trust’ in India.

Within half an hour of being back at the Baale Mane, my nails had been freshly painted, a beautiful Mehindi design had been drawn on my hand and I had received a coconut oil hair treatment!

It is hard to describe how you feel after just a single day with the girls – probably a mixture of complete exhaustion, contentment and joy. I am hardly ever far from company; in fact it is almost impossible to be alone. Sometimes it is simply a hand that finds its way into mine, other times I am bracing myself as I hear the happy stomping of a group charging down the hallway to find me. The place is a continuous hub of activity and, despite there being 60 of them, they look after each other like a close-knit family.

Over the weekend three friends from Edinburgh University came to visit us: Hannah Boulton, Tom Huntingford and George Cowie, who are currently filming a documentary about work in India. It was by chance that I arrived in Bangalore just as they were about to spend 10 days filming a story about IT workers in the city. The three are filming their documentary by foot and aim to reach Mumbai in mid-December to catch their flight home – keep your eyes peeled for the final product in your TV guides!

While here they interviewed Mary about her experiences as a social worker and the difficulties women and girl children face in India. They also managed to get some great shots of the girls walking along the train line singing songs in Kannada as well as songs from the ‘The Sound of Music’ – although I think the girls may need to listen to the lyrics again as there was a significant amount of guesswork going on.

Tom also helped fix some of the bicycles that had been donated and the girls were delighted. Nicolle, a Dutch woman who is staying here for a few weeks and who first came to the Baale Mane in 2009, took some of the girls out cycling yesterday. As some of my friends well know, I am not brave enough to cycle even in the calmest of traffic so I have avoided it here at all costs. I am not quite sure what I will do when Nicolle leaves, I am running out of excuses!

The rounders set (courtesy of my Ma) has been a huge hit (literally!) and this is where I have been getting the majority of my physical exercise. I also woke up at 6am to join the girls for yoga on Monday but have not managed to get up for it a second time…  Here’s hoping it will somehow find its way into my daily routine!

Given the constant buzz of activity and movement I relish the more stationary challenges presented to me. For example the other day, 15-year-old Chaitra gave me question that I had to find out the answer to before 8:30pm. The question was ‘who invented the aeroplane?’, mine for her was ‘who invented the telephone?’. It took her about 20 minutes to come back with the correct answer. Naturally it took me until 8:25 with all the rest of the day’s happenings to even remember the challenge, I got to her just in time.

When the power behaves itself here, I am able to keep up to date with emails from external supporters, partner NGOs and the trustees in the UK and India. There is certainly not a shortage of things to do and I am looking forward to the next few months. Next week the girls will be performing folk dances at an event in the city for Dewali and on 5th November we are all going to Mahabalipuram, near Chennai, to see the temples and for the girls to see the sea for the first time. Bella fundraised for the trip as it was something she had really wanted the girls to do. Unfortunately she has already left for the UK and cannot come with us but I have promised to take plenty of photos and videos of the girls’ reactions.

On a final note I would like to thank my Ma for her recent email in which she reminded me that ‘snakes eat frogs’ – I got the fright of my life when I returned to my room yesterday evening to find a frog poking its head out from underneath the plug in my sink! Terrified that a snake would be following it up the drain I ran down the hallway to get some of the girls to help me remove it from my room. In the end Devi braved the removal process with a broom while the rest of us hopped about on the bed clinging to each other and shrieking like a bunch of girls!

In 7 Days time I will be flying to India to begin work as the Assistant Manager at the Baale Mane in the village of Gopalapura outside Bangalore. The Baale Mane is a home for 65 girls rescued from domestic service, violence or street dwelling, while some do not have parents able to care for them.

When I think about the flight landing in Bangalore I feel anticipation and a lot of nerves. I have successfully distracted myself over the last few months making endless to-do lists and now, with less than a week to go, can’t think of anything I haven’t done yet. In the Chenery house there is no such thing as being over-prepared and my Ma has been gathering a variety of ‘essential’ gadgets, adding them sneakily to my pile of packing.

My parents joke at the lengthy process of farewell events with friends while I am just impressed that I haven’t cried yet! Modern technology today, primarily the joys of skype, has made living abroad relatively easy for our generation. However it’s also easy to get lost in the culture of ‘updating’ and so while I hope to keep everyone informed of my goings on and rally new support and interest for the Baale Mane,  I will need to take lots of time absorbing myself in the experience.

This is essentially the purpose of this blog, which I hope will be full to the brim with memories and adventures.

To read more about the Baale Mane please click the ‘About’ tab on this page.

Thank you for reading!