Worship

It's been intriguing, as we have spent time in Nepal and India, to observe the worship which is such a part of everyday life. Shines, mostly Hindu, some buddist, adorn almost every corner, alleyway, shop, cafe and home you pass. They are not mere ornaments, or old relics left from days gone by. They are such an integral part of the daily ritual of life. From the water (and food etc) offerings known as “puja” that shop keepers make as they sprinkle the pavement in

front of their shops to the woman on the way to the market who, on autopilot, slips down a side alley to a large square and approaches the shine there ringing the bell and walking around the shrine clockwise, spinning the prayer wheels as she goes. We have watched, in the big temples, streams of people purchase plates of food and flowers on the road leading to the temple then wind their way to the god of wealth, mahalaxmi, to offer their recently purchased plate.

Offering such a plate, which costs 55 indian rupees (about 75p) is, according to the man I spoke to, certain to mean the god will answer your request. The temples are about the only place we've seen Indian's actually queue! They queue for ages to make their offerings to the gods, getting just a few seconds at the shine to push their offerings forward.

Everyone seems to be making a spiritual pilgrimage, and every event or circumstance is seen as a result of the planets, or the stars. We met a family, a man, his children and his mother, on a train journey who were on a journey to a temple far from home. They were going to pray to the god there for the mans marriage. He told us that, because of where the planets were when he was born he was destined to have problems in marriage. He went bald young and so it was difficult to have him married off, but his mother prayed to this god and he got married. Now his wife lives somewhere different from him because she has an allergic reaction when she is near him so instead of spending their wedding anniversary together he is off to the temple with his mum to pray.

Of course the shrines contain images of the gods, over 3,000,000 in Hinduism...rather hard to keep track of and quite a number to have to appease! Some have huge statues of the “deity”.

For us, as people who know, love and follow Jesus, it has brought the scriptures very much alive. Suddenly the many passages, both in the old and new testaments, which deal with idol

worship are so explicitly clear and relevant. It seems to us almost as though Paul, the apostle in the Bible, could have been standing at our side at times speaking into the very situations we were witnessing. Just like in the times of the new testament we could see that “they...exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.” Romans 1:23 and that “they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the creator.” Romans 1:25.

Our impressions are that most of the people we have met or observed are enslaved to their religion, having to make sacrifices to so many gods in the desperate hope their prayers will be answered. We have appreciated in a new way our freedom in Christ, and I understand even better now how amazing it is that the gift of life God gives us is absolutely free!

Of course, we are not trying to say that what we have seen here in terms of worship is exclusive to the east. In the west we are the same, enslaved often to our material possessions. It's just been so explicitly clear here to see and so embedded in the culture and in each individual's life.

We thank God, as I write this on Good Friday, for what he sacrificed so that we could know Him. We thank God for the cross. We thank God that we know “that in all things God works for the good of those who love him” Romans 8:28, that we don't have to appease God, we just need to believe in Him and trust him. What a good God we have :o)

Postcards, photo.......hashish?

If you know us very well, or even a little bit, you will understand that we are not the most likely targets for drug dealers. We certainly don't go looking for them and aren't your typical stoned looking marijuana smoking hippy. So we are a little perplexed as to why, especially me (John), are offered on a relatively regular basis drugs and supposed pleasures of varying content. I know some of you will be shouting at the screen about how naïve we must be and that they target me because its usually guys who are looking for said toxin. Let us assure you we are aware of this and isn't the purpose of the blog entry. No the purpose is to divulge the inventiveness and resourcefulness of the Indian (and Nepali) people who are partaking in this particular career.

When we landed in Delhi we stayed in Parhar Ganj, which for those of you have not been to Delhi, is the backpacking centre of the city. It's dusty, dirty and unfortunately can be quite dangerous with a history of drug dealing and prostitutes etc... We were aware of this and were not surprised to have people hiding in shady corners stealthily approaching you and hushing the words 'something to smoke my friend, you have good time?' We found this quite hilarious considering they were barking up the completely wrong tree and with the frequency it happened. It could be quite irritating though as they sometimes where very Indian about it and walk right across you, causing you to walk right round them. What was interesting though, and started to become quite a regular pattern across India and Nepal, was that you would be walking down the street, a rickshaw driver would shout 'Hello, Rickshaw?' and after you just past them a low, deep whisper would pass across your little ear bones 'Hashish?' It was not limited to rickshaw drivers but street sellers, tour guides and even photographers at major landmarks? One particularly hilarious moment was when we were walking along the main road in Pokhara, Nepal back to our hotel when a man started the usual 'something to smoke etc....' We smiled politely and walked past as he started running through his list of concoctions 'Acid, E....' and then completely out of the blue shouted at the top of his voice 'anything............SEX!!!' This of course was too much to handle and we just burst out laughing in the middle of the street. After this we thought we had seen and heard it all, however we were proved wrong as we stood and looked at the Gateway to India in Mumbai. A man selling postcards and offering pictures in front of it approached us and inquired if we would like to purchase a book of 20 postcards? We said 'no thank you' and turned to look out to sea, he then appeared next to me and opened up one of the books to show me some dried flowers along with the phrase 'something special my friend?' We just turned and laughed at him because the situation was just so hilarious. We look forward to what new and inventive ways we shall be offered drugs, not for the contents of the offer themselves but merely as pure entertainment.

