Today we have no water...but photos for you!

Hannah and I are the only ones left here now, all the boys have gone home. Hannah and I have been trying to sort the next few weeks out, we leave for Delhi on Tuesday at 3am!


C x

Today is day 27

I thought I would put a link up of Hannah's blog here as there are some more photos (some of me!) which people may like :)

www.hannahrosehughes.com

But...you have to still read and see my photos too of course!! :) More tomorrow!

C xxx

Day 24, 25 and 26

Day 24 did not consist of much. We popped into Paldi to get our films processed and were met with more reasons as to why they could not be done. This delays our work; we cannot see what we have done, what is working and what’s not. We chatting and Ishaan again, before shouting at him to get to work, all the students have their jury’s this week!

Today was a brilliant day. We went to Adalaj Wav Step well , and beautifully ornate five storey well built by Queen Rudabai in 1499. It has three entrances, leading to a huge platform, (with holes in the floor) again, decorated with ornate carvings of gods, shrines and the karma sutra.

We walked down the tiny and slightly terrifying spiral staircases to reach some of the lower levels on the opposite side from the main well.  The entire place was brilliant, it was serene and a feast for the eyes (and camera – of course)

The well is slowly drying up and has been for years, leaving the murky, blue water almost down to the coin covered, metal grate.

We left the step well, and headed back toward campus, stopping in InfoCity for a cold drink and an ice cream, to drop our bags and cameras off.

Akshardham, a Swaminarayan Temple does not allow cameras, phones, bags, anything through the gates, so knowing this we took our money belts and nothing else. We got there and cued for security (much like an airport). I have to say that it was much more thorough – the lady in the cubicle made VERY sure I have nothing hidden in my bra or pants – that’s for sure!

It was a beautiful place, and Adam, Hannah and I were all disappointed not to be able to photograph it. I doubt my (lack of) words will be able to do it justice. The temple was a dusky pink, again with carvings (less ornate than the step well but not any less striking!), inside the doorway a large golden god was sat and consumed the entire room. The route around the temple when upstairs and down, with stories about the temple and the various people associated with it. Unfortunately many of the stories were in Hindi, without English translations, so we did not understand a lot of it!

We walked through the gardens and took our places on the large stands for the light and water show. The forty-five minute show consisted of lasers, fire and fountains, telling a story of a young boy. Again, it was in Hindi, so we sat back and watched the beautiful colours, patterns and the droplets of water hitting the lasers, making it look like glitter!

We got back to campus at about nine, and dashed to the mess for some dinner, we were invited to watch the animations that students had made for their recent assessments.

After the animations (which were awesome) I ran a bookbinding workshop. There were twelve students eager to learn, which was great! I have been asked to do another one before we leave.

The night was not over yet – the workshop finished at one in the morning, but we were invited to a party that some of the students were putting on to celebrate the end of the semester.

At five thirty we crawled into bed, slightly worse for wear on the illegal whisky the students had procured for the night.

Day 26.

I slept most the morning, and then heading into Paldi to sort out images for the mini show. We are all putting up a few images that we have taken from the trip for the others to see.

Both Hannah and I are knackered, so are crashing out for the evening with House!

I will post more pictures soon - need to grab workshop ones from Hannah and Sandip. :)

C x

The main well area

Carvings of dancing and the Karma Sutra

Today is day 23 - weekend's events! :)

So! Sorry for the wait! Been a bit busy/knackered so in the evenings blogging takes second place to a cold drink down at the Kopcha and SLEEP!

On Friday (Day 21)

We got the later bus in (at 2pm) to check on films and to get more done. Hannah had taken mine in previously when I was feeling rough, so I got a chance to scan some of the work Hannah and I have been doing together. Hannah was told she could not process her films - AGAIN - so was more than slightly annoyed.

We jumped into an auto and made our way to a book shop that had been recommended to us. It was lovely and cool, although the books, I have to say, we a little bizarre...A Diary of Anne Frank placed next to Mein Kampft. Hmmmmm.

The book shop was next to McDonalds, and the temptation to stray inside for something other than curry was a little too much for Adam, Hannah and I. I can hear Dad now - "You went where?!" I can hear the disgust in his voice all the way from here :)
He will be please to know, it did not sit well with Hannah or myself!

