Baroda is not so big city with lots of students living. Most of the people use 2 wheeled vehicles. The main public transport is the Autorikshaw (toktok). The meter starts counting from 6 rupees, the average fare for a close place is 15-20 rupees. After 11pm the fare is multiplied by 1.5!
The regional language there is Gujarati. In Mumbai it is Marati, so it is different from one place to another. I heard it also depends on ethnicity; like Muslims speak Urdo, Sikh speak Punjabi.
Whenever Indians from different states meet they speak Hindi.
Date: 4th of July 2007
First morning in Baroda. Sonesh took me to buy a SIM card for 600 rupees. It took many days to work with full functionality. Calling inside Gujarat is local calling. Calling another states is more expensive. Calling from another state has roaming charges! However, international calling is very cheap compared to Egypt.
We went to AIESEC office. There I met Fiona, a trainee from China who has just arrived for an MT. The office is a small one with one main room with 3 computers and a smaller room for meetings. The internet was not working so Sonesh took me to the internet cafe. On the computer next to me a young woman was sitting, wearing saree. She asked me to help her with something then introduced herself to me. She shaked hands with me in a very bold way and kept my hand in hers longer than usual. Then she talked a little with Sonesh. She told him that her husband has run away and now she wants to immigrate to Australia.
Afterwards we went to Goodies restaurant for lunch. It is the closest restaurant to the AIESEC office. I even saw the AIESEC poster on the door. All trainees and CEEDers go there. There I met new people; Joyce from Holland - came as a trainee for a women empowerment project, Ludi & Dany from France - CEEDers mainly working on recruitment, Kim & Son from Korea, trainees for One World project, Krina - CEEDer from England who has Indian roots, and Dasha from Russia who is coordinating project One World with me.
Left to right: Krina, Ludy Joyce, Dany, Dasha, Kim, me and Son
After lunch we took autorikshaws to INOX mall; which is a big shopping mall. I went to the clothes shop and found some "ethnic" wear. I bought 2 Indian kurtas. Then we went to a bollywood movie! It was a movie called "Aap ka Surrour"; it was in Hindi with some English. It was an amusing movie with too much songs!
Date: 5th of July
All the EB were there at Darshan's place since the MCP and another MC member were there. We had indian shisha with 2 pipes!
Date: 6th of July
More trainees arrived that day from China; some of them are Korean studying in China.
Darshan is the Vice President for Education Sector in AIESEC Baroda. So he is the EB member responsible for project One World. I and Dasha have come to Baroda to coordinate the project. That day we had our first meeting where we read the job descriptions and divided our responsibilities.
Date: 7th of July
Dasha has prepared a reception party for the interns at Sonesh's home; many members were there also. The theme of the party was "Live Brightly"; everyone would wear bright colors and bring one fruit. We played a lot of interesting games, then Dasha prepared a dish with molten chocolate and fruits. We made a lot of jives (AIESEC dances). I played some violin for them. It was a nice party.
Left to right: Kim, me and Dasha
Party!
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