Again some more photos, this time from Jaipur and Mumbai.

An Indian railway tale.....

After our 'Escape from Delhi' (see an Indian weekend) experience Louise and I were understandably nervous about our next train journey to Kolkata. We had negotiated the entire width of Nepal (about 800km/500miles) by bus and the shared jeeps up and down from Darjeeling were a really enjoyable experience, apart from me having to avoid the drivers hand as he groped for the gearstick. So as we walked into the train station checking and re-checking our ticket with the announcements being relayed over the tannoy system we were pleased to hear our train being announced, albeit on a different platform from the information board, would be arriving shortly. We dashed over the bridge to the new platform and onto the train, squeezing through with our backpacks to our seats. We sat down to compose ourselves and were then asked the following question 'Breakfast? Dinner? You want?' We should explain our only experience of Indian trains at this point was the tourist train to Agra where you are given a bottle of water, fed tea and coffee and even a meal. We therefore presumed that this would be the case for all trains and answered 'yes' to the railway staff member in front of us. What was presented before us was cold, not included and a bloody rip-off!!!! Anyway, we learned our lesson and over the course of the past 10 days we have caught 4 trains, traveled 3500km and been prepared for every one.

The Indian railway is immense to say the least, the engineering involved is just simply mind boggling. It covers most areas of the country, which isn't that small by the way, and is very well used by the local population. Louise and I have had to make use of the foreign tourist quota quite a few times to ensure we get a ticket for our desired destination. The booking
system is quite complicated until you get used to it. You have to fill out a booking form which you collect from the ticket window, fill it out, re-join the queue, handover the form, see if there is any availability, if no availability re-fill the form, check again, if successful hand over your passports, pay your money (in cash of course) and get your ticket. I think the average time it has taken us to book a ticket is about 40 mins to an hour, and that includes the trying to book the 10km Darjeeling toy train ride specifically aimed at tourists.

We have to admit our guard is up quite a lot when people start talking to us, we are very reluctant to give out too much info and sometimes we end conversations prematurely to avoid questions we don't want to answer. We have discovered though that there is a great difference from those who are trying to deceive you and those who are genuinely interested in you.

The trains are a great place to meet people because you are in them for so long. Our journey times range from 7 hours to 18 and you are there with up to 72 other people. We met a lovely man who was traveling with his mother and young son the other day. His first questions were the same as all the others 'What country are you from' 'Where are you going' but then they diverse into 'what do you think of India' 'What is your country like' and just want to know about you and your life. The conversations we are having now with people are all about what we think of India, how can it be improved and, believe it or not, the frustrations they have with their own country! The Indians are a very proud people and usually wanting to do something for their country, they are just not sure how to go about it.

We have learned a lot on the trains of India, not just about avoiding getting scammed, but more about the Indian people. They are a nation of sharers, something which we learned back in the slums of Delhi. We have sat and watched as complete strangers share their food with each other, chat to each other as if they are long lost friends and even spreading this kindness to us and introducing them. We were invited to a random shop somewhere in Mumbai, even given us a mobile number when the mobile owner doesn't speak English?!? It's this type of random unawareness mixed in with the generosity that helps you really warm to the people and we are really starting to enjoy India.

These photos are a random collection from our travels in Kolkata and Varanasi so far hope you enjoy.

Kathmandu to Darjeeling, Dal Bhat and a very long bus journey.

Well we managed to make it to Kathmandu, we splashed out and spent an extra 90p each and took a tourist bus from Pokhara which was literally worth every penny, about a metre of legroom, allocated seats and only two stops for breakfast and lunch. Unfortunately we were dumped unceremoniously in a random part of Kathmandu, and we along with a random Swede remonstrated with the bus staff who, after admiring my caribina on my rucksack, told us this was the last stop and the bus wasn't going any further. Funnily enough there were plenty of taxi's and hotel touts in the area who were very 'helpful'. We ended up, with the random Swede, in a taxi with a tout who appeared to be drunk and driven approximately 500 yards to Thamel where we would reside for the following 4 nights. We were a bit disappointed in this as we had been very impressed with Nepal in the lack of advantage taking there was during our time here. That said we weren't too fussed as we had braced ourselves for a bit of an assault when we reached Kathmandu and were pleasantly surprised to find it wasn't anything like Delhi in terms of chaos, dust, noise etc... We have commented regularly that Delhi was a very good training ground in terms of traffic, touts and hassle.

