No need for the 'We wish you a Merry Christmas' part anymore as our 25th December has come to a close.
Today has been an absolutely massive roller coaster for the boys. There have been moments of sheer hilarity, and conversely periods of time when there has been very little to smile about. And much of the above has been an outcome simply of what has been seen here today in Mumbai. So when these experiences at street level were thrown into a pot with the whole emotion surrounding Christmas Day, letters from loved ones, and phone calls home, suddenly it is not difficult to see how one of the boys came to conclude in debrief tonight that he feels "emotionally and physically shattered" (this being a sentiment that would probably accurately describe the vast majority of the boys).
Now that they are in bed though, without the need to rise before the planned 10am start time tomorrow, let me take the time to walk you through where our steps took us today:
Wednesday 25 December
7:15am- The boys are woken in their respective train carriages, however no one can account for Mr Jordan as access to the First Class compartments are purely by payment only, and since he holds the credit cards, little can be done
7:55am- The train rolls into Mumbai Central train station and another round of taxi negotiations start. Pleasingly, we are only 15 minutes after the scheduled arrival, so it was felt necessary by Will Allen and Ivan Jin to form a human train and re-enact our arrival into the station (Miss Candy was in charge of making the horn sounds)
8:30am- We arrive at the YWCA and Mr Jordan sets about discussions with the hotel staff (after altercations last time when the Editor was heard to say to the very same staff members 'You are taking the piss' to which they replied 'Bathroom? You need bathroom?' it was felt more appropriate to send Captain Jordy of the Shane Train into bat (after all, the Irish are a peaceful bunch)
8:45am- Meanwhile Chris Moses delivers a highly informative and beneficial overview on the city of Mumbai; love your work Chris
9:15am- We venture out to orientate the boys with our immediate surroundings, including The Gateway of India, the Taj Hotel, Regal Cinema, the main causeway of Colaba (the tourist district), and very importantly Leopold's Cafe
10am- For such a massive city Mumbai always takes a while to wake up, so it was only at this time that we could start to generate some reliable access to phones to commence the calling home process. The Editor is on hand for the first 40 minutes to see the faces post each phone call (including smiles and tears), before he paid off a random Indian man to keep an eye on the boys. It this point the Editor took off for a casual haircut/head massage- just a usual Christmas Day routine clearly. Upon returning the paid employee of the Editor notes 'All your boys have tears, what went wrong?'
11:30am- Lunch is taken at Leopold's Cafe. Burgers seem to be the order of the day, and the bullet holes from the 2010 terrorist attacks add an unusual bit of culture to the surroundings
1:15pm- Free time is given for the boys to meet the shop owners who will come to rip them off, and the street kids who will also come to demand their cut of the boys' money in the coming 3 days
2pm- An enforced lockdown occurs. The boys jump on their beds and grab a couple of hours of quality rest. They don't drift off to sleep with Christmas carols as there is little in these surroundings to even mark a day that the western world seems to stop on each year
4:30pm- After 2.5 hours the doors fling open and it is off to the Oval maidan (500 metres away). Cricket ensues immediately, with George Harman fielding a superb diving catch, thus earning himself a spot on the battling roster of a local game in progress. Others opt for some football, and remove their shirts, just to be absolutely clear about who was on what team. The locals laugh at the sight of Colgate skin
5:15pm- We then walk down the road, accompanied by friends, Vijay and Anwar, who had assisted us greatly on previous tours, towards South Bombay. After 25 minutes of walking we find ourselves at the entrance to a slum community. Inside contains the lives and thus stories of 300,000 people. The community stretches along one side of the road, with luxury apartments on the other side. In the distance are high rise buildings. In front of us are smiling children.
5:30pm- It doesn't take too long before the initial smiles become difficult to see for most of the boys as they wind through the narrowest of alleyways, being welcomed into the homes of the locals to find that 10 or so people fit into and are incredibly proud of their 3 metre by 3 metre concrete box. The boys are visibly shaken and many hugs are needed as words fail to describe the conditions that they have been confronted with
7pm- Our team jump into taxis and head back, knowing that at least for us there is an escape from that reality
7:30pm- We shift the mood (this is after all the City of Contrasts), by jumping into Secret Santa. Reuben, with his ginger beard plays the role of Santa superbly and the laughs echo all the way past the Regal Cinema to the sea. Some highlights on the present front- Hugo received Dahl's novel The BFG, Patrick Jung got some colonge (obviously of the highest quality), Jake Robson receives pink boxer shorts with 'Little Miss Princess' across the front of them, and Miss Candy received a dirty red jumper (that was subsequently 'stolen' by a two foot street kid who had innocently asked her to hold it for all of 3 seconds . . . later sucker!)
