Namaste! It has been a little bit since my last entry and I am sure you may have noticed the lack of new photographs on my blog. Unfortunately, I have been having trouble recently posting pictures, so I am sad to say you may have to await my return until you get some new shots. Anyways, Tim left our company around the 22nd of March and Kat and I saw him off in Calcutta. His departure from the home was quite sad as many of the girls started crying and I know they will miss him dearly. On Tim's final day in Calcutta, we went to the zoo and saw many animals including the famous white tiger. We also went to a tea shop and I learned quite a few new facts about tea harvesting and which seasons yield the best Darjeeling tea (the second or spring). Since Tim has made his departure things at the home have returned to normal. The girls still lavish us with love and handmade cards. Sundays are still filled with dance classes, milk in our tea, and now chicken curry. I feel Sundays are the best day of the week!! I do love shaking it to Indian dances in dance class. However a few things are a bit different.
The girls spend a bit more time braiding our hair and doing girly things. Also, it has gotten too hot to play outside at game time so we have taken to cards: rummy, uno, slap jack, and go fish. Also, there is this awesome game played with chip type object and flicking them with your fingers... its kind of like pool. Also, our food has gotten spiced up!!! Yeah! Tim (no offence tim) liked things a bit bland and had trouble with different types of food. Now Kat and I have a greater variety of foods to eat since we are more adventurous eaters and often eat the same food as the girls. Also, Swarnali and Mrs. Roy left the home to pursue other interests. Therefore, in the mean time Mrs. Purkait has been head of the home and Kat and I have taken on a few more responsibilities. Luckily this time period has come during the Bengali girls school break, so they are not here and are home on holiday. So there are fewer girls to look after. Sadly the eldest Hindi girls are also gone for good. They have completed the highest Hindi grade at the school here in Ranaghat and will now attend a new school and move to a new home. It was very sad to see them leave as they cried freely at leaving all their friends and their home for the past few years. We made them farewell cards and waved good bye as they left, feeling sad at knowing we may never see them again.
Around Easter Kat and I organized an Easter egg hunt for the girls. They seemed to love it, especially all the candy. Who can blame them?? Ha ha. Other than that things have been quite relaxing as the girls have been having holiday which means less studies (as they were in between grades and had some time off from school) and a few more hours of tv and play time. That's all i have time for now. namaste again.
alison
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Armritsar, Agra, and the Taj
Armritsar is in the state of Punjab and has a population of about one million. It is also home to many Sikhs as the city is home to their holiest temple "The Golden Temple". The golden temple is a marble and gold plated gurdwara with a golden dome (gilded with 750kg of pure gold)that glitters in the middle of a holy pool of water (with nice Koi fish swimming in it) where the Sikhs bathe. The pool called Amrit Sarov or pool of nectar and gives the town its name. The dome represents an inverted lotus flower a symbol of Sikh devotees' aim to live a pure life. Four priests inside the temple keep up a continuous chant braodcasted over live speakers around the temple. Very cool. The chant is in Gurmukhi from the Sikh holy book: the Guru Granth Sahib. This is one of the very reasons the temple is the most sacred of their religion. The book is kept in the temple during the day and then brought out and placed in a special place during the night, with much processions.
Prior to entering the temple, we had to wash our feet and cover our heads with shawls. Once inside we walked around clockwise as is custom. We did not enter the main temple area because of the long line and not being Sikh or knowing their customs. However the Sikh people are a very welcoming sort. Their religion started because the founder was disillusioned with both Islam and Hinduism. It does not follow or believe in casts as all are welcome to join in ceremonies. Also, each temple has a huge area where all are allowed to share a meal (made by volunteers) regardless of race, religion, or class. Sort of a big stick it to the Hindu religion. The Brahmans are very particular about who they can eat with and who can touch their food. However, like all other areas in India we were asked to be in countess photographs with Indians or holding their children. ha ha After the beautiful golden temple, whose beauty is hard to explain, we headed over to Jallianwala Bagh which is right next door.
On April 13th 1919 British authorities open fired on 20,000 unarmed Indians having a peaceful protest regarding the Rowlatt Act (which gave British authorities the right to imprison Indians suspected of sedition). The park where the Indians were meeting is called the Jallianwala Bagh and is an open space surrounded by high walls. This meant the Indian people had no way to escape the gunfire. Open fire for 6 minutes left more that 600 dead and many many more injured. While a horrific event, it galvanized Gandhi's civil disobedience plan and Indian nationalism. It was a turning point in Indian history and the park is now a memorial. You can still see bullet holes in the walls. I found Amritsar to be quite an enjoyable part of the trip and after a tasty lunch we took a train to Agra.
