Sunday 18 September 2011

Dunking Ganesha!

Last week Tom and I visited the famous, most popular Ganpati Mandal, in the centre of the city, Laxmi Road. We left the house at 9pm and biked the 20 minutes to the centre of town. As we got nearer and nearer to Laxmi Road, the more and more people there were around.

The road that led to Laxmi was closed by the police, so we had to drive about a mile away from it and walk back through the crowds of people towards it. The closer we got in, the more people there were! It was crazy, there must've been at least 200,000 people squeezed into the small streets that led up to the Mandal. Practically down every side street, there was another Mandal. I wanted to go and see them all, but the crowd kind of dictated that we kept moving forwards toward the main one.

At every crossroad there were police who were controlling the flow of people with a long length of rope. This meant that as we were stopped, waiting to be let further down the street, more and more people were backing up behind us and as soon as the police lifted the rope, there was a massive surge forwards and I was nearly swept off my feet! It was a bit scary!

After taking about an hour to walk down a street that should normally only take 3 minutes to walk down, we finally reached the Mandal. It was humongous! It wasn’t just some corrugated metal shelter that had been erected for the event, it was a whole building! It looked like it was made of cardboard and was painted and decorated with lights. It was amazing! It even had huge elaborate chandeliers inside and the large Ganesha statue looked so fabulous inside!

Unfortunately, we couldn’t stop to look at it for very long as the crowd was so huge and we were just sort of getting swept away past it. Tom did manage to get a few pictures of it for me though.

Thursday 8 September 2011

Ganpati Bappa Moriya!

At the moment it is Ganpati Festival which is a festival that celebrates the Hindu God of wisdom, prosperity and good fortune, Ganesha and runs for 10 days from the 1st September. All over the city within people’s homes, are shrines beautifully decorated with lights and flowers dedicated to him. The main focus of the shrine is a special Ganesha statue (traditionally made of clay) that sits in the middle. The statue is treated as a guest of honour for the duration of the festival and it is worshipped daily and offered gifts of delicious food, flowers, sweets and fruits.

All over the city, there are huge themed Mandals that have been erected for the festival. Some of them are amazing, with huge fibreglass figures in them. One near where I work has a massive fire pit in the middle of the floor where, during worship, ghee and curd is thrown into it. There are some specific mandals, where it is claimed that your wishes come true and people travel for mile to, just to worship there. Apparently, a big famous one in Mumbai had a 12 hour queue for people wanting to get up close to it.


Huge Mandal near my work with a fire pit in the middle. The group of people sitting
on the floor are sitting around it.

Sunday 4 September 2011

New Toy!


So, after leaving me alone in India for two weeks whilst he went back to the UK, Tom returned on Monday. It was brilliant to see him and I really missed him, but I was also very excited he was back because he brought my birthday present with him - a new camera!

It’s a red Pentax K-r and amazing! I love it! I’ve never had a DSLR before and I’m really excited to use it! However it has so many settings and controls, it’s going to take me an age to learn what each one does!

Watch this space for future pictures that I take with it! Hopefully they will be good!


Camera with wicked new camera bag!

Top view.

Front view.


Saturday 3 September 2011

Dahi Handi

On the 22nd August it was Janmashtami , commonly known in Maharashtra as Dahi Handi, which is a Hindu festival that celebrates the birth of the Hindu God Krishna.

The festival is celebrated with an event where large groups of people, usually young men and boys called Govindas climb up each other to create a human pyramid in order to reach and break the Handi (clay pot) which is full of buttermilk and is hung up high above the ground. There is usually a huge amount of prize money to be won and practically every year someone dies or is seriously hurt when falling from the pyramid.

All over the city, many Handi’s were hung and lots of groups of Govinda’s travelled around as many as they could in order to win lots of money.

Panchgani

I had been invited away for the weekend to a place called Panchgani, which is about 3 hours away from Pune, by a group of people that I know through my volunteer work at DGS. There was Anurag and Sharish, (volunteers for Wake Up Pune), Annie (Susannah’s housemate) Bradley, Liam and Josephine (all students from Canada studying in India and friend’s of Annie), we were later joined by Joe (a previous DGS volunteer who now works for an English volunteer company Development In Action).

On the Saturday, we all met at Swargate bus station and boarded the 5.45pm bus to Mahabaleshwar (Panchgani was on the same route).

The bus ride was long and very bumpy and by the time we arrived at our destination it was 9pm and very dark. The bonus was though that the whole journey only cost us 109 rupees (Less than £2)!

Panchgani is a small typical Indian town with one main road that has shops and a few restaurants on. As we were all starving, we stopped at one of the restaurants and ordered loads of Indian dishes to share. It was actually really delicious food; however, Liam did chip one of his teeth on a lump of glass that he found in his food! Oops!

Friday 2 September 2011

Mixing with the stars (if you know who he is)

Susannah (friend from Deep Griha Society) had heard that one of her favourite pop stars from the UK -Jay Sean, was going to visit a friend’s charity, Sahara Aalhad, the other side of Pune and she really wanted to go. I was persuaded to come along with her even though I didn’t really know who he was and only vaguely knew one of his songs. As we didn’t really know how to get to the charity, Paul (a volunteer for Wake Up Pune) kindly offered to come with us and show us the way.

‘Sahara Aalhad is a 28 year old organisation whose mission is to empower people facing difficult situations due to substance use and HIV/AIDS. It has implemented a range of strategies to empower people, strengthen communities, to encourage safer behaviours and to aid in the reintegration of people into society. It has 36 projects most of which address substance use and HIV/AIDS and is run almost entirely by former substance users and PLHA.’

