Arrival in Sangam :)

Well, I arrived at Sangam at 4.30am this morning. The journey to Sangam took about 3 hours from Mumbai airport, there was lots of honking of horns, more to let people know we were undertaking/overtaking/just here! It got annoying as everytime I tried to sleep, yes you guessed it, the driver honked! It rained a lot on the journey over but today has been warm and slightly muggy. This morning we had breakfast of cornflakes, toast, bananas, papaya and an omelette (if requested). After breakfast, Molly and Cat (new Sangam program Volunteers, SVs) and Anna, Gerda and I (new community volunteers, CVs) took a walk along Alandi Road, the road Sangam is on. We saw many different people and little kids coming up to beg 'money, money'. We have been told not to give as they generally don't keep the money for themselves and it is best to give directly to the community partners who help the people directly. We saw goats having a fight and walking along the road, a bit strange! Lunch, was Indian, it was delicious, we have chappati (a thin naan), a dhaal curry (lentil), pumpkin and lentil dish, a cucumber and coconut dish and rice. Pudding was melon. This afternoon we took rickshaws down to Laxmi road in the centre of Pune. The rickshaws, were interesting, a couple of times I felt like I was on dodgems and felt I should, move out of the way of an upcoming vehicle but we survived! We went into a clothes shop and brought some material for some punjabi suits (200RS each, about £2.30). I have brought a pink/green one and a brown one both are decorated with gems. We have to visit a tailor now or wait for the tailor to visit Sangam during the upcoming event, Feasts and Festivals which starts on Sunday. Later we walked down roads, which seemed to be pedestrians, motorbikes (ladies were riding them sidesaddle!) and rickshaws all together. We walked around a temple, which was really good then went to a shoe shop as some of the girls wanted some nice sandals, I found some pretty gold jeweled sandals (300RS, about £3.60) which will go nicely with my new punjabi suits and hopefully saris when I get those!

It is lovely and peaceful here inside Sangam's grounds with lots of green space, a large pool, big palm trees (one of the branches fell of the trees as we sat by the pool earlier!) Outside it is much busier and nosier, but they do have green coconuts for sale, yummy, I haven't had one yet but I will :)

Talk soon, Hay xxx