How to....drink from a bottle of water

On my initial trip to Delhi I didn't expect to have to re-educate myself how to drink a bottle of water. The local technique (kindly demonstrated by a former colleague in the video) illustrates how the continuous stream of water arches neatly into the drinker's mouth and gulped down in one ongoing motion. This canny way of consuming H2O prevents the spreading of germs between the rim of the bottle. It also promotes social behaviour. Until I came to India I had never seen strangers on a train or metro, ask another if they could share some water from their bottle. It brought a smile to my face.

As for my technique, I managed to almost choke in the process and ended up with a soaking wet T.Shirt. A bit like hopping onto a moving bicycle in Holland. If you've not grown up on it, you're never going to master it.

*please note if you want to try this at home stand up straight and not on your back (as the video wrongly suggests due to my poor camera work and editing) otherwise you will definitely choke.

A change of plan but not (entirely) location

Technically speaking this blog should be renamed as my new job starting on 1st August will be in Gurgaon, a satellite city on the outskirts of Delhi. I'll be working on Climate Change and Sustainability issues for an international consultancy. In the meantime, for a brief interlude I am back in Europe to collect my husband and pack away our flat before moving back and continuing the Indian adventure mid July. In the interim, I'll keep posting about musings I wanted to share earlier on in the year but didn't find the time to share.

Breaking the silence

Miles away in Delhi, after months of silence I am sure you were wondering what’s Katherine up to? Has Delhi belly got the better of her?; Has she decided to take ditch it all in and try her luck as a Bollywood backing dancer?; Or has she checked in to an ashram, swapped her city clothes for a tie dye number, grown dreads and is now spending her days sitting under a tree meditating?

Well, I hate to disappoint.

These days Delhi Belly is solved by prescription drugs available over the counter. Without a prescription. Now while I am a Bollywood convert, rhythm and coordination are required for even the most basic ‘bhangra’ moves. I have never and will never unfortunately possess either. As for ditching the job and heading to McCleod Ganj and Rishikesh (where the Beatles found themselves). There is an element of truth in that. But 10 days of vipassana meditation in an ashram, with no talking was just not within the realm of possibility given my heritage (the inability to both sit still and silent). And I have already tried tie dye clothing and African braids in my hair neither of which suited me much.

So what have I been doing? Good question. Actually, probably much the same as you. Commuting to work, sitting long hours behind a desk and computer, eating and sleeping. Nevertheless, for all you armchair anthropologists out there I thought it would be nice to give you a glimpse of elements of my routine over the last couple of months, as what may be a standard day back 'home' is infinitely more interesting somewhere 'faraway'.

These days I no longer wake up to the call to prayer. Instead I respond to the call of the blackberry as its alarm stirs me at 7am. South Indian 'Devans' coffee http://www.devans.in/ and fresh fruit with 'Mother Dairy' Dahi for breakfast. The fruit is bought from one of the men who pound the neighbourhood with their cart piled with neat rows of seasonal stock. They carefully weigh the produce with scales and weights, before quoting the price and putting me to shame by the their mental arithmetic abilities.

As I leave the house for work, I walk past the drivers washing their owners’ cars on a daily basis, teenage boys walking their master’s dogs, and retirees in their turbans/salwar kameez and trainers power walking around the neighbourhood park.

My commute has depending on where I am working. When I have been at the GIZ office I have gone by autorik. Commuting by auto rik has meant I've got to know the local 'gang' of drivers so well I no longer even have to speak to for them to take me to work for the 70 rupees metered price. The only thing is on automatic pilot they have also tried to take me there at weekends too....

When I have been at SIDBI's office I’ve taken the metro. The metro is a fairly new addition to Delhi's infrastructure landscape. In the building of it they 'forgot' to include a footbridge or underpass to the Jangpura metro stop which is the other side of a 6 lane road from the colony where everyone actually lives.

Numerous travel writers say that India needs more than a lifetime to discover. There is some truth in this as after four months I am still trying to figure out how to quite literally cross the road.