We arrived in Agra on March 13th. Agra is in the state of Uttar Pradesh and by the 16th century it was a part of the Mughal empire. Prior to Delhi Agra was the state capital. It is sort of a sprawled out city with low lying building, very different in structure than Calcutta. However, it too is polluted as it used to be a center for heavy industry until tourism to the Taj became very fruitful. Since the Taj Mahal was closed, we first went to tour the Red Fort. The Red Fort is a massive red sandstone fort constructed by emperor Akbar in 1565 and is one of the finest Moghal forts in India. The emperors grandson Shah Jahan then transformed it into a palace and made some marble additions. Shah Jahan is the man who had the Taj Mahal built, and in an ironic twist of fate he was put in prison in the Fort for 8 years and could only stare at the Taj through a window. The entrance to the fort is a bridge over a moat that back in the day was filled with crocodiles. Now it is all dried up. You can see the Taj Mahal in the background and I thought the fort was very beautiful and i took many photos; it is in impeccable condition. After viewing the fort we took an autorickshaw to the Mahtab Bagh: the gardens behind the Taj Mehal. Here we watched the most beautiful sunset I have seen yet in India. The sun is just so huge and bright red and the Taj was not a bad sight too. The sandy area is filled with young children begging for money, asking for sweets, and pens. You definately feel that you are in India.
The Taj Mahal is a surreal experiecne said to be " a teardrop on the face of eternity" it was built by emperor Shah Jahan as a memorial to his 2nd wife Mumtaz Mahal. It took 21 years to build the Taj (from 1631 to 1653) and their were 20,000 people working on it. Specialists were brought in to make the exquisite marble screen and pietra dura (marble inlay work) made with thousands of semi precious stone. The taj is made of semi translucent white marble carved with flowers, set stonesm scrollwork and quotes from the Quran. By 1666 Shah Jahan was dead and was then buried next to his wife thus it holds them both in the basement far from sight. The gardens at the entrance form a classic Mughal charbagh line with a square quartered with water and fountains. The Taj itself stands on a raised platform,. 40 meter high marble minarets stand on the 4 corners and lean slightly outward a plan in case there was an earthquake so the taj would not be damaged.
There is a red sandstone mosque on the left side and a mirror image sandstone building on the right. In total we spent 5 hours touring the area and soaking it all in.
Surprisingly there was not much sitting around as it took a long time to travel the grounds and see everything. I must have taken a gazillion photographs. However, it was practically impossible to get a direct shot of the front line since there were so many people. If you did manage one you probably have some random person and the Taj now in your album. There really are many many people there, and you can't blame them as I can see why it is one of the 7 man made wonders of the world. Inside the tomb no photography is allowed and it was surprisingly dark. We stayed until sunset. It was a weird feeling leaving after staying all day and knowing you may never see it all again. We also saw the baby Taj prior to the Taj which was the first Indian building to use white marble, inlay work, and Pietra dura. I thought the inlay and stone work was more beautiful than the Taj although it was not on quite as large a scale. I am so lucky to have been able to enjoy the Taj and I am very thankful for this experience.
Prior to entering the temple, we had to wash our feet and cover our heads with shawls. Once inside we walked around clockwise as is custom. We did not enter the main temple area because of the long line and not being Sikh or knowing their customs. However the Sikh people are a very welcoming sort. Their religion started because the founder was disillusioned with both Islam and Hinduism. It does not follow or believe in casts as all are welcome to join in ceremonies. Also, each temple has a huge area where all are allowed to share a meal (made by volunteers) regardless of race, religion, or class. Sort of a big stick it to the Hindu religion. The Brahmans are very particular about who they can eat with and who can touch their food. However, like all other areas in India we were asked to be in countess photographs with Indians or holding their children. ha ha After the beautiful golden temple, whose beauty is hard to explain, we headed over to Jallianwala Bagh which is right next door.
On April 13th 1919 British authorities open fired on 20,000 unarmed Indians having a peaceful protest regarding the Rowlatt Act (which gave British authorities the right to imprison Indians suspected of sedition). The park where the Indians were meeting is called the Jallianwala Bagh and is an open space surrounded by high walls. This meant the Indian people had no way to escape the gunfire. Open fire for 6 minutes left more that 600 dead and many many more injured. While a horrific event, it galvanized Gandhi's civil disobedience plan and Indian nationalism. It was a turning point in Indian history and the park is now a memorial. You can still see bullet holes in the walls. I found Amritsar to be quite an enjoyable part of the trip and after a tasty lunch we took a train to Agra.