Anyway Kathmandu was fine and we enjoyed walking the streets of Thamel, picking up a few traveling souvenirs. Bartering though is much harder there as they are so nice, it almost feels like you are robbing their children's inheritance by asking it for 50 rupees less! We also went to Patan which is just outside Kathmandu and enjoyed walking it's relatively quiet streets and it's excellent museum. We did witness some kind of dance scene being filmed on one of the

temples in Durbar Square which could have been a tv advert, a bollywood film or an international advert for visit Nepal. We watched as the directors assistant chased people off the temple, pushed back the thronging crowds and shout instructions to all the dancers.

When the time came we were ready to leave Nepal and we psyched ourselves up for the 17 hour bus journey to the Eastern border at Karkabhitta for our onward journey to Darjeeling in India. We made it to the bus station with about 250 rupees (about £2) in our pocket and sat down to wait for our bus which was due to leave at 3pm. At 2.40 a bus pulled up and we inquired if it was going to Karkabhitta, yes it was, was this the same bus on our ticket? No. To cut a long story short 3 hours, 6 buses and many broken conversations with many nepali passengers (and bus station staff) later we were shown to our seats on our long awaited journey to the east.

At this point I would like to describe what the journey was like but I'm going to save that pleasure for my psychotherapist when we return to the UK as it would probably give me nightmares. Steep Himalayan roads, mentally unstable bus drivers and various amounts of fitful sleeps is all I (John) can manage right now.

So we arrived at Darjeeling approximately 24 hours later to find what can only be described as city on a hill, a very steep one at that. The Lonely Planet travel guide we have with us describes it as a quintessential hill town, we found it to be a bit of concrete overload with some pretty spectacular views when the clouds clear. All in all it has been nice to have a bit of time to plan our further travel through India. We went on the Steam toy train and visited

the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute which was founded by Tenzing Norgay who climbed Everest with Sir Edmund Hilary. It was very humbling to read of the attempts of everest, to see the woolen jumpers and tweed jackets the first attempts were made in. However we almost had to contact the police when Larry went missing during our visit to the happy valley tea plantation. All was well though, we found him among the tea bushes looking a little giddy from tea overload. Later having gone a bit cold turkey he muttered something about 'Can't beat a tea bag in a mug!' We had a good stern chat with him about having too much of a good thing and he's still in a huff.

We head soon to the heat of the Indian south with many more stories and travels to entertain (hopefully) There will be photo's to follow, internet is quite slow in the mountains.

An update from Larry

Well be jeepers it's good to be back in civilisation! These eejit heywoods had me miles away from me home comforts there for four days! Something to do with trekking and hills and up and down and steps and sore legs and knees. I don't know wot ther moaning about, my legs are grand! I just swung about and enjoyed the ride, which was a bit like being on an extremely slow rollercoaster! It was nice to get to Nepal to see what that Peter Hamilton one had been harping on about....”nepal's amazing, you're going to love Nepal, Nepal's amazing, You'll love it there, Nepal's....dedadedaledadedale...situation!” anyway, to be fair he was right, it's been brilliant! I got amazing views over those there mountains from a place called poon hill, mind you it was a wee bit baltic up there on that walk at times, one day I was even attacked by massive white metiores that were totally freeezin! Anyway I made it back down again and was glad to be able to relax in the sun with a refreshing irelandade and remember those views! Even took some pictures to show ye!

I'm getting a tad addicted to this coke stuff, there's a real shortage of Guinness in this Nepal place!

A good night's sleep is very important, these lodges up in the mountains were lovely and clean!

Getting a good view of the hills with me friend John.

Proof I reached the top of that Poon Hill place! I don't know why it was important to get my photo at this sign but every man and his dog was doing it so I tought I would too!

It's very difficult to apply this sunscreen stuff by yerself!

Here's me enjoying my well deserved Irelandade after a hard four days swinging back and forwards on the back of John's rucksack!

Larry

Pokhara and the Poon Hill-Ghorepani Trek

It was a long journey to Pokhara (13 ½ hours to be exact) pretty much non stop on a jeep then two different buses but it was worth it! We were picked up from the bus by a friend of Santos' (one of the staff from Forest Hideaway at Bardia) and taken to our lovely clean and very centrally located accommodation in Lakeside. Full of wifi, coffee shops, good food, woolen hats and gloves and fake north face gear Pokhara is a place you could easily spend your time and money! On arrival John headed straight for the steak and I headed straight for the shops!

From Pokhara we set off on a short four day trek into the Annapurna region with our excellent guide Shiba. The trek, a 75km loop from Nayapul – Ulleri – Ghorepani - Poon Hill – Ghandruk- Nayapul (for those of you who like to look at maps!) took us to 3193m at it's highest point, three times the hight of Ben Nevis!

