Monday, February 7

Last week we had a meeting with Farhan, a young man who came recommended to us, about joining us to work as a club leader. We spoke at some length and we all agreed that we would like to give it a try.

Today Farhan has brought us to the Subash Centre in K.S. Road to talk with the association secretary here. We hope to start 2 new DGD clubs for local girls aged between ten and sixteen and we wanted to look at the premises.

The centre has existed for thirty years or so. It operates almost exclusively on funds raised by the association members, most of whom work as day labourers. It reminds me in essence of the kind of workers clubs that existed in England in the nineteenth century and died as self-help became unfashionable after the end of the Second World War.

The centre’s name references Subhas Chandra Bose, whose portraits adorn the walls. I suspect the varied spellings simply indicate what happens when one language gets translated phonetically into another.

As we leave I take some photographs of the outside of the building.