Remembering Delhi

Some highlights from Delhi....

the food - amazing streetfood,

and highlife food,

crowded autorickshaws,

& bumpy cycle rickshaws,

the scene outside our hotel,

stunning views of the Jama Masjid from our hotel

Jama Masjid Gate no. 1, that's us!,

the joys of monsoon rain (let’s not talk about the perils )

Anna Hazare street protests,

majestic national monuments,

very precarious-looking overhanging electrical cables...

Delhi was such a city of contrasts… so utterly unforgettable!

Ummeed–week 2

Come performance week at Ummeed... dedication levels grew, the younger kids peeled away, and the older kids hung around... but an ultimatum, they would do the performance, they said - but it would have to be 'good enough' - no half-measures. Woah - a tall order indeed... no wonder Theo and Suchitra look grave.... how do we pull this off in 4 days?!

Note the bare blackboard... pressure!

We would never have managed if it wasn't for the energy, dedication, creativity, and sheer talent of the Ummeed kids - I was left amazed. Those kids were better than almost any I've seen - they scripted most of the storyline themselves, danced up a storm, and most inspiringly - beamed delightedly through all the frustrating hours of trying to make this nebulous creation into some semblance of performance - we could never have made it work if they had been any less amazing, I am seriously in awe.

The Ummeed kids present 'An Amazing Love Story!' - a shameless Bollywood ripoff, just a little tongue-in-cheek :)

Fayaz - our pint-sized kickboxing heroine: carries off the bright pink skirt amazingly well :)

Romance in the air - Raju and Fayaz meet over the washing line

Bazaar-wallas - patient Rohit and Raja

Our villanous villains... Yogesh and Suraj play the part to perfection... one wouldn't want to bump into them in a dark alley!

The showdown between our hero and the villanous villains

Fahim - our debonair policeman... even brandishing his lathi, he manages to make it look cool :)

The final dance-off - a breakdancing pink-skirted heroine,

the villain takes the floor!

Yaay - we did it! Our kids totally rocked - I'm not sure when I've been more proud - Woo Hoo!

Our last time with the cast from Ummeed - for a while at least… time went by far too quickly… those kids moved our world.

Introducing the Rickshaw cast

For those who don't know all of us...

Photographs courtesy our dashing (and longsuffering) photographer Mamsi!

One of our tour managers; India will remember him for the Sho-Sho-Lo-Za refrain, here in his role of food connoisseur - Nkoko!

Our other tour manager; also creator of the giant bird body - Catherine (T)

The other Catherine (H), draped in what was to later become our Octopus!

When was that moment of serenity again - is this Delhi? Captured there looking serene is Jessie

Juliet - enjoying the somewhat strange yet thoroughly appreciated ambience of Moti Mahal

Miriam - more often than not behind the lens, but here she is – newspaper bunraku puppet making

Robin - child protagonist of the Rickshaw performance - playing with a Katkatha puppet

Suchitra - proudly displaying the completed giant bird head... she seems especially proud of the eyelashes :)

Theo - roll camera - perfect!

Will - what's that you say then Mr. water drop?

Ladies and gentlemen, the cast of the Cambridge Rickshaw Theatre Project 2011!

Rickshaw in Delhi!

And the odyssey begins! A bit late updating... because we are staying in the heart of Old Delhi - right in front of the Jama Masjid, with an amaaaaazing rooftop view of the Jama Masjid and the Red Fort (pics to be added soon)... national monuments right in our backyard! But lacking either street names, or internet connectivity - where electric cables hang down the middle of the road, and you jostle for space with cycle rickshaws and street vendors as you wend your way down the tiny alleyways (which I have already managed to get lost in, plunging deeper and deeper into a warren of narrowing alleys, until I eventually figured out there was no way out but to turn around and retrace my steps without getting run over by a cycle rickshaw :p)

We've had our first day working with our respective organisations! Not before a first day of drama involving rava dosas and near death experiences. How - you may well ask - we shall leave it to your imagination. Let's just say the North Indians don't make dosas quite the same as we do in the South.

But finally... we have got to meet the kids we're working with, and what an experience! For our time in Delhi, Robin is leading a team with Will, Jessie, and Juliet working with the organisation Kutumb, Catherine H. is leading a team with Miriam and Catherine T. working with the organisation Janmadhayam, and Suchitra is leading a team with Nkoko and Theo working with Music Basti at the Ummeed Home for Boys. Each team has had such a unique experience. At Ummeed Home for Boys, we had a class full of tiny Energiser Bunnies on a sugar high. They cartwheeled, did animal imitations, they hung off trees, off our shoulders, bounced around with a level of energy we had rarely ever encountered before. It's a fascinatingly progressive school environment - the kids choose to attend which classes interest them, and wander in and out according to whether we've managed to hold their attention. So really - the onus is on us! Lesson flagging a little bit in levels of engagement and entertainment? Yup, the kids would have wandered out before we can blink an eyelid or do a 'freeze where you are' game... So much excitement, so much newness, so much India :)