Day one was the toughest as we threw our bodies in the deep end with a long long climb up honestly THOUSANDS of steps from our starting point to Ulleri. It was horrible and exhausting! Our second day was much more relaxing with less uphill and an afternoon off walking! Day three was without a doubt our absolute favorite, despite it being the longest walking day (7 ½ hours walking), and the coldest with hailstones and rain! We woke just after 4 am on the third day to make the trip up to Poon Hill before sunrise, where we were assured we would be afforded some of the best views of the Annapurna Range on offer. We had heard so much about how amazing these views were, but we kept our expectations lowish and waited....WOW we were not disappointed, it was honestly magical to see the outline of the mountains appear slowly as the light increased and then to witness the sun burst up in all its beautiful red glory and fill the sky, the mountain tops pristinely snow capped. So beautiful. We were able to see from poon hill about 4 of the tallest mountains in the annapurna range including the famous “fishtail” or Machhapuchhre which we had been admiring a few days before from afar in Pokhara. The days walking continued to bless us with wonderful views as we descended into the valley and into forest and culminated in a stay in the gorgeous village of Ghandruk where we saw a postcard perfect sunset over Machhapuchhre. Our fourth day was a stiff descent which left us aching and on return to Pokhara we spent a day and a half hobbling about going “oh ah!”.

We are already talking of how we'd love to trek again in Nepal! Perhaps next time we can return with good gear and better fitness and maybe, maybe even consider Everest Base Camp?!! Who knows! One things for sure, Pokhara and the Annapurna Mountains were a sheer delight for us, and the beautiful scenery has etched itself in our minds forever!

A walk on the wild side!

Well, after our epic journey out of Delhi we walked over the Nepali border (something which neither of us had ever done) and were welcomed into Nepal. We felt the stress lift with every step we took and managed to successfully navigate the immigration and border town of Mahandrenagar with a little help from a friendly local.

What we haven't told you is that although the stress of leaving Delhi was great and our plans were entirely up in the air we were both very glad to be entering Nepal from its most western border crossing. The reason for this was the fact that we would be able to visit Bardia National Park on our way through, something we had previously written off due to the fact that it was so far into the west of Nepal (17 hours by bus from Pokhara to be exact).

Revitilised by our successful internet search and consequent phone call to our potential accommodation we braved the dusty bus depot in Mahandrenegar, somehow managed to purchase two tickets and were directed/carried by the local gathering of porters/drivers/men who jump on and off the bus to drum up passengers and made it to the back seat with all our bags, a bottle of water and Larry. Three hours later and having significantly aged due to the dare devil like driving of the Nepali locals we exited to be met by one of the staff from Forest Hideaway Lodge. After a very pleasant 13km jeep drive through rivers, local Tharu villages while waving to smiling kids and grazing sheep (believe it or not) we entered a wee haven from the madness that had ensued the previous 4 days.

We sat and had a very relaxing lunch followed by a much needed shower and then sat in hammocks until the sun went down. We both looked at each other and said “We like Nepal!”

Over the next 6 days (We only intended to stay 3) we enjoyed a fantastic variety of jungle safari walks (12 hours long in about 32 degree heat), jeep and elephant safari and a very chilled out day rafting down the river. Our excellent guide Indra with his finely honed eyes helped us to spot deer, monkeys, wild elephant, one horned rhinos (including a 5month old baby rhino), a 4m Python, wild boar, several varieties of crocodile, huge amounts of birds and a leopard. He tried hard but unfortunately he was unable to locate a tiger for us, which he was very apologetic about. We did not mind because it is very hard to spot one and Indra was a real pleasure to be with. He climbed trees in flip-flops and with a great sense of humor he entertained us about many things in Nepal and even turned up a little tipsy one night as it was the Holi festival, apologising in excellent English and explained to us the intricacies of Roxy (the reason he was a little tipsy).

We left Bardia with a little sadness in our hearts as we could have stayed a lot longer. We definitely made a friend there and as we were ushered onto our bus to Pokhara by Santos, the man in charge at Forest Hideaway, we could not thank them enough.

However, onwards we must go and into the mountains where Larry will finally get to stretch his legs........

48 hours, a very 'Indian' weekend.

Louise and I sometimes have an 'India' day. This is usually when a couple of particularly Indian things happen such as getting stared at too much, rickshaw drivers really trying to rip you off or being run over more than once. What we have experienced is very much an Indian weekend and I shall explain why below.

