10 posts tagged “india”
Our last few days in India were spent in Delhi. We paid a visit to the Gandi museum where we saw a replica of his room, one of the bullets that shot him and some amazing quotes by Gandi – and some less amazing ones by dear Mr Churchill. I was very excited to finally take my parents to a mosque and then very grumpy when they made us wear these ridiculously ugly polyester gowns, even though Mum and I were more covered than the locals.
This wonderful, little hill station at the foot of the Himalayas. It used to be the summer capital of the Brits when they were over here, and the place really has the feel of an English seaside town. It was wonderful being away from the hustle and bustle of the cities – no one hassled us to buy their goods, get in their rickshaw or look at their cousin’s shop. The only people getting hassled were parents with children as, all around the town, were men with pushchairs for hire. Things were so tranquil that we spent a chunk of Sunday morning watching the locals play cricket – they’re blummin’ good! On the final day, we walked up to the Monkey Temple and had to arm ourselves with sticks to defend ourselves against the monkeys who make their home there. Actually, we were lucky and weren’t pestered, but we did see a guy have his glasses stolen.
Varanasi lies on the banks of the Ganges, a famously holy place for Hindus. All along the banks lie ghats, steps down to the water, and all life can be seen there. People do their washing, have baths, have massages, sterilize their water bottles (!), and perform ceremonies. Ben saw one guy walking along the street with his legs chained together. The most amazing sight was the burning ghats where bodies are taken down to the water for a holy wash, then piled up on wood and cremated. Sandalwood powder and other spices are thrown onto the fire to create a pleasant aroma. No female members of the family are allowed on the ghat, and no tears can be shed there, otherwise the soul cannot go free.
I've been helping out with music lessons and have been teaching harmonica, recorder and piano - all instruments that I don't know how to play!!! Still, I've been teaching myself left-hand piano, I learnt all that I need to about the harmonica on the internet and Ben has written out the recorder fingerings that I'm unfamiliar with. It's been going so well that I've taken on Ben as an additional pupil, getting him to learn his harmonicas.
Ben's been doing some fun projects in IT. They've been learning about Excel, Publisher, Word and have each built a PowerPoint presentation about themselves. We've also started a film project with them. They've had to write the script, we're over half-way through filming and editing is going to have to start soon. We're both marking Math (sorry, they're American!) and offering advice where needed, and I'm getting a little involved in helping with essay writing.
It's all good fun and is teaching me lots (Ben already knows what he's doing!!!). Ben and I keep saying that we should offer ourselves out as homeschool tutors - I think that'd be awesome.
"Uncle" Ben (we're Uncle Ben and Auntie Emma here) and I have declared roti time our favourite time of the day. School is done, we've finished playing games outside and we all get to sit down together to drink Lipton chai (Ben and I are slowly becoming addicted) and eat rotis with honey on. Mid afternoon, the roti man comes round shouting "roti, roti", which everyone in the house goes round repeating. Ben enjoys going out and trying to communicate sufficiently to buy the day's rotis.
Jammu is known as the city of temples, and here are just a few examples that we saw. The orange one lit up with lights when it got dark, slightly resembling a fair ground ride in the process.