We arrived in Agra on March 13th. Agra is in the state of Uttar Pradesh and by the 16th century it was a part of the Mughal empire. Prior to Delhi Agra was the state capital. It is sort of a sprawled out city with low lying building, very different in structure than Calcutta. However, it too is polluted as it used to be a center for heavy industry until tourism to the Taj became very fruitful. Since the Taj Mahal was closed, we first went to tour the Red Fort. The Red Fort is a massive red sandstone fort constructed by emperor Akbar in 1565 and is one of the finest Moghal forts in India. The emperors grandson Shah Jahan then transformed it into a palace and made some marble additions. Shah Jahan is the man who had the Taj Mahal built, and in an ironic twist of fate he was put in prison in the Fort for 8 years and could only stare at the Taj through a window. The entrance to the fort is a bridge over a moat that back in the day was filled with crocodiles. Now it is all dried up. You can see the Taj Mahal in the background and I thought the fort was very beautiful and i took many photos; it is in impeccable condition. After viewing the fort we took an autorickshaw to the Mahtab Bagh: the gardens behind the Taj Mehal. Here we watched the most beautiful sunset I have seen yet in India. The sun is just so huge and bright red and the Taj was not a bad sight too. The sandy area is filled with young children begging for money, asking for sweets, and pens. You definately feel that you are in India.
The Taj Mahal is a surreal experiecne said to be " a teardrop on the face of eternity" it was built by emperor Shah Jahan as a memorial to his 2nd wife Mumtaz Mahal. It took 21 years to build the Taj (from 1631 to 1653) and their were 20,000 people working on it. Specialists were brought in to make the exquisite marble screen and pietra dura (marble inlay work) made with thousands of semi precious stone. The taj is made of semi translucent white marble carved with flowers, set stonesm scrollwork and quotes from the Quran. By 1666 Shah Jahan was dead and was then buried next to his wife thus it holds them both in the basement far from sight. The gardens at the entrance form a classic Mughal charbagh line with a square quartered with water and fountains. The Taj itself stands on a raised platform,. 40 meter high marble minarets stand on the 4 corners and lean slightly outward a plan in case there was an earthquake so the taj would not be damaged.
There is a red sandstone mosque on the left side and a mirror image sandstone building on the right. In total we spent 5 hours touring the area and soaking it all in.
Surprisingly there was not much sitting around as it took a long time to travel the grounds and see everything. I must have taken a gazillion photographs. However, it was practically impossible to get a direct shot of the front line since there were so many people. If you did manage one you probably have some random person and the Taj now in your album. There really are many many people there, and you can't blame them as I can see why it is one of the 7 man made wonders of the world. Inside the tomb no photography is allowed and it was surprisingly dark. We stayed until sunset. It was a weird feeling leaving after staying all day and knowing you may never see it all again. We also saw the baby Taj prior to the Taj which was the first Indian building to use white marble, inlay work, and Pietra dura. I thought the inlay and stone work was more beautiful than the Taj although it was not on quite as large a scale. I am so lucky to have been able to enjoy the Taj and I am very thankful for this experience.
Holi
Holi is a wonderful festival celebrated on the full moon in the beginning of March to celebrate the arrival of spring. The festival is celebrated first with burning bon fires to ward off the evil spirit Holika and then throwing tons of bright colored powder called gulal at anyone within range!! Ha Ha. Himachal Pradesh celebrated Holi this year on the 10th while other areas celebrated in on the 11th (My 25th birthday by the way!). Since we were traveling we were struck by the flights of color and dancing and music twice! In Manikaran after bathing in the hot springs we were covered with the gulal by everyone. People seemed to take great pleasure on tossing the powder on us! Even on the drive towards the temple everywhere were boys loitering on the streets or rideing in groups on top of trucks stopping cars and tossing powder. It is like one giant game that the whole country is in on. On the 11th, the day was filled with a car ride from Kullu Valley to Armritsar, while the journey was only suppose to take around 9 hours we got a flat tire so it took 12 instead. However, during our breakdown we were covered with Happy holiness again by a group of pink powdered women. Mr. Roy told them it was my birthday and they took a special interest in covering me in colors. It was a memorable birthday and we all spent the day powdered up and sticky in a the car.
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