The Wandering Two: Join the Fight Fortnight & World AIDS Day

Since we returned from our trip north things have been insanely busy in Pune with our Join the Fight Fortnight leading up to World AIDS Day. And the fortnight somehow kept getting stretched into over three weeks of activities. Every day since November 17 we’ve held HIV bootcamps, awareness and fundraising events, live installations and street plays in various parts of the city. I’ll just describe some of our favorite events below such as attending the NH7 Weekender music festival. It was a 3-day long music festival in Pune and Wake Up Pune was lucky enough to get a table in the bazaar and got to talk to lots of festival goers and spread awareness about HIV and Wake Up Pune. We also got to see Basement Jaxx and Imogen Heap perform which was awesome! I had to hold a press conference with Avinash about our activities because Becky got sick and (conveniently) lost her voice that day… It was definitely a good experience though. Another fun event that we did was hold a conga line flash mob. We had about 30 people dancing in a conga line up and down MG road in what may or may not have been Pune’s first ever flash mob. We definitely attracted a lot of attention from curious shoppers and store owners and I think Naveed may have had too much fun leading the line (see pictures below). The day before World AIDS Day we had three giant rangolis created in different parts of the city and they were all so beautiful. Then on the day, December 1^st, we had our big rally with over 400 people participating as we marched through the streets of Pune. In addition to these events we were invited to present a few bootcamps to different groups, rehab centres and corporate offices as many wanted to be educated about HIV/AIDS around World AIDS Day. It was a hectic three weeks and I’m happy it’s done and we pulled off a successful bunch of activities and events!

The DISHA ladies held a party at work for us on our last day at the office and there may have been a few tears shed, even though we will be returning in two months once our visas allow us back into India. It has been a wonderful 4+ months working with these amazing women and Naveed and I are looking forward to coming back and spending more time with them.

On our last day in India we took a train to Mumbai with the whole gang and spent a lovely afternoon stuffing our faces at high tea at the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel once again. Naveed had successfully hyped the tea since September to all the other volunteers and no one was disappointed.

We flew home with a stop in London to visit Taraneh and then to Florida for our friend Jeff’s wedding and a trip to Disney World! Now we’re spending a few weeks in Michigan and Victoria each to visit family. Let’s see if Naveed’s Indian head bobbling will hang on for the next two months until we’re back!

Love,

The Wandering Two