A busy day in Akola

Today we had the oppotunity to visit several of the projects run by various Rotary Clubs of Akola. We first visited the Dnyaneshwari Marathi Primary School where we met a group of beautiful and talented students. This school is sponsored by the Akola Central club. We were warmly welcomed and enjoyed singing by the students and got to see some of their artwork. The students were very well-behaved, especially as it was their last day of school before Diwali holidays!

We then visited the Damani Eye Hospital which performs eye surgeries for both paying and non-paying patients. They see about 5000 patients per year and the Akola Main Rotary Club helps cover costs for the patients. We got an extended tour of the facilities although nobody volunteered to undergo any procedures!

The next project took us outside the city to see check dams along a small river. At many times during the year the water dries up so the dams allow better access to the water and to irrigate agricultural land. They were designed by a Rotarian from the US who made them in an arch shape to make them very durable. When we visited people were using water from the dam to wash their clothes. 

We also had a chance to see part of the project where Rotarians installed approximately 240 toilets in the village. Both the dams and toilets projects are sponsored by the Akola Midtown group. On our way back to the city we got a close-up look at a cotton field - a great experience for Jean, our fibre artist. Akola is well-known for having the best cotton around!

The final stop was to the Science Park, sponsored by the Akola East club. It is an outdoor park with lots of interactive stations for children to learn about science. 

After a shopping trip (jewelry, sandals, and clothing) we were treated to a beautiful meal in the garden of the president of the Akola North club. We were even serenaded in Hindi by some very talented Rotarians!

A great and full day in Akola! Tomorrow we will have a bit of rest and Monday will be vocational visits and a visit to the Shegaon Temple. 

- Sarah.

The Journey Continues

Green Bee-eater

We stopped at a lake on the vast campus of Amravarti University, one of the largest in India for some bird watching and a visit by some friendly oxen.  

We visited Amravarti's University library and had presentations and visits to several departments.  

Saying goodbye to our Amravarti friends.  Becky's hosts dressed her in a beautiful saree!  Bystanders were gathering on the street to take a peek and take photographs.  We moved to Sanjay's residence to meet some family and friends.  Thank you for the delicious breakfast and the send-off.

We will miss you, Amravati!  

Amazing Amravati

Since our arrival in Amravati, we've again been shown superb hospitality and are seeing a new city with slightly different food and culture than Nagpur.  Our host families are treating us to delightful new dishes and yummy treats.  I had a dessert made with custard apple on Monday evening.  My hosts are Bakul and Neeta Kakkad and they have included me so much in their language (they are VERY patiently helping me with names and a few words.  The language and dialect is so different from English that I find it very difficult to recall words that I have been introduced to).  

Neeta has an early childhood school called Naveem.  She loves children very much and we have had many talks about teaching and education in general.  After seeing photos of her children, talking about her students and programs all week, I finally met her students as headed to her school this morning.  It's Diwali season in India right now, and the teachers had been working hard with the students to welcome me and sing a Happy Diwali song.  I will upload some photos when I have an opportunity.  Following the Diwali songs, the children shared a series of songs and dances that they have learned since coming to school.  I was able to share one of my students' favorite songs, "Five Green and Speckled Frogs", too.  Thank you, Neeta, your teachers and the children.

We are off to a Rotary Club meeting and will present this evening.  We are also celebrating Alain today on his 30th birthday.  

More to come soon.  Glad you're following.

Kelly

We received beautiful flowers from students at a village school.  Neeta removed the rose petals and arranged them beautifully in a bowl of water.  

Breakfast following 6AM yoga.  The round orange treat on the left is a tasty sweet cooked in oil and then dipped in syrup.  One of my new favorite treats.

This is Neeta's early childhood school, Naveem.  She has 22 students and she is maintaining a teacher-student ratio of 5:1.  The teachers and students had been busy preparing for a Diwali celebration.  

Well, my Canadian teacher friends, these talented ladies
performed a traditional welcome dance and lit candles
to begin Diwali celebrations.  

One of Amravati's rising stars performing a Happy Diwali dance.

Paper mache Diwali lamps.

                  

Lunch at Neeta and Bakul's on Wednesday.  The chipati on the right is made on special occaisions.  It is prepared with a sweet filling (it's not all spicy food, here!!).  The dish on the top left is spicy and made with the white flesh of watermelon.  Delicious and juicy!

Bay-backed Shrike

We headed out of town to bird watch this afternoon.  Becky will have to help with naming the species.  The sounds all around were bird calls.  So peaceful.  We had chai with the local farmers before heading back to the city.

Happy Birthday, Alain!  The Rotarians arranged a cake for  Alain's 30th birthday and they helped us get a cricket bat for him!  

धन्यवाद Nagpur!

धन्यवाद  (thank you!) to the fine Rotarians of Nagpur.
You have shown us a most hospitable time in Nagpur over the past few days.  We appreciate the send-off and are excited to have arrived in our second friendly city, Amravati.
Take care and keep in touch!  

The Art of Block Printing

I thought it about time I took my share of the blog happenings,here goes.  This morning the mother in law of my host Tauby, gave me a tour of the Bakery in the back of the house to select my breakfast.  It was so interesting to see them decorating the cakes, making the sandwiches and calzones and see the gelato machine, most impressive and it took a blueberry muffin and 2 chocolate cookies, very healthy but hey who was looking.  We sat and relaxed and I shared my photos of home, family etc.  I am so lucky to be in this family, the house is a colonial style and I love old homes so I feel very comfortable here.  Tauby took me shopping for some Indian clothes and I was

very pleased with my purchases.  This family is really lovely and so easy to be around.  Thanks to all of you for making me so welcome.

