A couple of weeks ago, another American friend in Bangalore and I took a long weekend to visit Darjeeling and the surrounding West Bengal Hills. We had a very relaxing time, enjoying mountain views, sipping excellent tea, eating yummy dumplings and noodle soups, riding a quaint steam train, exploring Buddhist monasteries, and taking in the dominant Tibetan and Nepalese cultures. These photos can't capture the true beauty of the Himalayas, but I tried my best.
Earlier this month, a couple of American friends who also work in Bangalore and I took the overnight train to Hampi, not too far away in the state of Karnataka. Despite the intense summer heat (probably 100 degrees Fahrenheit), it was worth the trip. As you can see in these photos, Hampi is equally famed for its 14th to 16th century ruins of temples and palaces, as well as its surreal landscape of tremendous boulders, piled up as far as the eye can see. We also visited a pretty nearby village and watched an elephant have her morning bath!
About a month ago, I took a long weekend to visit a friend in Mumbai, formerly Bombay. It's certainly the most modern and cosmopolitan place that I've visited in India so far! We had a great time enjoying delicious food, concerts and plays. I also wandered around a bit, checking out a beach, a nearby island known for its cave temples, and even a synagogue, as you can see in these photos. Luckily I also ran into some of Mumbai's famous tiffinwalas, who deliver thousands of hot lunches directly from workers' homes to their offices every day. Their system is so impressive that the BBC did a story them!
Another friend from DC came to India last month to volunteer for a few weeks in a city not too far away. So on Easter weekend, I met up with her, and then we headed to Pondicherry, a former French colony on the coast of the state of Tamil Nadu. It is a quaint, quiet town, with many French-speaking residents and tourists. We also checked out the utopian community of Auroville nearby, which contrasts greatly with the Indian countryside surrounding it. Here are a few photos of what we saw that weekend -- enjoy!
The bulk of my work in India involves assessing the impact of Akshaya Patra's free school lunch program on its student beneficiaries. With hundreds of schools spread out over several Indian states, we hired a research firm to conduct the surveys at schools and students' homes over the past few months. Here are photos of the team working in Jaipur (Rajasthan) and other photos of students with their free lunches in Bangalore (Karnataka).
My work trip up north last month took me to Jaipur (in the state of Rajasthan) again. My colleagues from the U.S. had not been there before, and luckily we had a Sunday to play tourists, as you can see in these photos. Enjoy!
During our trip up north last month, my colleagues and I did manage to fit in some work: these photos are of our visit to Akshaya Patra's centralized kitchen facility in Vrindavan, which prepares over 80,000 free school meals every day, and to rural schools that are not easily accessible by road. In these more remote areas, local women are provided valuable employment cooking meals at schools every day.
