After a lovely week in Gujarat, I returned to Delhi, where I
would stay for one week before returning to America again. Naturally, this week was extremely
busy, filled mostly with packing, stuffing myself with food leftovers, spending
time with friends, playing with my little landladies upstairs, and saying many
difficult goodbyes. Beautiful
experiences for me, but hardly anything to make up a terribly exciting blog
post. There were, however, some
fun moments I hope never to forget.
In no particular order:
Hauz Khas Village
Very early in our grant, my roommate Jessica discovered Hauz
Khas tombs—a cluster of crumbling Mughal tombs commemorating the 14th-16th
century rulers of Delhi. Perhaps
more of a selling point than the tombs themselves is the “tank,” or man-made
lake, surrounded by flowering trees, inhabited by ducks and swans, and just down
the steps from the tombs. Adjacent
to the tombs was Hauz Khas village, a hip, artsy area of Delhi with a large
number of galleries, bars, boutiques, and cafes. Jessica had spent many a Delhi afternoon by the water, and
recommended that I do the same.
Hauz Khas tombs did not disappoint! As with many tombs and green areas in
Delhi, Hauz Khas was a hotspot for young lovers, but I managed to avoid them as
I wandered through the tombs and around the lake. Due to the fast encroaching hot season, the lake was looking
a little low, and a little palak paneer-like, but it was still host to a number
of beautiful birds, and even the odd human swimmer!
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| Tombs, with the neighborhood in the background |
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| The tank |
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| From the tombs: a view of the tank in all its palak paneer-y wonder |
Shankar’s International Doll Museum
Ever since my first browsing Lonely Planet’s “Delhi” chapter in 2009, I had been eager to check
out Central Delhi’s International Doll Museum. As a former avid dolls player, I have always been interested
in seeing the differences and similarities between toys from different
countries and different periods in history. I was also curious to see what a dolls museum in India might
look like. “A veritable dreamland
for the children,” chirped my Delhi Tourism booklet, bringing to mind hordes of
screaming youngsters pounding on the glass, trying to extract the exhibits from
their cases. A ringing endorsement
from one of my 8th grade boys, however, convinced me that the museum
was not only for babies, and I resolved to visit during my last week.
Getting to the museum itself was somewhat challenging; the
roads around it were all closed, so arriving was something of an
adventure. Finally though, I did
find it, through a side door in a shabby old building that also housed the
National Childrens’ Book Trust. After
forking over fifteen rupees for my ticket, I climbed upstairs and entered the
museum.
I began by reading a brief history of the museum and its
founding. It was actually far more
interesting than I had anticipated.
In 1957, the political cartoonist K. Shankar Pillai founded the
Children’s Book Trust in New Delhi.
It was around this time that a Hungarian diplomat presented Shankar with
a Hungarian costume doll. Though
the doll was not intended to be for Shankar, but rather as a prize for the
winner of Shankar’s International Children’s Competition, Shankar fell in love
with the doll, and begged to keep it.
This first doll ignited an interest in Shankar, and he went on to
collect many, many more. For
several years, he showed his dolls in temporary exhibits around India, but grew
very concerned with the wear and tear on the dolls that this kind of travel
caused. When he voiced his
concerns, none other than Indira Gandhi supplied the solution: to build a permanent
museum for the dolls. The museum
was inaugurated in 1965.
Parts of the museum were admittedly creepy—no repairs or
cleanup jobs had been performed on the oldest dolls, and several were gray
faced, cracked, or eyeless.
Overall however, the museum was delightful. Nearly every country in the world was represented, with a
particularly impressive turnout from the Eastern European countries. There were Spanish flamenco dancing
dolls, lederhosen-wearing German dolls, kimono clad Japanese dolls, and a beautiful,
varied display of Indian bride dolls from at least a dozen of the country’s
regions. Bhangra-dancing dolls,
ragdolls, pre-French revolution style dolls…as the museum’s promotional
material promised, it was indeed a kind of “doll United Nations.” Letters and school projects from
children decorated some of the walls, and were a nice touch.
