Our time in India has been a whirlwind of sights, sounds, smells, colours, experiences, smiling faces and warm embraces. From the lovely beaches of Trivandrum in Kerala to views of the snowy Himalayas from Shimla we have felt welcomed, valued and cherished.

Now it is time to say farewell to our many friends in the National Trust and in the many wonderful charities we have worked with across India. Goodbye also to Margaret’s colleagues in the Deafway Foundation.  Over the past several months we have made many new friends, mostly Indian of course but also British, Irish, Philippinos, Canadian and American. We fondly remember the parties and meals in the homes of our Indian friends, listening to South Indian songs and music. 

We are really grateful to all the friendly advice, guidance and assistance we have been given by the hundreds of children’s charities managers we have met. Some of the work we have done has already been published by the Indian Government as handbooks on managing voluntary organisations and running seminars and conferences. In these we have acknowledged by name every one of our Indian friends and colleagues from the public, private and civil society sectors who contributed so freely.

So we leave India with much work yet to be done and places we would love to visit in the future. We are heading for new challenges, adventures and we’re sure new friends in Malaysia. 

Farewell Pictures

Delhi Roundup

Deep snow and freezing temperatures extended from the Himalayas down tugh the Indian foothills making travelling treacherous. We’d planned to go to Shimla in January, but Mr Rana, from the children’s charity we were working with, said the mountain city and the surrounding districts were still in the grip of winter, as were the NGOs who wanted to attend the workshop. So on his advice we postponed the workshop until spring.

The road journey from Amritsar to Shimla took us high into the mountains around hair pin bends with spectacular views of the sunlit valleys below. Still we climbed, pausing occasionally to take in the view. From the road we saw the famous mountain railway and double viaducts that spanned the gorges.

Our hotel was an old heritage building, poised on the Ridge, the highest point in Shimla. It was a broad town square where people strolled in the pleasantly cool evening air. Being an old British hill station it felt like being in an English market town transported to the mountains of India. Here there was the Gaiety Theatre, there a row of decidedly English shops and on the next hill the Scottish Baronial pile once used as the seat of government. From the Viceregal Lodge the British Governor General ruled India, Burma, Malaya, Singapore and Hong Kong during the sultry hot Indian summer. We were told that at its peak the Governor General ruled over a third of the world’s population from his desk in Shimla.

Our welcome from Mr Rana and the staff of the Udaan Parents and Guardians Society of Mentally Challenged Children was phenomenal. Two rows of children, with their clapping parents behind, hung many colourful garlands of flowers around our necks. The Mayor of Shimla, distinguished academics and other dignitaries made speeches of welcome filmed by TV crews, whilst press photographers moved through the packed hall. This kind of event was great for raising the awareness of developmental disabilities and the local resources available to offer advice, education and therapy.

We really enjoyed the workshop. Mr Rana had done a magnificent job, bringing together the top management of fifty local NGOs and charities and persuading academics and prominent development workers to host each day of the workshop. These very knowledgeable, incredibly warm and modest people added perspective to our sessions and contributed a huge amount to the group discussions. We soon became very good friends. 

At the end of the first day we were delighted to be presented with local traditional pill box hats with colourful designs and warm traditional shawls. Promenading along the Ridge in our new attire we received nods and smiles from the other evening strollers. Time and again passers by stopped to chat, admiring our adoption of local clothes, or maybe just trying to figure out who these two lunatics were.

In the pink evening light we paused to admire the snow clad peaks of the Himalayas, the border with China, not so very far away.

Over the course of the workshop we met many dedicated people. They told of carrying severely disabled children on their backs over rough mountain terrain to reach village therapy centres. We heard of the excellent work of parents and volunteers to bring hope to the lives of the children. We felt very close to these wonderful people and marvelled at their fortitude and optimism. On the last day we were deeply touched to be presented with personal gifts from our new friends who sent us off with songs and laughter.                 

To our delight Mr Rana was at the railway station to bid us farewell and wave us off. When the famous narrow gauge mountain railway was completed in 1902 it was a feat of engineering having been driven through 102 tunnels and over 864 bridges and multilayered stone viaducts. The leisurely journey took us through spectacular scenery and allowed us plenty of time to get to know our fellow passengers. All too soon we were at the junction where we caught the main line train back to Delhi. 

Pictures of Shimla

Pictures of Workshop

Mountain Railway

Snowy Himalayas

Could you say that a place was joyful? Even walking through the entry arch to the Golden Temple precinct, the Sikh people were warm, friendly and welcoming. The centre of Sikh worship, the Golden Temple in Amritsar is a glittering spectacle reflected in the calm surrounding lake.

Everyone is welcome. People from all over the world and from every conceivable religion promenaded around the central lake with the temple sparkling in the sunlight as their focus of attention. Ordinary people chatted, welcomed each other and introduced themselves. There was a palpable atmosphere of warmth and benevolence. Even the rather stern looking, tall black bearded temple guardians brandishing vicious long spears broke into stunning bright smiles when approached. Would they pose for photographs with us weird foreigners?  Certainly.

We chatted to many people, some Hindus from Chennai who had lived in Birmingham for twenty years, young people who came from Shimla and a lone tourist from Turkey.

The universal Sikh welcome extended to providing free meals for everyone. Every day tens of thousands of meals are cooked and served by volunteers to anyone who is hungry.  It is a massive feat of organisation and a wonderful gesture of all encompassing acceptance and fellowship.

There are also rooms for travellers available in the temple complex. These are basic and clean, but relatively cheap.

By contract the atmosphere at the Amritsar massacre site is decidedly sombre. On April 13 1919 the British General Reginald Dyer positioned his troops at the only narrow alley out of the Jallian Wala Bagh Square and ordered his troops to fire on a peaceful and unarmed crowd. The people had gathered for a Sikh festival and to discuss protests against their treatment by the British. The death toll of 379 men, women and children with 1500 wounded shocked the world. General Dyer returned to England, was promoted and retired on a pension. A shiver ran up our spines as we walked up that narrow alley and saw all the people relaxing in the square which is now a memorial park.

If the feelings in the massacre park were dark and foreboding the prevailing sense in the Golden temple was one of positive energy, looking to the future and optimism. It was a very beautiful place of joy  

Pictures