It began with a trip to the post office, something which is considered a chore in the UK, but straightforward nonetheless. We first of all walked into a reasonably sized building, about 20 stories high and with approximately 30 counters and about an acre of space behind them with plenty of people siting around drinking chai. We waited patiently in the queue and we then told they did not have the capacity to deal with our package and that we should go to the general post office,another ten minute walk down the road. After some ranting to each other about how that was so Indian we walked along to find the GPO in the middle of a roundabout with no apparent means to cross over to the entrance. We danced, ducked and dived our way across holding three bags, a 2 litre bottle of water and a Leprechaun and made it safely to the door. We waited again in a queue to have our package wrapped in white linen cloth, which is mandatory in India, why I hear you ask........like I said, this was turning into an India day. We managed to post our package without any more fuss and thought we'd done quite well to get that all done before lunchtime. We patted ourselves on our backs and headed to old Delhi to experience true North Indian cuisine at a place called Karims, which translates as meat, meat and more meat. We avoided meat for most of our time here but we were advised to go here, so we did. It was very enjoyable and it left us with just enough time to pop in to see the Jama Masjid, the biggest mosque in India. We jumped up the steps and strolled through the gate and literally about to step into the sunshine on the other side when we heard “STOP, CAMERA, TICKET!!!!!” What happened next I will not write but lets just say we taught them some new English, like i said we were having an India day.

We headed back to our hotel and prepared to leave Delhi as we headed on our train to the Nepal border. After a very sweaty and adrenalin rushing walk along the main bazaar in Pahar Ganj we walked into New Delhi train station to catch the Gorakdam Express to Gorakpur, our gateway to the Himalaya's. We took the escalator up to the platform to be met with the announcement “The Gorakdam express has been canceled, we deeply regret any inconvenience.” Louise had to pick up my jaw from the floor before we went to the tourist office and inquired as to exactly why. We were met with the explanation of “track is not clear” and we presumed this was due to maintenance or a broken down train and they would expect the train we were re-booked onto the next morning would be running.

After another sweaty etc... walk back to our hotel we checked back into our room and caught a few hours sleep before we got up at 5am and headed to catch our new train. We arrived 90 minutes early and waited patiently on the platform as we became the local staring object and we observed the many washing/preparation rituals performed by many on the platform or under the water taps in between the rail tracks. Our train should have arrived on the platform at 720 and left at 750 so at 740 Louise went and checked the board, to find the word 'terminated' under our train. Others were saying canceled or delayed so we were a little confused, especially as there was no announcement detailing what was happening but multiple announcements about the others. After about 20 minutes of asking various train staff we ascertained that the train was diverted away from Delhi and would not be calling here today, 'Why?' we asked, shrug of shoulders was the response. Back we went to the tourist office and requested to be re-booked again on the next available train which was that evening. We asked again, 'why was the train canceled/diverted?”, “I think there is some protest” was the response, “will the train run tonight?” we asked, the same shrug of the shoulders (standard issue action for train staff I think).

At this point we were a little worried due to the fact we had to exit India on a specific date due to a clause in our Visa's. We sat in our favourite cafe for 8 hours as we ate and drank the hours away researching any other options to enter Nepal on the 15th, two days away. We made our way to the train station and immediately verified that the train was canceled and we required to cancel our ticket. We walked round the corner to find the cancellation queue to find a maelstrom of bodies trying to do the same thing. I stood in one as Louise stood in the Ladies queue. 3 hours later we managed to escape, but not after witnessing bribe after bribe taking place as people skipped the queue. We told ourselves we wouldn't do that again, we'd just forfeit the money to save ourselves from the hassle. We decided to attempt to get a bus to Banbasa, the closest border crossing from Delhi, and duly made our way to the bus station where we caught another bus to another bus station. It was at this point we experienced the only moment of genuine kindness in the last two days A man got his friend to take us right across the bus station, through the touts and drug sellers and onto the quieter bus so we could get a seat and refused to take a tip after it all. We were really quite touched and although I was coughing quite heavily due to all the pollution and Louise was very tired we made it to the other side of Delhi.

Unfortunately there was no bus until the morning and we took the decision to find a room and look at other options. Finally at 2AM we made it back to Pahar Ganj and got a grubby room for the night, getting a few hours needed rest. We woke early and decided after our last couple of days we should bite the bullet and just get out of Delhi by whatever means possible. It was the 14th of March and we had run out of options so we hired a private car and driver and were on our way by 10am. This trip was uneventful, apart from the driver not really knowing where to go and having to stop for directions every 40 minutes. We ended up in Banbasa and was sold a story by the driver of hotels not accepting foreigners. Bearing in mind it was a border town we didn't really believe this but at this point we were completely exhausted, fed up with India and just wanted to have somewhere to sleep. We ended up with a room dirtier than the previous nights, and with a total of 3 cockroaches killed in the first 15 minutes you can guess the standard of the room.

We woke early, had a disagreement about the price of the rickshaw to the border and set out determined to walk all the way there if necessary. Once the rickshaw drivers understood we were serious they dropped their price and were were soon bouncing our way towards Nepal. With every turn of the wheels we began to feel better, at the Indian immigration post we didn't mind that there were 3 men doing half a mans job or that they hardly spoke a word to us and we didn't mind that it was a 15 minute walk to the Nepal border. With every step we took we began to breathe fresher air, the stress of the past 48 hours was beginning to lift and the mountains appeared in front of the rising sun. As we left India and into Nepal the last conversation we had is detailed below, it will hopefully help you understand India.

