Sunday, July 17, 2011
“It’s not how much we give but how much love we put into giving.” Mother Teresa
Sunday, divine Sunday.
We spent Saturday night at the Lotus Comfort Hotel located in Puducherry where I shared a room with Katie. A room with a delicious view on a big mango tree. While I was still relaxing in bed, in the morning, reading, Katie went for a walk on the boardwalk near the sea where she also enjoyed a nice and tasty coffee.
8:45 was time for breakfast which we had at the hotel. Orange juice, corn flakes, eggs, toasts and jam, coffee and tea were on the menu. Then, with our bellies full, we were ready to hit the road and pursue the second day of our journey outside Chennai.
Still in Puducherry, our next step was the visit of Aurobindo’s Ashram, which was decorated with the delicate perfumes of plenty colorful flowers. It is in this very garden that Sri Aurobindo and his faithful friend, The Mother, were both buried many years ago. Our team was not alone there, as many visitors were showing up to pay a respectful tribute. Silently. We also discovered there a library full of spiritual and/or philosophical books all translated in many languages.
Then, walk in Auroville, located in Viluppuram, was how we discovered this small experimental township founded in 1968 by The Mother, and where about 2,000 souls, locals and foreigners, are living permanently. On the site, I bought some Auroville sandal wood incense. My favorite. The team had refreshing lime drinks under this hot sunny day after taking a look, from far, at the Matrimandir, a special architectural object looking like a giant golf ball, and which has been acclaimed as "an outstanding and original architectural achievement". It was conceived by The Mother as "a symbol of the Divine's answer to man's inspiration for perfection as a scientific invention which is suppose to improve the concentration.”
And then Mamalapuram, a town in Kancheepuram, where we visited some master pieces of rock carvings. From the side of the road, on our way getting there, we saw mountains of salt, and instantly Stephen thought of Marionne who loves her salt sooooooo much! We girls stopped and took some photos to immortalize this salty moment. And another quick stop. This time for Stephen to buy an enormous jackfruit. Something Katie, Marionne, Heather and I never saw in direct until this day. The size of this fruit is very impressive. Then, time for lunch. Already. We stopped for a bite to eat in a new restaurant where even Stephen had never been before. The vegetarian noodles and rice were very tasty.
The rock-cut monuments at Mamalapuram were just amazing. We took plenty of pictures of these sculptures and cave temples. Stephen, our generous friend and brilliant private guide, taught us interesting stories during the visit of this incredible and precious archeological site.
We ended this unforgettable afternoon, our feet in the ocean, playing with the waves. A lovely moment. And to make everything more perfect, we all had a taste of coconut water before hitting the road to come back home where we were kindly welcomed by Sheeba and Roshan who could not joined us this weekend. Fortunately, they will next weekend! The family will then be complete!
Sylvie
Celebrating 100th Team in India
Celebrating 100th Team in India
Saturday, 16 July, 2011
"If you reject the food, ignore the custom, fear the religion and avoid the people, you might better stay at home." ~ James Michener
Field trip doesn't do it justice. We planned to leave the house this morning at 7:30, for the first day of a two-day whirlwind field trip, but were a little delayed. The driver was late, and when Stephen called to check on him, he answered his cell phone while driving, promptly earning himself a ticket and delaying his arrival further. Fortunately there were no other problems and the driver got here by 8:30. We climbed into the luxurious air-conditioned SUV and were on our way. We had driven in town before, but not more then a few miles. This was a whole different experience, mostly because of the continuous cacophony of horns, both ours and other drivers. And when I say continuous, that's no exaggeration. Who needs a radio when you have this background noise? This beeping is not like American beeping saying "Get out of my way!"' but more like a "Hey, look out I'm coming, be careful, make sure you seem Me.
On our way out of the city we passed 13 engineering colleges, on one road. It is no surprise that
Our first stop was at the Rajiv Gandhi memorial site, the actual spot where the Prime Minister was killed by a woman suicide bomber in May of 1991. There was a large green expanse of lawn and seven tall pillars that represent the concepts of Satya, Dharma, Vigyan, Nyaya, Shanti, Tyaga and Smiridhi. (I did not remember that, I copied it from a press release) I found the whole park incredibly moving and impressive and sad.
