Dear Chicken

I miss you <3

Picturesss

HEY ALL,
By popular demand, Ive decided to put up a few pics. It takes ages to load, so I only had time to do 3.

Pic1: Making Mulberry Jam (DELICIOUS!) at the Kitchen Flat. We went to the farm earlier in the day to pick Mulberries. Who wouldve thought that I would be Mulberry Picking in INDIA... OF ALL PLACES!?!?!
Pic2: Monkey With a Bottle: The Effects of Poor Waste Management. Sad

Pic3: The view on the plateau. Looks like the scene out of a Bollywood movie.

Update

Hey All,
Just a quick update. The Interns (Suzy from Sudan and Tibetian Tenzin & Jampa Dolma) and myself are all heading to Jamshedpur (In the state of Jharkhand) this friday. We are going there for an outreach program. That means that we are going to go around to different groups of people and give presentations to them about Initiatives of Change as well as protecting the environment. Exciting stuff. We'll be staying in the houses of some other IofC members and they'll be in charge of taking us around. Priya (Our internship coodinator) is origially from Jamshedpur, so I think we'll really get to see a side of the city that not many people get to see.

We are going to take the train to Jharkhand. If any of you look at a map, you'll soon realize that its on the other side of India. I found out that its goingto take a WHOPPING 36 hours by train to reach there. NICE! Plus, we're taking a non A/C sleeper, so its really going to be the AWESOMEST train ride ever. WISH ME LUCK.

I feel so lucky to have travelled this much during my trip. I have travelled to 7 states so far (Karnataka, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Goa and Maharastra) and all of them have been amazing.

However, there is still one state that I'm dying to go to: Himachal Pradesh (Dharamsala). I'll explain more about this fascination and my Tibetian Friends that have changed my life in my next post. :)

Love,
val :)
PS- I'm reading the Autobiography of the Dalai Lama and its amazing. Its not a book i would normally read as I usually think that books like that are only for smart & deep people. But Im doing it for Tenzin and JD!

The Perfect Sunset

The picture doesnt even do it justice.

True Story

I've been listeing to a lot of 'Queen' music lately. I dont know why. I happened to randomly stumble upon "Killer Queen" when I was browsing songs on youtube last week. Since then, I couldn't seem to stop.
So, today I decided to wiki Freddie Mercury to see what he was all about. I'll paste the text that nearly made me fall off my chair:

"In 1954, at the age of eight, Mercury was sent to study at St. Peter's School, a boarding school for boys in Panchgani near Mumbai, India"

OMG. that school is like 5 minutes down the road from where I am. What are the odds of that?

WOW.

this sure is one magical place.

Love,
val
PS- I tried Green Chilli Ice Cream today. Interesting...

The Heart of India: Case #1

I just came back from a town in Maharastra called Baramati. Mainly an agricultural town, Baramati is really what the real India is all about. I was lucky enough to follow some people from the centre in Panchgani to visit some people living in the area. One of the most amazing people that I met during the trip (and maybe in my life) was this man standing in the picture.

He runs an orphanage in Baramati. He takes care of Children that have been abandoned by their parents or have parents that have been sent to jail for drugs/prostitution. Along with his wife, they decided that they were not going to have children and open their family up to 26 new children. They live as one big family. Along with donations, he runs a small real estate business which he uses to support the center.

His life story is also amazing! He told us that he was born a Hindu from what is considered to be a lower caste. His wife on the other hand comes from a muslim family. Their union was extremely frowned upon but they decided to break tradition and get married anyway.

some people are just awesome.


love,
val

Update

I'm getting a little restless.

Time to plan a new adventure.