Indian Gentleman: 'Hello, where are from?'
John: 'We are from Ireland'
Indian Gentleman: 'Ah Ireland, where are you going?'
John: 'We are going to Nepal'
Indian Gentleman: 'Ah Nepal, yes I know it'

Since the Indian gentleman was a soldier guarding the India-Nepal border crossing we were rather relieved to know that nepal was a place he knew of!..like I said it was a very Indian weekend.

Generosity beyond our understanding.

Louise and I had our last day in the slum on Friday. We have been teaching English for the last four weeks and there have been some tough times when we felt very much out of our depth but also very rewarding times when we felt that God has used us to make a difference. We both believed God wanted us to spend some of our time here while we are away, we believed it was primarily to give something to the slum and to the work of Asha. As usual we left having learned something that we were not expecting, God has a way of doing that doesn't he?

First of all Louise and I have learned that really we do not pray enough. The stories you hear of people being healed, found and provided for are amazing. However when you put them in the context of them happening usually within 15mins to 2hrs of the woman praying in Jesus' name, it is something quite miraculous. Praying in Jesus' name is very significant as many of the women are Hindu/Sikh or Muslim and are used to praying to many god's. One of the kids asked me “What god do you pray too?” I responded “I only pray to God, there is only one God.” Her response “Ahh Christian, will you say a prayer?” So God allowed me to pray for a class of about 15 young girls over their future. To be honest I do not remember the content of the prayer, all I remember was that I prayed in Jesus' name,

Secondly we received what can only be described as a flood of gifts on our last day, mostly from the children, and some even turned up late because they were at the market buying them. I had so many bracelets on one wrist that there was no need to put sun cream on as there was hardly an inch of skin showing! We visited some of children in their homes in the afternoon, some live in homes so cramped they don't even have a bed. I managed to get a picture of Louise seeing one girls precious possession, a small family photo album. As she explained to Louise who each person was in the album the joy of someone taking an interest in her life and family was so evident. We have received much more from these children than we have given in terms of time but God has chosen to bless both us and the children.

Third, and last, we have been so encouraged by the way in which everyone rejoices in each others blessings. There is a Friday afternoon prayer meeting where there is worship, testimony and prayer. With every amazing story comes the cry of hallelujah even if someone is still waiting for answered prayer. We in the UK are so guilty of being selfish in our celebrations, especially Christians. How often do we not celebrate with someone because in someway we are a little bit jealous, saying to ourselves 'why doesn't God bless me?', I know I have. We need to talk more about answered prayer, or struggles with what we might perceive as unanswered prayer. We need to be more like a family and share more, and maybe we would love each other more because of it?

Larry's first blog.

Hello, me name's Larry, Larry the Leprechaun. These too eejits managed to pack me away in their luggage over a month ago and flown me away to some theme park me thinks. It's not green and there are lots of trill seeking rides in green and yellow dodgems.

We went to their version of disneyland after they finally found me, but they called it the Taj Mehaal, it had a castle an everyt'ing. I managed to sneak out of da bag once they smuggled me

troo security (I'm used to that being Irish!!) and even managed to get a picture beside it.

But that fat eejit John charged me tree hoondred and terty tree roopees for it, he said it was a beard tax but I've got ma eye on that one, flippin tight scotsman.

We also managed to go to something called Agra Fort, it didn't make sense t' me but there was this really keewl arch type place. This only cost me terty roopees hat service charge, I tink John is just trying to get me to say foony tings in an Irish accent!!!

Ok, dat's enoof fer now. I'll keep you up to date wit what dees two silly eejits are up to.

Larry

commenting

hello all,

just a wee post to say that you can comment on our blog now if you so desire.

Skin tax!

One of the most tiring things we have to deal with here is the constant concern about whether we are getting ripped off. We enjoy using the metro here for one reason, not because you're quite often left sniffing someones armpit (like me this morning) due to the sardine can situation that occurs at every rush hour, or by the fact you provide the local talking point as 'those tourists on the train' and get stared at accordingly. No we enjoy it because the prices are up on the wall, it is cheap and you can know with confidence that you are paying the same as somebody local.

We met a father and son from Canada while we shared a table at a local restaurant. We started chatting and quite soon found common ground in our experiences here in Delhi. The son phrased it quite perfectly 'Why should I have to pay skin tax?'