As we were on the other side of the city, the rickshaw ride home was a new route - a welcome change! The chilled and relaxed feeling did not last long. We opened the door to our bedroom to find a pigeon sat on our bed. Great. Feathers and poo everywhere! I refused to touch it (eeeww germs and fleas and god knows what) so Hannah covered it with a T-shirt and carried it down in the lift. We had noticed that it's wing was bleeding (having flown into our ceiling fan we assume) and decided against chucking the bugger out the window!

We washed all our sheets, and I swept the fluffy floor.

We had a relaxed evening in, knowing that the 6.30am start Saturday morning was not going to be a happy one!

Saturday (Day 22)

Up at 6.30am, the sun barely in the sky, we headed into the city for the Heritage walk. Despite the early start, it was great, we got to walk through the maze of the old city, hoping through secret 'pols' or gates, doorways or entrances to the English readers. The walk was mind blowing, seeing the different styles of architecture, the families outside, washing and cooking, going about their day business and seeing all the temples and mosques.

When the 2 hour walk was over we wandered a little further, there were market stalls popping up (it was only 10am) and the streets were already flooded with people. I managed to buy some new flip flops (a men's pair as the ladies sizes do not go big enough for my giant English feet!) as I have worn both the pairs I bought with me out!

Hannah and I were drawn towards the umbrella ceiling we could see across the road, a market, but Adam had a bit of a crazy turn, and screamed at a beggar. So we decided to get him home. Unfortunately this was not the last of his bad mood. We dashed into InfoCity for a cold drink and a few supplies (mainly toilet roll as there is none on campus, or anywhere else for that matter!) and due the the midday heat decided to get a rickshaw the 1.5km back to campus. Lazy, but we were very sweaty and some what sleepy! When the ricksaw wala wanted 20 rupees (about 25p) for the fare Adam decided that was not fair and stormed off. We decided to let him walk and hopefully he could walk off his bad mood.

We crashed out for the afternoon, and I did some work early evening, shooting with the students.

We got a early night again, as we were heading back in early the next day!

Sunday (Day 23)

Hannah and I jumped in a rickshaw at 8am to get to Paldi early. We were meeting Ishaan, who was kind enough to take us to the Sunday Market in the Old City. Before meeting Ishaan, we spotted 2 elephants just outside the NID gates, so we went out to take some photos...we got really close - see the photo below :)

A rickshaw was hailed, and much to Hannah and my shock a motorbike ploughed into the back of it, much to Ishaan's amusement!

It was great! :) The market was filled with everything - old cameras, clothes, books, tools, trinkets, everything! The heat was mounting, so Ishaan hailed another auto (Hannah and I crossed our fingers) and we soon arrived at the coconut stall for cold, fresh coconut water, drunk from the coconut itself. I had pineapple juice - not a great fan of the coconuts, I have to say!

It was a great day, we went back to NID campus and grabbed some lunch, chilled out with Sumit and Ishaan, got more drinks and came back to campus, where Hannah promptly fell asleep!

I will be going down to dinner in a second! :)

Playing catch the pigeon!

I let Ishaan use my hasselblad :)

Fresh coconut water anyone?

Today is day 22

I will be posting tomorrow with the last few day's photos and stories! :) sorry for the wait! xxx

Today is a long one!

I did a short post on day 17 &18, not much writing but photos! I had woken up on Monday (day 17) with a huge headache, the hot nights are taking their toll, waking up to a sweat soaked pillow 3 or 4 times a night and therefore feeling massively dehydrated is difficult. We changed our plan from going into the city to going to InfoCity, grabbing a few bits we needed, a swim, some food…then getting down to some work on the construction site.

Day 18 (Tuesday)

We went further into Gandhinagar today, to sector 7. It is a very odd place, this capital city is not what I would call a typical capital. To me a capital city should emcompass the country or state’s culture, history, should have everything possible to offer its inhabitants, workers and visitors. Gandhinagar seems like another town, it doesn’t have much going on from what we saw.

We went to a craft market at 10am. Unfortunately it was not open yet, a few stalls were just opening, but 80% were still closed.

We went into NID, Paldi, to process films from the previous days. Unfortunately, the chemicals had not arrived to be mixed for us, so – no processing. This day was turning into a fail.

We spend the rest of the afternoon chatting to a photography student – Ishan.

Day 19 (Wednesday)

Today was film-processing, take two. We headed in on the 9.30am bus, and grabbed a cold drink before heading up. There was a beautiful butterfly hopping on and off people, as you can imagine, I grabbed my camera – only to find I had left my memory cards in the room from downloading images. NOT a good start.

