Thursday 11th January 2007: Delwara and Udaipur

Today the boys’ school in Delwara had its own careers day, which was vastly more successful and interesting that I had allowed myself to expect. In fact, if my own event next month is to assume its rightful place in local history as a milestone in educational development then I have to get my act pretty seriously together. The thing that struck me the most was the display of charts designed by the kids in one of the classrooms. Each chart was dedicated to a different career, detailing qualifications required and listing some nearby educational institutions that provided these. Many of these were quite impressive and should be a useful resource for the kids providing they are made available for reference, which I repeatedly urged the teacher in charge to ensure.
   The only down side was Chandrika’s hoped-for coup, a careers adviser brought over from Udaipur, who bored the children at length with what appeared to be a rather generalised homily about careers, not really tailored towards Delwara at all. The biscuit was taken well and truly by a rather earnest moment when she appeared to be advocating a career in tomato sales.
   At the entrance to Vikas Samiti this evening I bumped into Prakash and my fair-skinned idol from the library. I greeted Prakash over-cheerily in an attempt to cover my nerves and he introduced me to his friend Vishal. My heart leapt when Prakash suggested that “You will take some tea now, Jon?” and the three of us went round the corner for chai and gossip. I had never once imagined that Prakash and this boy might be friends and was a little overwhelmed by the situation. The conversation inevitably hovered around me at first - my background, my work with Vikas Samiti, my impressions of India - but Vishal, who it turns out is studying for an MBA, soon started telling me about an NGO that he was in the process of establishing with his friends. The organisation’s unique selling point appears to be its eclectic offering of bringing succour to the oppressed and the interpretation of dreams. The whole thing was over too quickly for me to form any detailed impressions of Vishal except that he is serious as I imagined, but also has a capacity for fun and has a pretty, quizzical smile.
   In the evening a few of us went to a performance of kathak. This is a wonderfully energetic dance form of Hindu origins, but subsequently the darling of the Mughal court, full of stamping, ankle-bells and intricate gestures accompanied by a strangely pleasing repetitive musical accompaniment. The lead dancer was highly accomplished and beautiful, although she had a streaming cold and had to dive into the corner and sniff vigorously from time to time! The tabla player and singer were both excellent and the sarangi player rather less so. The music was based on the kinds of raags that sound most alien to our ears, due to the combination of flattened seconds (komal-Re) and raised fourths (tivra-Ma) and, in the case of raags derived from Thaat Purvi, a flattened sixth (komal-Dha) as well. This combination of notes, especially in the endlessly repeated formulae found in kathak, generates a sound world of awful tension.

Kathak 

(credit: http://pondicherrycity.olx.in)

   After the concert, the English among us felt a strong craving to go to a good old-fashioned pub and drink pints of real ale. In the reality of Udaipur, Ellen and I went back with Zelda to Love Nest to sink a couple of Kingfishers…


Next Post - Sunday 14th January 2007: Jodhpur (will be posted Saturday 14th January 2012)