8pm- Big Group Debrief. The boys are asked to complete the following sentence starter- "I feel . . . " The responses include confused, happy, blessed, homesick
8:30pm- Masala Dosas for dinner (such a kiwi tradition obviously) at the Majestic Restaurant. Unfortunately this establishment is far from 'majestic' hence it is a favourite dining venue of the Editor. The entire meal costs 1436 Rp (25 people eating and drinking for a hefty $28)
9:30pm- The owners of Baskin Robbins ice cream outlet smile as we arrive to purchases Christmas treats. Hot fudge, some weird blue ice cream and chocolate cones become smeared all over the boys faces
10pm- A boat is hired and we head out into the harbour. Gus Grant takes control, strumming the guitar with precision (despite it now missing a string) and for the next 30 minutes we once again escape the realities of living in India, instead rocking gently on the oceans waves, whilst sipping on coke. The group sing-a-long, including a harmonised 'Free Falling' transports us to another world
11pm- Safely ashore and seriously stuffed the boys head for bed (some got to this destination on horse drawn carriages but I'll leave them to explain this in due course)
So we are here standing as 25 individuals in the wider Mumbai isthmus of 25 million. And do we count? Of course we do; for we are from New Zealand, from Auckland Grammar School, and most importantly are the sons and brothers of our very special families whom we adore. Today will forever be etched in the memories of the boys as the most bizarre, challenging, fulfilling and moving of Christmas Days. But that is what they signed up for and that is what India throws at you.
Finally in closing this Christmas Day blog it would be awfully unfair to end without wishing those hitting the Boxing Day sales tomorrow, and furthermore, those throwing a little coin on the fields at Ellerslie Racecourse, the very best of fortunes. And how can we forget Angus' brother Lachlan's 14th birthday- have a wonderful day champ!
Ben
MVP- Mitchell McLean. Now Mitch kind of took the Christmas cracker today and pulled it at each end thus winning on both counts. Makes no sense? Well let's just say for the Secret Santa today Mitch sent the room into fits of laughter when he presented Jonty with a wonderful novel; the subject matter of the book being an examination of the very best romance novels ever written. Since Jonty has been jumping from one trashy love novel to another since starting out on tour the taste Mitch showed in his Secret Santa purchasing clearly accelerated him into the lead. What however clinched the title was that Mitch then became the recipient of his very own piece of gold; not jewellery, but rather a groovy purple vest, fit to be worn by any employee on K Rd. In all, Mitch gave and received with great humour (and gratitude), and isn't that what Christmas is all about!
Thought- What is a family? A family exists when there is an environment where you can be you. A space where you are free to laugh, cry, smile, frown, run, jump and fly. Tonight, with our own individual families being so far away it was wonderful to reflect on the family the boys have created. Combined they bring gifts of humour, resiliency, thoughtfulness and love, and we as staff couldn't be more fortunate to be watching this family grow!
Today has been an absolutely massive roller coaster for the boys. There have been moments of sheer hilarity, and conversely periods of time when there has been very little to smile about. And much of the above has been an outcome simply of what has been seen here today in Mumbai. So when these experiences at street level were thrown into a pot with the whole emotion surrounding Christmas Day, letters from loved ones, and phone calls home, suddenly it is not difficult to see how one of the boys came to conclude in debrief tonight that he feels "emotionally and physically shattered" (this being a sentiment that would probably accurately describe the vast majority of the boys).
Now that they are in bed though, without the need to rise before the planned 10am start time tomorrow, let me take the time to walk you through where our steps took us today:
Wednesday 25 December
7:15am- The boys are woken in their respective train carriages, however no one can account for Mr Jordan as access to the First Class compartments are purely by payment only, and since he holds the credit cards, little can be done
7:55am- The train rolls into Mumbai Central train station and another round of taxi negotiations start. Pleasingly, we are only 15 minutes after the scheduled arrival, so it was felt necessary by Will Allen and Ivan Jin to form a human train and re-enact our arrival into the station (Miss Candy was in charge of making the horn sounds)
8:30am- We arrive at the YWCA and Mr Jordan sets about discussions with the hotel staff (after altercations last time when the Editor was heard to say to the very same staff members 'You are taking the piss' to which they replied 'Bathroom? You need bathroom?' it was felt more appropriate to send Captain Jordy of the Shane Train into bat (after all, the Irish are a peaceful bunch)
8:45am- Meanwhile Chris Moses delivers a highly informative and beneficial overview on the city of Mumbai; love your work Chris
9:15am- We venture out to orientate the boys with our immediate surroundings, including The Gateway of India, the Taj Hotel, Regal Cinema, the main causeway of Colaba (the tourist district), and very importantly Leopold's Cafe
10am- For such a massive city Mumbai always takes a while to wake up, so it was only at this time that we could start to generate some reliable access to phones to commence the calling home process. The Editor is on hand for the first 40 minutes to see the faces post each phone call (including smiles and tears), before he paid off a random Indian man to keep an eye on the boys. It this point the Editor took off for a casual haircut/head massage- just a usual Christmas Day routine clearly. Upon returning the paid employee of the Editor notes 'All your boys have tears, what went wrong?'
