{"id":64,"date":"2006-09-03T14:23:00","date_gmt":"2006-09-03T14:23:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/worldofpablo.com\/?p=64"},"modified":"2009-11-23T19:57:09","modified_gmt":"2009-11-23T14:27:09","slug":"hello-and-welcome","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldofpablo.com\/blog\/2006\/09\/hello-and-welcome\/","title":{"rendered":"Hello and welcome"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hello everyone! Welcome to worldofpablo.com<\/strong>\u2026<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been a long time coming but I\u2019ve decided to relaunch the website with a new look and new address. I was getting sick of all the spam postings on the old site. Time will tell whether we have any more luck over here\u2026<\/p>\n

The new worldofpablo.com is supposed to be more of a blog than an online diary, so I\u2019ll attempt to write shorter, more frequent posts. And with less of a limitation on pictures (the old site supported only ten) it should be more interesting to look at too.<\/p>\n

According to my calculations, the last time I posted was in May. I know, I know. Since then I have:<\/p>\n

Watched England lose on penalties\u2026 again
\nTopped the class for the Journalism diploma
\nBegun \u2013 and completed \u2013 a two month course in Technical Writing from the same department
\nAttended a one week course in Film Appreciation at the National Film Archives of India
\nGot soaked in the monsoon rains\u2026 repeatedly
\nAppeared in a least three newspapers (as subject not journalist, hey ho)
\nGrown a beard\u2026
\n\u2026 and shaved it off again
\nBeen galavanting around Maharashtra with Matt Hinde
\nLeft India for Sri Lanka\u2026 temporarily<\/em><\/p>\n

As usual I\u2019m beginning with an apology for not having posted in ages. The longer I leave it, the more I have to write about, so I put it off for a bit\u2026 and the cycle continues. It\u2019s like with emails. Sometimes I receive these fabulous long messages and I don\u2019t have time to reply right away, knowing they deserve a proper response. Then I seem to let them pile up until they become rather intimidating and I suffer from a kind of email paralysis. Hopeless.<\/p>\n

One of the reasons I left the UK was because everyone had heard all my anecdotes and I needed to rustle up some new ones. Suffice to say, that hasn\u2019t been a problem.<\/p>\n

DGS wise, I somehow found myself writing the script for the new Deep Griha DVD. Hopefully it\u2019ll help with fundraising and awareness building. It was an interesting experience but took several attempts as I had to produce the first draft before I\u2019d even seen the visuals. In fact, there\u2019s been so much going on at DGS recently. For the most part I\u2019ve been a witness rather than being right at the heart of things, but I continue to be amazed by these experiences time and again. There\u2019s been a really good mix of volunteers recently \u2013 international and local \u2013 who\u2019ve complemented the permanent staff really well. Shazma from Kenya, Laine and Aisha from Canada, Mo and the 2005-06 Link crew from Scotland, Sara and Kate from England, Jane from Canada, Aislinn from Ireland, Paul and Coco from France, all mixed up with lovely locals such as Meeta, Cheryl, Natasha and Sonu. And what with Sharon returning for yet another crack at DGS, it\u2019s been wonderful to interact with so many interesting characters. I\u2019m definitely starting to feel like an old hand, especially when Sharon and I sit around trying to come up with wind-ups for the new batch of Link volunteers. \u201cWear only purple on Thursdays\u201d is my current favourite. Although I\u2019m arguing that they should address the Volunteer Coordinator as \u201cOh Captain, my Captain\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"Deep<\/a>
\nDeep Griha volunteers at DGS birthday
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

The Deep Griha 31st Birthday Celebrations on July 5th were fabulous. There was a big get-together at the YMCA, and many staff members came up and performed songs and dances. The female volunteers devised a fabulous dance routine to Bollywood smash hit \u2018Kajra Re\u2019, which was VERY popular. There was even a memorable encore in a Pune nightclub a few days later\u2026<\/p>\n

In the past couple of months, I\u2019ve visited Sahara Aalhad Residential Care and Rehabilitation Centre a few times. It\u2019s a care hospice in Pune for people living with HIV \/ AIDS, and has developed a close relationship with DISHA (Deep Griha\u2019s Integrated Service for HIV\/AIDS). Anyone who goes there will confirm that it\u2019s an extraordinary experience. The dedication of the staff (who often go unpaid due to lack of funds) is enough to restore your faith in humanity. Working in the slums is really less about starvation and disease so much as a lack of education and opportunity. But when you visit Sahara the situation is completely different. People who have been often been abandoned by their families \u2013 frequently they\u2019re just dumped there \u2013 and have typically only come forward at a very late stage, typically at HIV stage 4 (i.e. clinical AIDS) because of high levels of stigma and discrimination within the community. I\u2019ll post some more about Sahara soon, but please read Hans\u2019 \u2018Chaos Within\u2019 posts on the Deep Griha blog \u2013 www.deepgriha.blogspot.com<\/a> \u2013 for further insights. Hans has just returned from the XVI International AIDS Conference in Toronto and has some fabulous stories to tell… I’m sure more will emerge in due course. Hans usually leads the English-language awareness sessions but whilst he was away, Mo and I stepped up to the plate and gave a talk about HIV\/AIDS to a whole host of international girl guides. It was a new experience for us both but I think we managed to pull it off.<\/p>\n

