We had landed in Ludhiana. It was 2am, we were exhausted, but we felt very close to our final destination: Bilga. Although it was early, I had to send a message to our contact and inform him that we were here – albeit 6 hours earlier than planned. Unfortunately, there was no-one at the hospital at this hour, so we should aim to get a taxi from the station no earlier than 8:30. Our choice was laid out before us: either stay at the station for 8 hours and wait it out, or get a taxi to an unknown destination and hope that the hospital was in an area whereby we could sit and wait. We took the first option.
A very long 6 hours passed by and the time came to grab our bags and find a taxi. With Bilga being around 30km from Ludhiana, a taxi, apparently, was our best option and shouldn’t cost more than 500IR (£6). As we exited the station and approached the hustle that was the taxi-rank, all eyes immediately turned to us and like fresh meat to a sea of piranhas, we were instantly swarmed by people trying to offer us their taxi. Feeling very conscious of our bags, we quickly found one guy who claimed to know Bilga and could take us there for 2000IR (£25). This would take all my bargaining powers if I was to get him anywhere near our original price of 500IR. Plus, I had the added incentive that I only had 1000IR in my pocket. After 10 minutes of haggling and a phone-call to our English contact, we still couldn’t get him any lower than 1500IR. It was at that moment that a young guy appeared out of the blue and in near perfect English introduced himself and asked where we were going. He then told us to get into the taxi that we had been haggling with and not to pay 1 rupee more than a thousand. Strong words were then exchanged between himself and the taxi driver and before we knew it, we were off.
Finally, after what felt like a tour of Punjab, we arrived at the hospital, our new home for…pretty much as long as wanted. We were instantly given a full tour of the whole hospital which is based on 2 floors, however, the second floor is not being used as there isn’t enough patients yet. Its strange: a modern, clean and free hospital for everyone, yet it seems very quiet here. We would later to come realise that the local mentality here in fact discourages people to use these almost Westernised facilities. People here are somewhat trepidatious of modern medicines and would rather visit their local doctors – often who have little or no qualifications, and receive incorrect medicine from them. This becomes a major problem when the medicine given has no affect on the patient; they then become more sick and eventually the hospital here has to deal with patients that are far more sick than had they come in the first place. Its a problem that the hospital is working greatly on and hopefully something we can get involved with later down the line.
Our accommodation for now is an apartment in a small block of flats that belongs to the hospital. Staff and their families live here and we have already met a few of them, including the pet dog (3 months old). We have a large living room, kitchen, bathroom and large bedroom – although no A/C (small issue at night) we do have ceiling fans. Its basic, but clean. Apart from the lizards, cockroaches, frogs and ants, all of which prefer being indoors, it is very quiet here which is lovely.
A little shocked, we soon realised that our English contact was not here. In fact, he was back in England and wouldn’t be coming over until the middle of October. Unfortunately this meant that the hospital didn’t have any plans for Malene, but I feel that it has in fact worked to our advantage. We both met Roger Berry, the founder of the orphanage in the next town – Kandola Kalan. We would spend a short afternoon settling into our new accommodation and then travel out to the orphanage the following day; totally unsure what to expect.
The following morning at 9am, to guys, Bamjit and Paramjit, came to pick Malene and I up on their motorbikes. I have decided that this is definitely the best way to travel around India! The cool breeze eases the heat and you really get to see all the sights up close and personal – often within touching distance as you meander through narrow streets and market stalls. As we turned onto a narrow, cobbled-stoned track, we bounced our way closer to the orphanage; a medium-sized building topped with a crucifix and surrounded by rice and corn fields. We could almost hear the silence as the children were being on their best behaviour and ready to welcome us. It’s strange, but I could feel an energy coming from the large front gate – something I would be apart of in the upcoming weeks. As we entered, we were greeted initially by Roger and then by a sea of beaming eyes and big, pearly white smiles. Each ‘class’ took turns to stand up and welcome us with larger than life voices as we felt like honoured guests. There are 40 children here, with ages ranging from 4-18. There are 5 teachers, each with their own class and a cook who makes 3 meals a day. As we met all the children, Roger began to tell us his story of how the orphanage began and grew. In fact it had grown to be much more than just an orphanage and was now a school, a church and a home for 30 of the children. Most of the children either had no parents or were missing a father or mother and the other was unable to look after them. All of the children had incredible stories and yet despite such difficult beginnings, all of them are so joyful and full of energy: it is quite literally contagious the energy and enthusiasm they all have! I found that by the end of the first day, I was rubbing my cheeks as they ached due to all the smiling and laughing!
Our new routine had begun. We arranged with the hospital that they would take us in the morning – 3 on the bike (only in India) and the two boys from the orphanage would bring us back after dinner in the evening; around 7pm. The next couple of weeks would be full of challenges, entertainment, smiles, games and dancing….but I’ll leave the details until my next post.
Our travels through Asia 