11:30am- Lunch is taken at Leopold's Cafe. Burgers seem to be the order of the day, and the bullet holes from the 2010 terrorist attacks add an unusual bit of culture to the surroundings
1:15pm- Free time is given for the boys to meet the shop owners who will come to rip them off, and the street kids who will also come to demand their cut of the boys' money in the coming 3 days
2pm- An enforced lockdown occurs. The boys jump on their beds and grab a couple of hours of quality rest. They don't drift off to sleep with Christmas carols as there is little in these surroundings to even mark a day that the western world seems to stop on each year
4:30pm- After 2.5 hours the doors fling open and it is off to the Oval maidan (500 metres away). Cricket ensues immediately, with George Harman fielding a superb diving catch, thus earning himself a spot on the battling roster of a local game in progress. Others opt for some football, and remove their shirts, just to be absolutely clear about who was on what team. The locals laugh at the sight of Colgate skin
5:15pm- We then walk down the road, accompanied by friends, Vijay and Anwar, who had assisted us greatly on previous tours, towards South Bombay. After 25 minutes of walking we find ourselves at the entrance to a slum community. Inside contains the lives and thus stories of 300,000 people. The community stretches along one side of the road, with luxury apartments on the other side. In the distance are high rise buildings. In front of us are smiling children.
5:30pm- It doesn't take too long before the initial smiles become difficult to see for most of the boys as they wind through the narrowest of alleyways, being welcomed into the homes of the locals to find that 10 or so people fit into and are incredibly proud of their 3 metre by 3 metre concrete box. The boys are visibly shaken and many hugs are needed as words fail to describe the conditions that they have been confronted with
7pm- Our team jump into taxis and head back, knowing that at least for us there is an escape from that reality
7:30pm- We shift the mood (this is after all the City of Contrasts), by jumping into Secret Santa. Reuben, with his ginger beard plays the role of Santa superbly and the laughs echo all the way past the Regal Cinema to the sea. Some highlights on the present front- Hugo received Dahl's novel The BFG, Patrick Jung got some colonge (obviously of the highest quality), Jake Robson receives pink boxer shorts with 'Little Miss Princess' across the front of them, and Miss Candy received a dirty red jumper (that was subsequently 'stolen' by a two foot street kid who had innocently asked her to hold it for all of 3 seconds . . . later sucker!)
8pm- Big Group Debrief. The boys are asked to complete the following sentence starter- "I feel . . . " The responses include confused, happy, blessed, homesick
8:30pm- Masala Dosas for dinner (such a kiwi tradition obviously) at the Majestic Restaurant. Unfortunately this establishment is far from 'majestic' hence it is a favourite dining venue of the Editor. The entire meal costs 1436 Rp (25 people eating and drinking for a hefty $28)
9:30pm- The owners of Baskin Robbins ice cream outlet smile as we arrive to purchases Christmas treats. Hot fudge, some weird blue ice cream and chocolate cones become smeared all over the boys faces
10pm- A boat is hired and we head out into the harbour. Gus Grant takes control, strumming the guitar with precision (despite it now missing a string) and for the next 30 minutes we once again escape the realities of living in India, instead rocking gently on the oceans waves, whilst sipping on coke. The group sing-a-long, including a harmonised 'Free Falling' transports us to another world
11pm- Safely ashore and seriously stuffed the boys head for bed (some got to this destination on horse drawn carriages but I'll leave them to explain this in due course)
So we are here standing as 25 individuals in the wider Mumbai isthmus of 25 million. And do we count? Of course we do; for we are from New Zealand, from Auckland Grammar School, and most importantly are the sons and brothers of our very special families whom we adore. Today will forever be etched in the memories of the boys as the most bizarre, challenging, fulfilling and moving of Christmas Days. But that is what they signed up for and that is what India throws at you.
Finally in closing this Christmas Day blog it would be awfully unfair to end without wishing those hitting the Boxing Day sales tomorrow, and furthermore, those throwing a little coin on the fields at Ellerslie Racecourse, the very best of fortunes. And how can we forget Angus' brother Lachlan's 14th birthday- have a wonderful day champ!
Ben
MVP- Mitchell McLean. Now Mitch kind of took the Christmas cracker today and pulled it at each end thus winning on both counts. Makes no sense? Well let's just say for the Secret Santa today Mitch sent the room into fits of laughter when he presented Jonty with a wonderful novel; the subject matter of the book being an examination of the very best romance novels ever written. Since Jonty has been jumping from one trashy love novel to another since starting out on tour the taste Mitch showed in his Secret Santa purchasing clearly accelerated him into the lead. What however clinched the title was that Mitch then became the recipient of his very own piece of gold; not jewellery, but rather a groovy purple vest, fit to be worn by any employee on K Rd. In all, Mitch gave and received with great humour (and gratitude), and isn't that what Christmas is all about!
Thought- What is a family? A family exists when there is an environment where you can be you. A space where you are free to laugh, cry, smile, frown, run, jump and fly. Tonight, with our own individual families being so far away it was wonderful to reflect on the family the boys have created. Combined they bring gifts of humour, resiliency, thoughtfulness and love, and we as staff couldn't be more fortunate to be watching this family grow!
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