AGS India Immersion Programme 2017/18

Leo Smith Spirits were high as we woke up on the church floor at Saraswatipur, about to embark on a journey to Varanasi. However as we ate our noodles for breakfast we were told that the train was cancelled. Long story short at around 6 that night we boarded a little purple bus, that would take us to Varanasi instead of the train. As we boarded the bus spirits were high, we thought that the journey was only going to be 16 hours, which to most of us didn't seem that bad. The playlist was ringing through the booms, and the bus was cruising along at 30 km/h.  It wasn't till about 12 o'clock that night when the first disaster struck. Just as I was about to recline my chair to sleep, I realised that my chair was broken, and therefore I couldn't recline at all. To make matters worse, cam who was in front of me had his chair all the way back in a sleeping position. I had very little space to say the least. As a result I got to hear everyone else sleep on the coach, a...

​Today has been thoroughly enjoyable. We have slept, eaten, showered, and been massaged. We have taken in a new religion, and we have seen Mr. Tripathi again (more to come on the great man below). Not only this, but the tour infirmary remains empty - long may that last! Continuing on the positive trend, we want to wish both Jacob Lerner (Ben's brother) and the great man, Ian Rapson (Tom's father), huge happy birthday's. I particularly hope yours was superb, Ian, as you didn't have to spend it with your son. I'm going to regret these comments shortly when Tom decides to get his own back... But for now, here is how the 16th of December played out for 22 Kiwi boys in Varanasi, India.  Saturday 16 December ~9am - for the first time on the trip thus far, there was no set wake up time. Boys were told breakfast finished at 10:30, but apart from that there was no requirement to be up at any time. Breakfast was an Indian buffet extravaganza - fres...

Callan  As I have mentioned before, I take a little bit of time to process what I have experienced, and Kolkata has given me quite a lot to think about.  Darjeeling was serene, but I found myself too caught up in the majestic views of the Himalayas to be able to take myself back to the hectic and dirty streets of Kolkata. Saraswatipur was joyous, and I found myself beginning to reflect on Kolkata, comparing the smiles of the people, the levels of material wealth and the overall standard of living. I think it's higher. Varanasi is relaxing, quiet and an inherently spiritual place - the perfect opportunity to gather my thoughts.  There is a constant battle in my head over whether the joy of the people or the sadness and anger evoked by their surroundings will come to define the city. Rather than seek a clear winner, however, I think that I need to accept the fact that Kolkata can never be neatly defined, because it is pu...

Zachary Morrow (Written on the bus to Varanasi.) When I left Kolkata I was strangely asking for more, more conversations with strangers, more exhilarating taxi rides, more craziness and more joy. I felt like I was just getting into the groove of Kolkata. On the other hand, Kolkata was a slap in the face every day and there were several moments that were extremely confronting. Future Hope was a refreshing dose of joy and hope for everyone in the group and I especially enjoyed hanging out with eight of the young girls from Future Hope. I felt very privileged to be there and could not help but feel that these were the future leaders of India. I also felt guilt throughout my stay in Kolkata even at Future Hope where the children there are considered lucky. The conditions for learning and living were cramped and much lower than most of New Zealand, yet they were accomplishing so much more than many of us were at their age and they are not sacrificing their childhood for thi...

Ben Lerner Saraswatipur was the first day in 5 or so days that I haven’t been completely sick. Although I hadn’t had any food in my body for around 36 hours by the end of the day, I didn’t want that to hinder my experience in this hidden gem of a village. I say hidden gem in the highest sense of the phrase, the village is surrounded by dense jungle on 3 sides, and a river on the other side. The drive to the village was quite rough, regularly driving through rivers and beds of rock. One thing in particular that hit me about the drive was the fact that our driver had to turn off our music so we wouldn’t attract elephants. As a 16 year old from New Zealand, who had never seen an elephant outside of a zoo before, the notion that we’d be driving through the Indian jungle with wild and possibly aggressive elephants was quite a foreign thought, and definitely led me to question how I even got in that situation. Our welcome into the village was one of the most humbling ex...

George Before I get into this I'd like to launch a formal complaint to my parents for my legs, they are frankly far too long to be sensibly put anywhere on a bus this small.  During this trip, I have debated at length with myself about what exactly it is I'm feeling. Because being here has left me feeling all sorts of wacky ways, and what's the point in an emotion if you don't know what it is and what caused it right? However, as I sit wedged in this bus, I recall the state I've been in for the past few months. I remember blankness. No emotions sticking out, not enough sadness to bother with, and not enough happiness to feel exceptional. Of course I still laughed and had my down moments. But when I compare that to how I am now, the difference is remarkable. Everything here causes strong emotion: the people, the stares, the food, the scenery, the smog, and of course the boys. I'm finally feeling, I'm overjoyed, I cry, I'm agitated, I'm at peace, and w...

Matt Forgive me for two blogs in a row but I wrote this on our bus trip so I though I would post it anyway.  As we slowly progress from Siliguri to Varanasi, through villages and cities, past tea estates and dry rice paddies, along river banks and bumpy roads I find myself reflecting on the past three days spent in northern Bengal.  Imagine a town of 100,000 people perched on a steep hillside two thousand metres in the sky yet still overshadowed by eight thousand metre mountains. Those mountains are covered in snow with only grey rock faces and ridges breaking the white blanket and their bases covered by clouds so that all you see are rough triangles breaking the low cloud in the distance. The sky above our imaginary town is blue and the sun shines down, you have escaped the perpetual brown haze that blankets much of India's lowlands. The sun warms your skin as you look down from your hillside to see hundreds of buildings and villages on similar hillsides throughout seemingly inacc...