Pictures of India

Of the hundreds of pictures I have already taken, I've uploaded a couple of my favorites of the children at Vidya Vanam and the place I will be staying. You will see why it is so easy to love these little guys.

These two little boys, Kartick and Ishwar, followed me around the first day I arrived. When the teacher finally convinced them to sit down for their snack, I shot this picture. There is something about this image that I really love.

This brother and sister team are a little bit shy, but they asked for a picture of themselves dressed in their Sunday best. I am going to do my best to print a picture of each child to give to them. It may be the only picture their parents will ever have of them.

This is me and my pati, Prema. Pati means grandmother and she has accordingly treated me exactly like one of her own grandchildren since the second I got here. Her entire family (about 50 people) has been so welcoming to me and their size (and decibal level) has easily made me feel like I'm back with my own big southern family. Below is a picture of one of our long tables at the Opening Day Dinner we had Saturday night.


This is my little house where I live on the weekdays. As primitive as it looks, the cottage has running water, electricity and windows so it is considered a high scale luxurious residence in this part of India. Every morning I wake up at about 6am and sit on the bench out front to wait for our milk to be delivered by cart from the farm next door. Our school security guard brings it down from the gate and we boil it on the stove for our coffee. At about 8:30 I go back out on the porch to watch all the children being dropped off in our little school bus. The second they jump out, I hear all their little voices say Good morning aka! (sister)

So as you can tell, I am pretty spoiled. This has been the best way to experience India - being thrown into the mix of a big family, treated to massive southern Indian meals, dance and music shows and seeing all different parts of Indian culture - rural, urban and otherwise. I can't believe I have been here less than two weeks! Since I am in the city this weekend and have a fast internet connection, I am doing as many postings as I can. Tomorrow we will go back to the school and I'll begin my first full week of class.

xo