We joined the group for a visit to Spacewood a furniture making factory, which was huge and most interesting, we were treated to another lovely Indian lunch and then got to see the showroom.  Forget the bedroom the kitchens were what Kelly and I wanted to see and dream about, Kelly went for the Olive Green and White combination while I went for, yes you guessed it - dark purple and white, which was so sharp I could have walked out with it on the spot, it had amazing features not seen before. Lotto tickets needed to buy this one.

Next it was on to my vocation day and what a treat to indulge my passion. Rotn. Geeta Rao's workshop where she does block printing.  We saw an orange and wine border print on unbleached cotton and a demonstration of a 3 color block Print, consisting of first one color the an overprint of another of the same block and a third smaller in another color. They do all sorts of things like bed sheets and we also saw 2 plain saris which had been block printed and what a difference it made, a unique sari.

Next on to Geeta's Shop where her one of a kind items thrilled us girls, Alain not so sure, we shall have to work on that aspect!!  Thanks to  Geeta and Shiv for both last night and today from a very grateful GSE 7810 team.

I will go to bed happy tonight after a fabric exciting day.

- Jean

Library Visits!

My first vocational visit took place this morning and wow, what a morning! The day started with a “snack” (a.k.a. a full breakfast) at my host, Dr. Pratibha Siriya’s house where I was greeted with gifts (earrings and a bracelet!) and a full plate of delicious food. Dr. Siriya is the president of the Nagpur Orange City Club.

We then headed to a public library for a quick visit – they are open from 8-10 and then 5-8 in the evening. It was fascinating to see a public library up close – it was a small space but there were many books packed in! The library also had a reading room for the public to enjoy the many newspaper and magazine subscriptions.

A public library visit - the library manager on the right

We then headed to Dr. Ambedkar College where we visited 3 libraries – the main library, the commerce library and the law library.



Main library, Dr. Ambedkar College

I was extremely honoured to be shown the original Constitution of India from 1949. Dr. Ambedkar, after whom the college is named, actually wrote the Indian Constitution so the library at the college keeps the original copy.

Signatures on the original Indian Constitution

We then visited the main Nagpur University Library, a very large university library, as well as one of the campus libraries. It was interesting to see how similar these libraries are to Canadian college and university libraries. There were many students around and I got a chance to speak with some commerce and law students – they were quite surprised to see me walking around their campus!

Something I found very interesting is that in almost all of the libraries the books are kept in metal and glass cases rather than open shelves. I wasn’t able to take pictures inside several of the libraries (security reasons), but I did manage to take a few “snaps.”

A big thank you to my host and her Rotarian friends – it was a great introduction to Indian libraries!

- Sarah.







What do you mean, tomorrow is Friday? (take 2)

Hi again to family, friends old and new, and followers of our India Adventure.   Rotary Club of Nagpur hosted the team today.  Rtn. Manjot Kahai and Dr. Rajiv Borle escorted us to the Gandhi Ashram at Sevagram this morning.  Of course, you’ve heard of Marthami Gandhi, know that he is the small peaceful man with the round spectacles.  But did you know that Gandhi is Bapu: father of the nation?  

Over the past couple of years, Gandhi has been on my radar.  I can’t say I’ve studied Gandhi or that I follow his simplistic life in my everyday, but I can tell you that Gandhi’s philosophy resonates with me whenever I come across a Gandhi quote, when I read passages of his work, or even watching Ben Kingsley’s “Gandhi” film.  Needless to say, arriving at the grounds of Gandhi’s ashram was one of those moments of disbelief: “am I really at this place I’ve imagined in my heart and mind”?  This is not a big, lavish tourist site.  Manjot and Rajiv parked just outside of the gates, we gathered our things and walked past a couple of very understated souvenir huts, and admired the canopy of trees, the prayer square where Gandhi prayed and then we removed our shoes and entered Adi Nivas, the first hut built on the ashram.  We probably only encountered 25-30 other people while visiting the ashram (half of them being people living in and maintaining the grounds, gardening, etc.).  

Bapu was the integral guide for change in India by:
Attaining freedom through truth and non-violence
Trying to extend and enlarge the scope of truth and non-violence into community action
Instill the necessity of vows
 for the salvation of oneself AND for social service
Reviving self-respect of the poor by voluntary poverty, so that the good qualities in all coule become a living force
Preaching constructive programmes for every situation and in showing the way to universal equality
Emphasizing that the end and the means are equally important  
Building up selfless workers for the service of society

Thank you, Rotary Club of Nagpur, for arranging such a humbling excursion for us.  

You may be interested to know that the souvenirs at the ashram were of 2 types: fabrics and clothing made by habitants of the ashram, and books written by Gandhi and others inspired by his life and work. 

Also, I must mention that Gandhi had a snake cage in his office building.  It wasn’t very big, perhaps the size of a very small cast iron wood stove.  The placard above the cage explained the danger of snakes, but Gandhi did not believe in killing the snakes.  Rather, snakes were caught and placed in the cage, to then be removed from the ashram.  

Other highlights today:
Visit to medical school complexes in Wardha, including a tour of medicinal herb garden at Madhame Gandhi Ayurved College and Research Center
Library visit at Datta Meghe Institute of Medical Science
Lunch at Datta Meghe Institute of Medical Science
Celebration of Sinjara at Centre Point Hotel
Rotary Meeting at Nagpur Club
Social and dinner at residence of Shiv and Geeta Rao

Stay tuned for Jean's post on Friday's block printing session and a few other highlights.  

Signing off,
Kelly