Almost everywhere we go we are asked 'how are you?' 'where are you from?' and unfortunately a lot of this isn't genuine friendliness. It usually leads to an 'official' government tourist office or the 'actual' train booking center. Even when you just want to jump in a taxi/auto rickshaw you have to spend several minutes negotiating the price down, even though there are meters and they show you exactly how much you are getting ripped off by. A good example of the degree some people are trying to do this was when we were shopping in Palika Bazaar, a trashy underground market in the center of Delhi. Louise had seen a lovely top on sale for 150 rupees, about £2. We tried to haggle it down but the seller wasn't budging so we walked away and looked at a few other stalls. Just when we were about to leave Louise spotted the very same top in another stall and asked how much it was. The answer was 850 rupees. We consequently haggled it down to 150 and it was one of many similar stories that day but it really just showed us by how much some people will go to ripping you off, and unfortunately it will have something to do with the fact you don't look Indian.

Please don't get me wrong, haggling is part of the culture here and it is quite funny to see some of the expressions used by locals when haggling over a dozen bananas. It is also a nice feeling when you feel you've struck a bargain and managed to avoid the skin tax by knowing what you should pay in advance. We also despair at some tourists who just fall right into the trap and because it is relatively little money in western terms they just pay whatever is asked for. I was asked to pay £50 for a pair of plastic leather shoes, I was so annoyed I almost walked out wearing them. Yet you see someone fresh off the tour bus paying £15 for a scarf that is worth no more than £1.

Unfortunately you are also heavily penalised at the tourist sites as well. We went to the Taj Mahal on Saturday and it cost us almost £11 to get in, price for an Indian national, 30p. You do sometimes wonder if India will ever become the superpower it wishes to be when visitors to the country are treated in this way. Maybe I am looking at it with my western eyes and maybe I'm naive. However, from what I've seen through Asha and being a visitor there is something deeply ingrained that has to change before it can happen. I'm not claiming I know what it is and I am no sociologist but here endeth the rant!

An Indian credit crisis success.

On Friday Louise and I managed to go to Kalkaji slum, it was very significant for Louise as this was the same slum she went to 10 years ago with her school, Methody. We were tagging along with another couple who were starting a fortnight of volunteering there and also a Dutch family who were interested in the work of Asha.

It was quite similar to our reception in Trilok Puri when we first arrived with garlands of flowers placed over our heads and a tour of the center with similar programs/groups running such as the computer literacy classes and Bal Mandal (Children's group). The Womens group was meeting when we arrived and we sat with them, drank tea and asked questions. The majority of the questioning was being led from the Dutch family partly because they were very keen to see the benefit of Asha and we had already asked most of the questions/already knew of the work that they were asking about, What did strike me though was one of the answers to the questions asked which was in regard to the financial benefits Asha has been able to provide to slum dwellers.

I'll try and explain the history and it will be checked by Louise and therefore will have a combined accuracy of about 63.56%, 63 of which will be Louise's contribution. In truth I've lifted most of it from Asha's Annual report so it is pretty accurate.

Millions of Delhi's slum dwellers have struggled financially for years with no access to financial services. Those who tried to approach banks were turned away, and others just felt that banks were only for the well-off members of society. With no other options, they rely on the services of moneylenders who charge crippling interest rates of around 60% APR, and always end up worse off.

Asha is determined to remove the obstacles that keep slum dwellers enslaved in the cycle of poverty. They have worked with the Government of India's Ministry of Finance to develop a scheme that would enable slum dwellers to open zero-balance bank accounts and obtain low interest loans. Staff and community volunteers publicise the scheme, explain the benefits to people who could make use of it and assist subsequent applicants with the custom-designed forms. Over the past year, 10,617 bank accounts have been opened and over Rs. 73,85,461 (approximately 156,000 USD) granted in loans.

Here we have a credit crisis, not caused by over spending, major risk taking or sheer greed but by poverty, desperation and persecution for being poor.

A lot of the women we talked to had taken up these loans, from as little as 5000 rupees (£70), which they would pay back over a period of between 1 and 5 years. That wasn't what struck me, what struck me was the answer to the following question:

What is the repayment success rate? Answer: 98%.

If we asked RBS, Lloyds or any other taxpayer owned bank whether they would be keen to take on such a reliable group then I've got a funny feeling they might be nibbling at your shoulder blade by now. I think we are sometimes too quick in the west to jump to the conclusion that if someone is poor it's because they are lazy or just plain stupid. Banks too can be too quick to write someone off as a potential lending opportunity as they don't live in the right street or have insufficient income.

But you know what, these women don't care about bakers bonuses, MP's expenses or footballers salaries, they just want to be able make some decisions for themselves. They gave an impression that life is very good for them now, that since they have brick built homes they don't have to worry (as much) about the monsoons. I got a shock that day when we walked around the slum and visited some of the homes, most didn't even have a door and if you have a smaller bathroom than their whole house you'd be looking to build an extension. Some may say it's all relative, what I say is that Asha has given these people what they and all of us are really looking for, to be able to decide for themselves.

I saw the circus today

I didn't go to the circus today,
It came to me.
I was just simply walking along
When it bounced out from behind a tree.

