AGS India Immersion Programme 2017/18

Thanks all for sharing your SMILES The sensory  shock  that you have experienced from first stepping into Kalkutta; the  sounds , incessant car horns and foreign language, the  smells , from the stench of open sewers to exotic spices cooking, the  sights , the haze and many extremes of human life observed, the  touch , the constant contact of hot bodies bumping into you in crowded streets, the  taste  my first taste of genuine Indian food - all make us SMILE. SMILE meaning  S pecial  M oments  I n  L ife's  E xperience So Seize the SMILES, reflect the SMILES and return the SMILES given by the many special people who make up our world. Keep safe SMILE and Enjoy!

Michael Sometimes the movies get it right. The grotesque, hyperbolic caricature that is the confounding chaos of India is exactly like the most comically exaggerated and outlandish stereotype you can imagine. Bundling into a rickety colonial relic of a taxi cab with a driver who speaks no English and a boot looking like it will burst open at any second, leaving our bags flying down the street; hurtling through intersections governed by no laws except the arbitrary volition of frenzied drivers; being surrounded by a coruscating kaleidoscope of colour and flashing billboards is all just as overwhelming and overbearing as it sounds. No one has ever heard of an indicator light, the painted lines on the road are just as meaningless as a seatbelt and a cacophony of car horns fills the air. Tangled masses of power-lines and a jumbled crush of cars at an intersection epitomise the frenzied, unstructured chaos of this city. However, there is plenty that the movies and i...

Sam Lindberg I can't quite explain the reality and shock that has hit me as I'm sitting on top of the hotel looking over the rundown slums and constant tooting of yellow taxis. It's cliche but I can already see why this trip is going to change me, people sleeping on the street at night then next morning up early working with a smile on their face. The diversity of culture, people and food shows me another side to life which we don't see everyday. My dad has been to India and has told me stories but now that I'm here, it's an unreal experience. Sitting on the roof writing this blog and playing some cards I can reflect on such a rollercoaster journey, and yet it has only just started.

Each day as I follow my normal routine, sitting with a cup of tea and breakfast, presently with a near perfect December day outside, I now have the added bonus of getting to sit and read the blog and of being transported to a place far away. The words all of you are writing have been able to write a picture to enable those of us back home to imagine ( only partly I am sure) what you are doing and how you are. Reassuring, exciting, fascinating and much appreciated. Eagerly anticipated each day. Thanks every one, and thanks to Tom, Reuben, Shane and Mark for guiding them all along on this journey.  Gabrielle Morrow  Sent from my iPhone

​Today, we spent a large portion of our day in the company of the Jungle Crows. This incredible organisation is a rugby club founded here in Kolkata, which uses rugby as a medium for social development. To give you a concrete example of the work they do, in a few weeks time they will be holding their annual Winter Camp, which sees over 1000 kids from around Kolkata journey into their Headquarters to get involved in the game we love. We have been lucky enough to spend extended periods of time with members of the Crows on previous tours as well, and have had some of the senior staff come out to New Zealand to visit. You will be hearing a lot more about these great people as we head on. To read more about what they do, have a look at their website -  http://www.junglecrows.com/index.html ​  Finally, before I get into it, a massive happy birthday to 2015 tour participant Bennett Chapman for yesterday. We hope you enjoyed it big fella.  Wednesday 6 Dec...

Cam Macfarlane  Even months of preparation couldn't paint a picture in my mind of what I would witness in Kolkata. It only really kicked in when I stepped foot outside of the airport that we were in India, the indications being an overwhelming amount of smog, taxi drivers tooting their horns every five seconds and a completely foreign language. Before too long I found myself in a taxi with a driver of no English whatsoever. Miraculously I made it in one piece, considering no drivers paid attention to the lanes and no apparent speed limit or road rules for that matter. What caught my attention, however, was what the roads weaved in and out of. I found myself completely overwhelmed by the hectic noise, smells and sights. I still am shocked a day later at the poverty that was so common. For instance I saw a shop that was literally the size of the closet in my room, the lady in there squatting on a shelf by the roof so the customers would be able to enter. To think th...

Ben   Kolkata is the most overwhelming and immense place I have ever been in my entire life. The contrast to New Zealand and Singapore is so unbelievably striking – something I believe to be impossible to be prepared for.  Last night, while walking around the block someone pointed out a homeless person sleeping under a mound of rubbish on the street. I spotted them right next to my shoe, an image which has been imprinted in my mind, possibly a metaphor for the huge poverty and struggle in Kolkata. After this I noticed that the streets were lined with the homeless and stray dogs. A funny moment was when some of the boys became startled by some stray dogs and started moving away from them, amusing some locals to the point that they started doing high pitched screams imitating us. The markets this morning were fascinating to say the least. Everyone with a mission of some sort, everyone with a story, everyone hustling. I did enjoy all the photos and selfies l...

George Skinner As I sit atop the Hotel Emirates rooftop, having donned my funky Kolkata pants, surrounded by young men with equally funky pants, I think back on my struggle several days back to imagine the place I would soon be subject to. I now understand there is no preparation for this environment. There is everything, and everything is everywhere. Every sense has been overwhelmed; our eyes are filled with images of life and motion, ears barraged by the incessant horns and shouts, noses assaulted by the fragrance of street side food vendors, sewage and freshly dead meat, tongues given diverse samplings of rich Indian cuisine, and skin brushes past vibrant people and buildings both populous and derelict. It is as if the city had gotten bored of being defined and chose to become the embodiment of all things passionate and living.  In asking the resident school Chronicle editor Michael "The" Derevianko how to conclude this blog, I was told to p...

Leo The last 12 months of preparation  couldn't have prepared me for what I have seen in the last day. It started out with the taxi ride from the airport, during which I almost died about 10 times. I don't think our taxi driver had any awareness for lanes or traffic lights. We spent most of the journey on either the wrong side of the road or in the middle of two lanes. The lack of mirrors on the car also didn't help at all. However, when we miraculously arrived at Hotel Emirates we embarked on an extremely eye opening walk around the block. It was very unsettling seeing numerous homeless people, with missing limbs, making the most of any shelter they could find, not to mention the large herds of dogs roaming the streets. This really put into perspective for me what I'm about to face for the next month.  This morning we went to the markets and my group and I were lucky enough to be guided by around five Indian men, each of them attempting to sell us the...