At New Delhi....March to April 2009

                                                                                     

I'm supposed to write my diary about India since I arrived in March 2009...but due to some unforseen events, I have to settle my priority concerns such as: my assignment, location and accommodation.Finally, after two (2) weeks of negotiation with VSO India Office in April 2009, I was placed as Organizational Development / Human Resource Advisor for NEEDS , located in the rural town of Deoghar, Jharkhand State, India.

My "new journey begins" in March 12, 2009 when I left Philippines for New Delhi, India to work as International Volunteer through VSO UK----this is after my almost 25 years career in the corporate world specifically in the field of Human Resources.

To be honest, If I started my reflections about my new journey in life, tone will be extremely different - especially the fact that this is my first time to be with NGO and started in international level - in a developing country like India.

At New Delhi, it was a one month In-Country Orientation including a 3-hour daily Indian language training - Hindi, Bengali and other dialects depending on the state where the volunteer will be assigned. 

 

The stay was pretty exciting for all 16 volunteers coming from different countries - the hot and spicy food, the tour , market hopping, discovering places where to get a nice and clean internet cafe, the manual and auto rickshaw ride - negotiating for fares with the drivers who can only speak Hindi. Visiting some of their temples was also a challenge for me - as I prefer to wear my socks than entering barefoot - am I antagonistic? maybe not, maybe yes...in my country, I am used to entering a clean place with shoes on where you attend mass and communicate with GOD.

Hot and spicy food is one thing that until now - been here for 12 months, is really my difficulty to adjust - since I have weak stomach digestion, even experienced the worst dysentery in my life, after eating various Indian food when I visited one of the villages in Deoghar, Jharkhand - but thanked GOD I survived and still alive. Really, I like to taste and eat Indian food, especially the mutton curry and chicken biriani- but maybe , I really have to be careful and learn to eat this whewwww...... unbearable...spicy ones....

Beautiful sights ....