It’s my first time going to India. The feeling of excitement and fear. The aim of this trip was to plan for our project. The planning for this recce trip didn’t go that well. We did not send our itinerary to Diraj and in the end he arrived at the airport a day earlier than our arrival. Apart from, We never take into account the flight timing so essentially we only have 2 full days instead of 4. Upon arrival at Bangalore airport, the weather was cool (about 22 degree C) and we noticed that that everyone speaks good English.
Diraj and Raju (one of the volunteers at the home) came to pick us up. On our way to the hotel, we asked a lot of questions regarding Bangalore and India – culture, education, transport, security and Living Home Children Home. Diraj taught us a few greetings in Kannada (Karnataka’s official language). He mentioned that, “India is a rich country and India never sleeps. There’s rich and poor but everything is in balance, no one [helps] anyone.” This sentence struck me as I always thought of India as a country that consists of the very rich and the very poor with unequal balance of power as depicted in movies such as “Slumdog Millionaire”. Is the media’s portrayal of India skewed, biased? What is the role of the rich?
We arrived at a posh hotel (something that I didn’t expect) and settled for the night. As I laid on the bed feeling really comfortable, I recall the conversation with Diraj and reflected upon the purpose of this project. What is my role here? Am I like one of the rich (staying in nice hotel and having good breakfast) and not caring about the poor? Will my work here help the poor/ underprivileged?
I hope I can get more answers tomorrow.
Dhiraj and Raju The hotel room