Running along, backwards,
it clapped and jumped
then spun things round on its head

a backward flip
and through a hoop
a routine perfectly played

But this was a circus
that I didn't like
In fact it just felt so wrong

Because this little circus
was really a boy
dancing to a man made song.

Little children of 7 or 8
should never be
forced to perform.

Wearing a Sari

All week the ASHA centre at Trilokpuri Slum has been busy with a church team from London painting the walls inside. It has made the week go so fast! To celebrate the newly painted walls a special event was held on Saturday with Dr Kiran (founder and director of ASHA) as a guest. The children danced, the president of the womens group, the president of the children's group and some of the London team all made speeches. It was a special day for the community and I had been under some peer pressure to dress for the occasion...”you will wear a sari!” the women declared during the week, “I don't have one!” I replied, “you wear sari!” came the response...well, I thought, maybe I should. So I set out this week to get a sari. We went to the INA market, one we enjoy going to because it's not in the guide book and therefore it is mostly full of locals getting on with their day to day business. The sellers here are a little less pushy and it makes for a more pleasant shopping experience! We sat as a seller displayed one sari after another, carefully unfolding beautiful pieces of material in front of us. One power cut and about 20 sari's later I saw one I liked, but alas! It was too expensive “johabada” I said (meaning “too much”) but the price didn't come down enough so we thanked him and moved to the next “shop”. Here we had sari's flung at us, in a rather poor show of sales technique! However, this seller had a sari at a price I was willing to pay. We bartered a little, negotiated the tailoring of the blouse and the deal was done.

I was nervous putting the sari on for the event! It's been a while since I wore one and I just about remembered how to put it on! Being on the road for a year and always eager to spend as little as possible we were traveling to the slum the same way we do each day by metro then by rickshaw, so this sari needed to be on well! I worked at it, with John's help, and was quite pleased with the result....and I didn't even use any pins!!!! Off we went! You know I get stared at all the time here by, well, everyone...you would think perhaps wearing a sari would maybe reduce the stares but no, it actually increased them! I made it to the metro without mishap, phew! But the metro can be mental here, to say you get packed in like sardines would be an understatement! The metro has a few carriages reserved for women only, and although I usually travel with John in the normal carriages this time I wasn't taking the risk. I can tell you, traveling in the ladies only carriage is a different experience altogether! For one, it wasn't crowed, it also was full of chatter and although I was as stared at by the women as I am by the men at least this time a peer took me under her wing for the journey...my friend beckoned me to sit with her after saying “beautiful” as she looked at me in my sari. I initially declined explaining I was wearing said sari without pins and was rather nervous to do anything in it that involved movement at all! “It is better to sit” she said and that was that. It was an interesting chat which began with the usual discussion of the Indian's hot topics: where are you from? Are you married? Do you have any children? and Do you not want any children? (i.e. why on earth do you not already have a few?!). She then proceeded to tell me that everyone was staring at me because they were ashamed, she explained that they all want to be like westerners, with pale skin and western clothes and they see me in Indian clothes and feel ashamed that even I am wearing them and they are not. Anyway the journey left me feeling ok about my sari wearing attempt, I was looking forward to seeing the women's reaction when I arrived at Trilokpuri slum!

I wasn't disappointed with the reaction, it was quite funny, I got a lovely look of realisation and appreciation that I had arrived in a sari which lasted about, well, 3 seconds, before being whisked, no, dragged off to a room by about 4 women and girls where they proceeded to almost completely undo the whole sari and redress me! I'll confess it did look better once they were finished, mind you there were four of them working away at getting me right as well as a fair number of other women giving their contribution or opinion as they wandered in and out for the entertainment! I obviously hadn't taken the wearing a sari thing far enough because after fixing the sari itself some of the girls came and fixed the ankle bracelets I was wearing which they had given me as a gift and then another woman stuck a bindi on my forehead (the red dot worn by Hindu women to traditionally indicate they are married), next I was waved over while one woman pushed bracelets onto my arm and fretted about the fact I wasn't wearing a necklace and a young girl came over and gently pushed a ring onto my finger. Between all of this and the henna designs on both sides of my right arm I was feeling more Indian by the minute...(I'm trying to catch up with John on this achievement as he has already been declared “really Indian now” after a show of eating large amounts of spicy food made by the women in the slum)...after all the fixing and additions the girls were delighted and even declared me to be like their bollywood heroine Katrina Kaif!! Result! In stark contrast, today John went shopping for a shirt and trousers for a special event we are attending on Wednesday. He got a shirt for a mere Rs75 (about a pound..mind you it sounded like he was putting a sheet of paper on himself when he tried it on!), but trousers were harder come by, one sellar simply said “your size no”...John remains trouserless for Wednesdays event, here's hoping he can find something tomorrow!

Dancing with the girls.

Dressed up for the special day!