It’s strange. I\u2019m not sure at what point I stopped being a visitor to Pune and at what point I realised I was actually living there\u2026 Perhaps it was when I signed the renewed rental agreement for my flat. Either way, my (twice-extended) visa just ran out so I\u2019ve come to Sri Lanka for a month\u2019s holiday \/ visa run. After obtaining a fresh six-month tourist visa \u2013 hopefully a routine procedure \u2013 I\u2019ll return to India. I\u2019m not sure yet how much of that I\u2019ll spend in Pune and how much I\u2019ll try and travel around a bit. I\u2019m still very keen on visiting North India, perhaps Himachal Pradesh, Varanasi, and maybe revisiting Amarpurkashi too. After that visa expires it\u2019s time to return to Plan A: hit the road for New Zealand, although perhaps with an illogical but exciting detour via Nepal. Basically by that stage I\u2019ll be properly strapped for cash so will need to start earning as soon as possible. Admittedly I\u2019ve been proceeding a little slower than originally anticipated, but who\u2019s counting?<\/p>\n

Monsoon season is upon us again. Last year Tadiwala Road suffered from severe flooding and we had to get cracking with relief operations. There were some exceptionally heavy rains in July but nothing as bad as last year. Nevertheless, many people from all over Maharashtra were displaced from their homes, including many families in Tadiwala Road. Things have eased off for now but there\u2019s always the fear of water-borne diseases such as leptosperosis. Naturally, the roads have all been washed away, making for a spine-shattering experience when negotiating the traffic. An innocuous looking puddle can turn out to be a metre-deep crater, and rocks and gravel seem to be scattered randomly across the roads. It’s interesting to be in Sri Lanka right now, where the climate is quite different. More on that soon.<\/p>\n

Back in June the exam results for the Journalism Diploma were released. As luck would have it, I managed to top the class, just scraping a First with Distinction by a few marks. I hadn\u2019t realised that being the class topper was such a big deal here, but it\u2019s been lovely. There\u2019s a tradition in India where you have to buy everyone pehda (a special type of sweet) to celebrate exam success. Let\u2019s just say I never knew I knew so many people in Pune. It cost me a small fortune, but was well worth it. I even ended up in several of the papers \u2013 Times of India, Loksatta and Sakal \u2013 and consequently have been receiving random congratulations from all over the place, including the watchmen in my building.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s actually slightly frustrating because I\u2019m not allowed to work here, which is a shame since I\u2019d like to pick up some more experience.<\/p>\n

Since Pune is \u2013 after all \u2013 the \u2018Oxford of the East\u2019, I decided to study a little more and signed up for a two-month Technical Writing course, offered by the same department. Jasmeet and Susham, both fellow diploma students, also took part. I enjoyed it, and somehow found myself agreeing to take a session on \u2018British English\u2019 for the Society of Technical Communicators (Pune branch) a couple of weeks back. Random? Yes.<\/p>\n

Back in June I also attended an eight day Film Appreciation workshop organised at the National Film Archives of India, based here in Pune. It was great. We got to see some classic movies along with some wonderful short films. I was worried that film appreciation might end up like GCSE English Literature, overanalysing everything until pleasure goes out of it. But it wasn\u2019t like that at all. My favourite session was from a Bollywood screenwriter, who gave us some fascinating insights into how the industry really works. Hmmm have some ideas for the future there\u2026<\/p>\n

Matt Hinde came over for 10 days in August \u2013 top stuff as he might say. I\u2019ll post a full report soon, photos included. Suffice to say it was a riot. Just never drink ‘Stud’ beer if you can help it.<\/p>\n

Thanks to everyone for being so patient. I really hope you\u2019ll enjoy the new blog and would like to encourage you to contribute whenever and however you feel like. It\u2019s very important for me to keep in touch\u2026 a very dear friend recently said that sometimes I was often more like a character in some faraway legend rather than a real person these days, so I\u2019ll endeavour to keep you posted with my comedy antics\u2026<\/p>\n

Love to all, Paul xx<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hello everyone! Welcome to worldofpablo.com\u2026 It\u2019s been a long time coming but I\u2019ve decided to relaunch the website with a new look and new address. I was getting sick of all the spam postings on the old site. Time will tell whether we have any more luck over here\u2026 The new worldofpablo.com is supposed to … Continue reading Hello and welcome<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-64","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-announcements","category-ngo"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldofpablo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldofpablo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldofpablo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldofpablo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldofpablo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=64"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/worldofpablo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":163,"href":"https:\/\/worldofpablo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64\/revisions\/163"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldofpablo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldofpablo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldofpablo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}