Despite this minor glich, I have found the Delhi metro is a great way of getting around. It's efficient, cheap and clean. Best of all, it is probably one of the most 'gender sensitive' metros worldwide. Every train has a women's only section of the platform and a dedicated 'women's only' carriage. It does speak volumes about gender relations though in a country where female infanticide is a persistent problem, and where women's representation in the formal workforce is low. As I commute to work in the sole women's carriage, the remaining 9 'mixed' carriages are essentially men only.

'Morning Ma’am' and tea laced with mountains of sugar (and three extra sugar cubes tucked on the side of the saucer) greet me on arrival at work. I am inclined to think that dentistry is a profitable business in India from all the evidence I've seen to date.

Welcome to my blog!

To those of you contenplating relocation to India, my first piece of advice is train for a marathon. You need good stamina for what lies ahead. Luckily I did just that. Running the Mumbai marathon in 30 degree heat is perhaps an unusal method of sightseeing but it was unforgettable. Cheers of "Go Aunty" from the crowd made me realise I clearly wasn't looking my best after 40 odd kilometers but the energizing beats of Bollywood classics kept me going as did the mysterious pace maker whose name I will never know. Mumbai Meri Jan. Of course it didn't irk me at all when I was later asked by a well meaning colleague about which marathon I did, the 6k or the 21k? To which I murmured, err...the whole one and they fell off their seat.

Some of you may wonder what I am actually doing here. Officially I am seconded onto the “Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) Financing and Development Project” It's a project between the German, British, Japanese and Indian governments along with the World Bank, working with the Small Industries Bank of India (SIDBI) to "strengthen the growth and competitiveness of MSMEs in India and boost their export potential". It's basically a project to help people like autorik wallahs (the person who drives a tuk tuk) reduce their GHG emissions and have access to micro credit to reduce their vulnerability to poverty so they can feed and clothe their families. And what you may ask have I got to do with all of that? Well I am supposed to be contributing 'expertise on sustainability reporting and stakeholder engagement'...

Onto my second piece of advice for those you relocating to India. Do your due diligence properly when choosing somewhere to live. Check if the leafy neighbourhood where you're living has reputation as having 'dog problem'. Yes, it seems Jangpura does, and so at night I endure the chorus of stray dogs arguing with the monkeys, who on an aside have been causing havoc with my landlords flower pots and satellite dish. Also, if you're not a Muslim (or even if you are) and you don't want to roll out of bed straight into morning prayers, don't live next door to a Mosque. A month since I arrived and I am still not used to being woken by the call to prayer over the loudspeaker every morning at around 5 am.

My third piece of advice: Pack some jumpers, if you're intending to stay a winter here. The best part of January was pretty chilly and the fact the houses are meant to keep the heat out not in, doesn't help with temperatures around freezing. I am assured that the winters are a welcome change from the searing summer heat and humidity of the monsoon. For me though it has meant having a little portable heater in my room which I have been switching on first thing in the morning and last thing at night, and wrapping myself up tightly in my wollen embroided shawl (de rigueur in Delhi at this time of year) on the bumpy autorik ride to the office. The seasons in Delhi change in a blink and summer has suddenly arrived. It was pleasurable jogging in Lodi Gardens and taking in the moghul architecture at the weekend in the sunshine.

Another piece of advice is to learn the words in Hindi for 'by (from) the meter' 'meter se' so the auto rik drivers don't rip you off. This sentence in itself is a introduction to the intricacies of Hindi grammar and the 'post position' (yes really, the opposite of a preposition!). I have been using my free time to attempt as yet unsuccessfully to learn the Hindi script. I may be more successful over the long term at Hinglish, of which I have already developed some affection. "I have reached..." is the equivalent of "I have arrived" and before I "take your leave", I'd like to impart one final piece of advice for a beginner...

Prepare to refer to someone as Sir or Maam a lot if they are old school and your senior. Hierarchy is important here and in the professional environment you have to show respect and the fact you know who is boss. Also don't be surprised if the boss has a door bell which he presses to summons the chai wallah for some tea...