AGS India Immersion Programme 2017/18

The boys have been told many times over how Mumbai is a city of contrast, more so than any other place we have or will visit. Today, we met fisherman who head off on 2-3 week fishing voyages, earning a monthly wage of roughly 7000 rupees ($150NZD). Only hours earlier, we had spent around 2000 per head on an amazing breakfast at the Taj Hotel. In this city which 28 billionaires call home, many of us struggled to comprehend how inequality could have reached this height. Rightly or wrongly, this is India, and it continues to frustrate and fascinate. In terms of sickness, Lachie Dickson remains near to a toilet, but morale is high, and we had one other addition, which is given in great detail below… Tuesday 26 December 7:15am – we all received a cheery Indian wake-up via our hotel room phones, and after quick showers met outside the entrance to the hotel. After one room had to then still be woken up (the culprits to remain nameless but their wallets a little ligh...

Ben Lerner Whenever I travel to other cities I always try look for the alleyways. The small, quirky, mysterious side streets off the main road. I think alleyways say a lot about a city.  For example, Hozier Lane in Melbourne (a favourite alleyway of mine) told me of the huge presence of art in the city and the appreciation that the city has for art.  However, in India, alleyways are different. They still hold mystery and character, but people live in them. After one alleyway there is another, and another, and another. They uncover the layers of India.  In Kolkata I went down an alleyway with the jungle crows. Down there not only were the homes of hundreds of people, but also a vibrant school with passionate teachers and happy kids. This was my first experience with the depth of Indian alleyways. Today we went down another alleyway. It uncovered another vibrant happy community, living with almost nothing. The kids were mostly taken under the wing of the Mumbai Magicians,...

Sam, Ollie, Ryan and Lachie As most would agree, the thought of an 18 hour train journey would be towards the bottom of a wish list for most to spend Christmas Eve. We couldn't agree more. The 4 of us, 2 hours into the journey shut the books (which we were definitely enjoying) and went for a wander down the never ending train. We came across the honeymoon suite room where Tom and Reuben were snuggling up together on the bottom bunk. We all decided to squeeze in the tight area and engage in some "good chat." Little to our knowledge the time ticked and over 5 hours later around 10pm and time really had flown by. Some of the great banter consisted of the discussion of Bendy and Tom being perfect builds for a Tour de France cyclist (skinny boys). Chat very much led by Dickson where he entered the 13th hour of cycling chat this tour. Tom being very much a mini Skeeno in debriefs and Reuben taking the more chatty banterious approach. We also uncovered the sad and depress...