We headed back to the car. Unfortunately, this is where things start to blur for me, as we started the temple tour, visiting four beautiful temples. They were built starting in the 8th century and most were added onto over the course of the next 800 years. Some were carved from single pieces of stone, some from granite, some were enormous and some were not. I remember the first one best because Marion, Katie and I were able to sit on an elephant while we were there. All four of us were blessed by the elephant.
After a lunch of a selection of dishes, including pander, naan, chicken masala and lime rice, we headed to a more materialistic venue than the temples, a sari shop. There we were warmly greeted and shown the loom where they weave the products they sell and we were given a demonstration. Next we actually got to look at the wares. They had thousands of saris, floor to ceiling, of every color and complexity you could imagine. Some of them took forty days to weave, those were out of our price range, but we were not disappointed with what we could afford. Katie picked two saris, one purple and yellow, her school colors, and one cream. Marion
Next we drove to
Heather
Celebrating 100th Team in India
Celebrating 100th Team in India
Friday, 15 July, 2011
We have finished our first week, which means we are one third of the way through the program. I cannot believe it. It seems like yesterday that we arrive, yet it also seems like we've been here forever.
We've learned that children inIndia
The children at the home laugh and play. When you look at their faces you can see such joy. They sometimes fight and become angry with one another, but the love that they have for each another is evident. The older ones help care for the little ones by cooking, cleaning and braiding hair. When we arrive each night there is a circle of young children with their homework out, and one of the older boys or girls helps them with the lessons. I hope after leaving Chennai that I have given them even half as much as they have given me.
We've learned that children in
The children at the home laugh and play. When you look at their faces you can see such joy. They sometimes fight and become angry with one another, but the love that they have for each another is evident. The older ones help care for the little ones by cooking, cleaning and braiding hair. When we arrive each night there is a circle of young children with their homework out, and one of the older boys or girls helps them with the lessons. I hope after leaving Chennai that I have given them even half as much as they have given me.
Katie
Celebrating 100th Team in India
Celebrating 100th Team in India
Thursday, 14 July, 2011
"Celebrate the happiness that friends are always giving, make every
day a holiday and celebrate just living!" - Amanda Bradley
Today was a very special day. We woke up early, and had to be downstairs at 7:15 to celebrate what could be a world holiday. The other "Auntys" and I gathered around to admire the smartly dressed little boy who was especially excited. And we all pulled out our cameras, iPhones, and iPads to watch Roshan blow out the candles that adorned a singing flower on top of his cake. Today was a very special day because today is Roshan's third birthday! Soon after Sheeba and Stephen left to take the birthday boy to school. Katie, Sylvie, Heather and I all sat round at the table, trying teas till they returned. We had a delicious breakfast of rice cakes, coconut chutney, and eggs with green pepper and cheese. Mmmm too good. Sheeba put garlands of Jasmine in our hair and decorated our forehead with a bindi before we left for the Grace school. Our lesson plan for each class we have is to start with a game, go over the main subject of the day and then end with a book and/or song. Our third graders did well with the lesson and loved singing about snowmen at the end. Ah the fourth graders. The fourth graders are always excited for today's class; and though they sometimes struggle, by the end, I can visibly see that they have learned something. One of the fourth graders in particular, Bharath, always manages to make me smile. During the Guessing Game, when he answered something right he would stand up, flex his arm muscles, and point with a smile. When we played the Toilet Paper game, he fashioned his pieces into a scarf and attempted a runway walk. Every time, I laugh. Next were the fifth graders. These children really understand and every day they pass the challenges we think of with little struggles. I also really click with this class, remembering Sharmila and Arulkalkis favorite color is pink and that Deepilka loves chicken biryani. Even though they are too smart for me, they still love to hear us read a book and enjoy singing silly songs. Lastly, we talked with Sylvie, one of the
We all went home tired and full, ready for Friday and to see the children's smiling faces.
No comments:
Post a Comment