My favorite dolls all represented the same person. This was, of course, the “how to tie a
sari” doll. The dolls were
sequenced carefully, and each showed a different step in the process, with
instructions describing exactly how to tuck, wrap, and pleat. If only I had such a doll to help me
with my sari tying…
Unfortunately, photography is prohibited in the museum, but the museum website has some great pictures! http://www.childrensbooktrust.com/dm.htm
Manzil, and “An Evening With The Children”
Almost as soon as I began teaching at Navyug, I began
thinking about and trying to research NGOs or schools in Delhi committed to
furthering a method of education different from the one into which I had
suddenly been dropped. I loved my
students and fellow teachers of course, but I was frustrated with the exam
obsessed, rote memorization centered school system.
After speaking with several contacts in Delhi, I was
directed towards Manzil, an NGO in Khan Market. I visited the website, and discovered that Manzil’s founder
had experienced many of the same frustrations that I had with India’s
Government schools. He responded
by tutoring just two boys in math.
Slowly, the organization grew and grew, until it was serving around 120
students at any one time. Now,
Manzil offers after school classes not only in math, but also in English,
computer usage, drama, dance, arts and crafts, and music.
Intrigued, I contacted the organization’s director and
arranged a meeting after school one day.
I ended up having a lovely conversation with several of Manzil’s staff
members about the frustrating situation in Indian Government schools today,
about education in America, and about different methods of teaching
English. It was suggested that I
observe a few classes, and then run an English teaching workshop for some of
the volunteer English teachers. I
had a lot of fun observing the English classes, and even had the opportunity to
guest teach at one point. (The
request was quite last minute, but Justin Bieber saved the day!). Although I had been somewhat nervous
about the workshops, as I had never led a workshop before, I enjoyed leading
them. The participants also seemed
to enjoy taking part, and seemed to learn something as well, so I was happy for
that. I was also welcomed into
teacher’s meetings, and warmly invited to a “musical evening,” which turned out
to be a really fun jam session with many of Manzil’s talented students.
One very memorable event in my involvement with Manzil was
the India Habitat Centre’s “Evening with the Children.” As any longterm readers might remember
from previous posts, the India Habitat Centre is a rather wonderful Delhi
institution home to everything from free music, dance, and theater
performances, to art exhibitions, conferences, offices, film festivals, and a
shockingly authentic “All American Diner.” Through Manzil, I came to learn that the Centre sponsors an
initiative called the Habitat Learning Centre. The Learning Centre works with a number of Delhi area NGOs
(including Manzil) to provide instruction both in academics and the arts. The
“Evening with the Children” was a showcase of the students’ work. It was impressive, and a lot of fun
with acts spanning from a skit about the importance of protecting the
environment, to a traditional Rajasthani dance, to some original pieces played by
one of Manzil’s bands.
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| A dance by kids from an NGO for children with disabilities |
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| Manzil kathak dancers |
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| Rajasthani dancers |
Back to Navyug
Soon after returning from Gujarat, I had dinner with one of
the Navyug Laxmi Bai Nagar English teachers at Dilli Haat. Somewhere in the midst of our
conversation, she informed me that the school’s 10th graders would
be performing a street play outside of Dilli Haat the next day, and invited me
to come. I decided I had to see
it— no matter that I had already had my “last day” at the school. I trusted my students not to become too
confused, and made plans to be at Dilli Haat the next day at 10 am.
Some time after 10 am (this is India, after all!) I was
still sitting outside of Dilli Haat, waiting for the performers to arrive. Worried that I had missed the show, I
called one of the teachers at the school, who assured me that they were “just
coming.” Soon enough, they arrived
with chairs, banners, and bags of costumes in tow. I assisted with some chair set up, and looked on as some
boys worked meticulously to ensure that their banner—hanging between two trees,
was exactly even. It was a long
process. A curious crowd gathered,
the members of the NGO who had worked with the students buzzed nervously, and
an Important Looking Woman, took her place in the seat of honor as
NGO members made sure she was comfortable.
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| Hanging up the banner |
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| Grandma vs. mom and son |
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| Advertising banner |
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| Details of the NGO's projects |
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| Very Important Looking Woman, students, NGO members, and Principal |
