After our 'unofficial' tour/walk around the village yesterday I wasn't sure what more we'd see/do today accompanied by our guide, the retired headmaster. At 67 (retired for 6 years) he is held in much esteem and actually we had a really enjoyable couple of hours
Our hosts (heads of the village) have devized a great game/scheme to help visitors interract with the villagers. Before heading out we were each given 3 photographs featuring adults/children from the village and our aim was to identify the people in the photos and give them the pictures.
The villagers can't afford cameras so they love to receive photographs of themselves or their kids and this is a novel way of organising it. Many villagers specifically came to us to ask to see the pictures we carried and went away disappointed when they weren't featured.
So, once home in the UK I/we will print off a selection of those we took during the last two days and will mail them to our hosts in order they can either pass them on directly to the models or use them in this 'game' which helps tourists and villagers communicate with each other without the need for linguistic skills.
Before starting the tour we visited the village temple which is very small and simple ... this is the drum used to summon worshipers to service. Who could resist?
In the village there is a local store where the owner is a keen collector of coins/notes from around the world and artefacts from Indian life which he was happy to show/talk about
They dressed us up in the paraphanalia of a Maharajah and Maharani
Here's a selection of photos taken today - no particular order just a few of the many villagers ...
The school visit was a real eye-opener. The kids are so very polite and eager to learn and better themselves. There is now some government funding being ploughed into the education system and specifically to ensure that girls are educated as well as boys.
We had taken pens to distribute to school age children during our trip and took some today which were very well received. The kids are so grateful for small gifts like this. With permission from the Headmaster we also bought some packs of sweets in the town and these were handed out to the kids as well. On other Indian tours we've been asked not to give sweets to the children as many don't have access to dental care - here they seem to be OK
Some photos from our visit
an open air class
In the school yard, making pappadums for the kids' lunch trays. the little boy is sucking on a sweet, hence the funny face
Lunch is eaten sitting crosslegged in the walkway outside the classrooms
in the evening David and I were driven out to the Salt Plains to see the sunset (and we were left alone with a small bottle of wine and some snacks to enjoy by ourselves for half and hour).
Pelicans
and flamingoes
Cheers m'dears!
Our hosts (heads of the village) have devized a great game/scheme to help visitors interract with the villagers. Before heading out we were each given 3 photographs featuring adults/children from the village and our aim was to identify the people in the photos and give them the pictures.
The villagers can't afford cameras so they love to receive photographs of themselves or their kids and this is a novel way of organising it. Many villagers specifically came to us to ask to see the pictures we carried and went away disappointed when they weren't featured.
So, once home in the UK I/we will print off a selection of those we took during the last two days and will mail them to our hosts in order they can either pass them on directly to the models or use them in this 'game' which helps tourists and villagers communicate with each other without the need for linguistic skills.
Before starting the tour we visited the village temple which is very small and simple ... this is the drum used to summon worshipers to service. Who could resist?
In the village there is a local store where the owner is a keen collector of coins/notes from around the world and artefacts from Indian life which he was happy to show/talk about
They dressed us up in the paraphanalia of a Maharajah and Maharani
Here's a selection of photos taken today - no particular order just a few of the many villagers ...
The school visit was a real eye-opener. The kids are so very polite and eager to learn and better themselves. There is now some government funding being ploughed into the education system and specifically to ensure that girls are educated as well as boys.
We had taken pens to distribute to school age children during our trip and took some today which were very well received. The kids are so grateful for small gifts like this. With permission from the Headmaster we also bought some packs of sweets in the town and these were handed out to the kids as well. On other Indian tours we've been asked not to give sweets to the children as many don't have access to dental care - here they seem to be OK
Some photos from our visit
an open air class
In the school yard, making pappadums for the kids' lunch trays. the little boy is sucking on a sweet, hence the funny face
Lunch is eaten sitting crosslegged in the walkway outside the classrooms
in the evening David and I were driven out to the Salt Plains to see the sunset (and we were left alone with a small bottle of wine and some snacks to enjoy by ourselves for half and hour).
Pelicans
and flamingoes
Cheers m'dears!
Some great photos here, Sue, especially those of you and David. Since you're usually behind the camera, it's nice to be able to see more of you. BTW, you both make wonderful Maharajah and Maharani!
ReplyDeleteIsn't is wonderful, these people have so little and yet look so happy whilst most kids over here have do much and look so miserable a lot of the time.
ReplyDeleteLovely photos as always Sue, good to see David out and about again. Did he get to keep the turban? I thought it would look great with his orange shirt xx
ReplyDeleteExcuse typo errors in post Sue!
ReplyDeleteThanks for commenting ladies. Today I switched from Firefox to Chrome and am able to reply to your comments (seems there's a conflict in the Firefox settings 'v' Blogger).
ReplyDeleteYes Di, the school was a real eye-opener. The kids stood up when we walked into their classroom and were keen to show us their workbooks. They were polite and really enthusiastic about their lessons. There is a big drive to ensure girls receive an education and I think the girls we saw were really keen to do well.
No Angela, we couldn't sneak the turban out. Never mind he still has the socks
wonderful pics !
ReplyDelete