We headed up to the photography department, only to be disappointed. The chemicals had still not arrived. We processed the 2 black and white films we had, rather than the eight colours we wanted to do.

We headed back down to the BMW (the campus café!) to get more drinks before the 1pm bus, only to find a dozen or so monkeys jumping around! Hannah passed over her DSLR and she grabbed her Hasselbald.

It was a highlight for the day.

We went back to Gandhinager for a late lunch and to chill out with Adam who has been struggling with the trip. I did a little shooting for my project out here, but am not happy with it, and I am running out of time.

Day 20 (Thursday)

I woke up feeling horrible today. So Hannah has gone to Paldi with Adam and I have hung back, another morning with a headache , stomach ache and feeling utterly terrible. I am getting very frustrated with waking up feeling ill. There never seems to be a day where either Hannah or I are not feeling ill one way or another, and it’s draining. It is almost 1pm and I do not know whether I will go to Paldi on the 2pm bus yet. I still feel rubbish. It is days like today where I just want to go home.  To feel normal again… 

I cannot process the few photos taken recently - The files type from Hannah's camera does not seem to work. More photos later I hope!

C xxx

Today - Day 17 and 18

Hannah and I ate in a restaurant that holds the world record for the longest dosa. 

After a swim we went to The Chocolate Room for pudding :)

Time for some project work on the construction site!

We ended up on the 5th floor of one of the buildings....

Baby in a hammock...I assume the child had just woken up from a nap

Hannah working away.

Local farmer with all his bling.

Indian sunset.

Two Days...the weekend

This weekend has been great, we have had sometime to chill out during the day, photograph and dance in the evening.

Day 15 was the last day of Navratri, as per the last few nights, we donned our Indian clothes and jumped on the packed bus to Paldi for a night of laughter, dancing and socialising.

We arrived pretty early - the music had not started. So we grabbed a spot on the floor waiting for it to kick off.  The evening was the busiest we had seen it, so much so that the entire field soon became misty with dust as people danced. I had learnt the Diya Dance the night before, so when it came to it, I could join in. All was well until the final hour. The candles came out, and I was expected to dance with them in my hands. Now, this dance is rather different to usual, and I tend to spend the entire time focusing on what I am doing with my feet, having fire in my hands was an added worry – especially as the steps involve two rather fast spins.

After spilling hot wax on my hand and nearly setting a girl’s lovely long hair on fire, I gave up. I had made it the entire around the field, so did not feel too bad about ducking out. The field looked amazing, hundreds of people dancing in circles, lit only by the candles each person had balanced in their hands. It was quite a sight, but then most of India is.

Day 16 (Sunday).

Today we had the day to reflect upon our trip and experiences before the destroying of evil started. Hannah and I have been staying here on our own since Friday, as the boys have gone to the beach to party (Diu is not a dry area) and relax, Hannah and I have had a relaxing without going to the beach, watching a couple of movies and chatting to the students. We were waiting for the last day of festivities to start, so at 4pm we heard the distant sound of drumming, and knew it had started.

The large shine that had been built was being blessed and moved into the trailer of a tractor, all the participants were having the traditional red powder put on their heads (some people had it all over their face after a friend had caught them with a hand full!).

Hannah and I also got the red mark (I have forgotten what the powder is called!) whilst the first of the firecrackers started to blow. We all piled into the trailer and were off to find a river. The water is the route to the Gods, so they submerge their offerings into the water; all of the objects used in the Puja are immersed, including flowers, clay pots and posters.

It was an amazing sight, sunset in a river bed (which had pretty much dried up) and a pool of water, everyone chanting, drumming, and a mess of colours being thrown. After all of the objects had been left to sink in the water more firecrackers and fireworks started whilst everyone danced and sang.

Just as it became a little too dark to continue, everyone piled back into the trailer for another bumpy and interesting (clinging to the sides of the trailer in an attempt not to fall over the edge I was perched on was interesting to say the least!) ride to the campus.

There was a special dinner on, a Bengali feast. And my, was it a feast! Hannah and I feel so stuffed tonight! It is the most food we have eaten the entire trip! But it was delicious, the best food so far. A few of the girls told us that we were not allowed spoons for this meal, so it was fingers all the way!

It has been a great weekend, looking forward to processing the films we have taken this weekend and doing some more shooting!

Thanks to Hannah Hughes :)

Hannah Hughes again!

also - check out Hannah's blog:
www.hannahrosehughes.com

She took the photos of me and is also blogging about the trip!

C xxx