March 11th: Pathfinder International site project, Singing with Samiullah Khan, and Khan Cha Cha Kabobs at Khan Market

On the road with PII

We had an appointment at 9:45 am to meet with Pathfinder International, India again, this time to take us to one of their on-site outreach programs. It took us about an hour to drive with a PII associate out to a lower income Delhi suburb where a French INGO had founded a vocational school for dropouts and otherwise impoverished young adults (age 18-26+).  PII supplies the school with materials and lesson plans for reproductive health and family planning courses that are taught to the students along with vocational training.

The boys' class

Notice the family planning poster on the wall

We were allowed to meet two classes of young men and women (taught separately) and briefly sat in on the lessons (although mostly in Hindi). The most wonderful part was when we engaged in Q&A sessions with each group. They were so interested and fascinated to hear about how sex ed and marriage works (in general) in the US. We learned a lot! (not least of which was that the legal age for marriage in India is 18 for girls and 21 for boys and that so-called “love marriages” are still quite rare especially among the lower economic classes).

     

We returned to central Delhi and our hotel for lunch. Samiullah Khan (spelled “Samula” in a previous entry – my fault) came by around 4:30 and after some tea, gave me an hour-long singing lesson and taught me a new afternoon Rag (his singing is quite amazing, as I posted before). This time we didn’t forget to take some pictures.

The girls' class - they insisted we took a group picture with them!

Samiullah and I watching his work on Youtube  (check out the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tWRaimHyZk)

We went to Khan Market, not far from where we are staying, for dinner at a kabob stall that had been recommended by Lonely Planet, Maura, and (very strenuously) by Will. Khan Market is possibly Delhi’s most expensive and most cosmopolitan market, catering to the city’s wealthy locals and westerners. It turned out that what used to be a stall in one of Khan Markets many alleys, where people would cue up in hordes for Cha Cha’s famous kabobs, had become a three-story restaurant (still maintaining the ‘queue up to order and then take a number and wait by the grill window’ fashion). The eating area, however, was attempting to be chic with techno music in the background, interesting lighting, and large bay windows that overlooked the bustling market below.

After a tasty meal we thought we would attempt to walk back to the hotel. I knew it wasn’t that far and the taxi there had only taken about 10 minutes. After a few wrong turns (I’m sure) and directions from friendly locals, we found our way back to familiar looking territory and then to the hotel for some sleep – there will always be something nostalgic about walking Delhi’s (often poorly lit) streets at night. 

Today was also the day of Japan's devastating earthquake... our thoughts go out to the people of that country and all of those affected.