Sahara Aalhad is also a beneficiary of ‘Keep a Child Alive’ which is a charity that provides ‘life-saving AIDS treatment, care, nutrition, support services and love to children and families affected by HIV/AIDS in Africa and India by directly engaging the global public in the fight against AIDS.’

Monday 29 August 2011

Conquering the chapatti!


Tom had gone back to the UK for a few weeks, so to alleviate my loneliness, I was invited round to Susannah’s (a friend from DGS), Annie (her Canadian housemate) and Severine’s (her French housemate) flat for an Indian meal. They live in a really nice apartment in Koregaon Park, just a short walk away from me.

I had been trying hard at home over the previous few days to make Indian chapatti’s and the meal was a great excuse to practice and make some more. I was responsible for making them whilst Sus and Annie cooked Moong Dahl and Paneer Makhani.


Annie rinsing the Moong dahl.

Independence Day


Independence Day on August 15th was a national holiday, however at Deep Griha Society there was a morning ceremony to raise the Indian flag.

I arrived at 8.30am and all the staff were standing outside the building along with children from the Adhar Kendra Programme (sponsored children).
All around the flagpole was rangoli art and flower petals, it was beautiful.

Rangoli art and petals.

Wednesday 24 August 2011

Creating awareness and changing lives

The Wake Up Pune initiative was started in 2006 by a few HIV/AIDS charities throughout the city to promote the issue of HIV/AIDS in the English speaking section of the society. Deep Griha Society already has an HIV/AIDS awareness and treatment programme called DISHA which works amongst the Marathi and Hindi speaking sections of the society and Wake Up Pune was a way that they could make sure that every section of society would be targeted. However over time, Wake Up Pune has now become solely run from Deep Griha Society. With the help of overseas and local volunteers, Wake Up Pune runs awareness events all over the city in shopping malls, restaurants, bars, on the street and in Corporate settings.

The first big event that I was involved in was when we took over a shopping mall, Gold Adlabs, in Kalyani Nagar, Pune for a whole day. We joined forces with Deep Griha Society’s DISHA programme and created awareness through disruptive theatre, fun games, knowledge surveys and just being a general presence in the mall talking to the public.

Disruptive Theatre.

Tuesday 23 August 2011

Dancing like Loons!


Deep Griha Society’s teachers that teach at their English Medium School at their City of Knowledge Programme had a day of teacher training. Instead of giving all the children the day off, all the volunteers were asked to spend the day entertaining them with lots of fun activities such as painting, singing, games, storytelling, movie time, dancing and science experiments.

I was in charge of dancing and I’d spent a few days beforehand gathering my music together in order for the children to have some fun songs to dance to.

It was an early morning start and we left Pune at 8 am, arriving at the school by 9.15am. We were all split into our various activities and given areas of the school in which to do them. I was given the help of another volunteer, Judy. I was quite glad to get some help as I knew that with the children being all very excited, they maybe a handful to control and it would be easier with two people.

Our programme began at 10.15am and all day we had small groups of each year group rotating around the different activities.

With the younger children, we danced to ‘I am the Music Man’, ‘Superman’, ‘The Hokey Cokey’, ‘The Conga’ and ‘The Birdie Song’ all by Black Lace, which was a real blast from the past! With the older ones, we danced to ‘Follow the Leader’ by The Soca Boys and we even taught them ‘The Macarena’! It was brilliant! The children loved it and to be honest, so did we! Even through our lunch break Judy and I were dancing around together like Loons regardless of the fact that we were so hot and worn out!

'The Conga' with Judy in the yellow!

Lavasa trip


For my birthday weekend, I wanted to go away somewhere, just to get out of the city so we went on a bike trip to a place called Lavassa. Lavassa is India’s first purpose built hill station resort about 60km to the west of Pune. It is still under construction and won’t be completely finished until after 2020. Regardless of that you can still visit and it is already popular with Puneites looking to get out of the city into the countryside.

We set off about lunch time from our flat and using google maps on my iPhone, navigated our way out of Pune. The roads were really busy and it seemed to take us over an hour to get to the outskirts of Pune and we only got lost once, which is good considering I was the one reading the map!

The ride out of Pune was really beautiful as it was so lush and green everywhere. There were lots of rice fields, farmers and small villages everywhere. The air was really fresh and it was so nice and quiet!

Surrounding views on the trip to Lavasa

Sunday 14 August 2011

More celebrations!


The day after Deep Griha Society’s 36th Birthday, was another important day for the charity. It was a day of celebration with two ceremonies taking place, the first was the ‘Breaking the Ground’ ceremony at The City of Knowledge –Vidyanagari and the second was the ‘Inauguration of The Chapel’ at The City of Child.

The Breaking the Ground ceremony was to celebrate the beginning of the construction of a new school building at The City of Knowledge English-medium School.

Everyone who works for Deep Griha and people associated with them were all invited to be part of the celebrations. The ceremony took place next to one of the ruined buildings located on the 15 acres of school land. The focal point was a small square section of ground that was surrounded by Rangoli and covered in Marigold flowers.


Breaking the Ground Ceremony.

Friday 12 August 2011

My first Sari, feeling glamorous and partying!

It was Deep Griha Society’s 36th birthday in July and they threw a party for all the staff and friends of the charity. The party was an all day event which took place in Abul Kalam Memorial Hall in Koregaon Park, Pune. It was a special day and everyone had to dress up in their best outfits.


A week or so before the event, all the volunteers decided that we would all wear a Sari to the party. As we didn’t yet have any, this meant going shopping for some. So one Monday after work, Kassie (an American volunteer), Susannah (an English volunteer) and I decided to go to Laxmi Road to buy one. Laxmi Road is a 15 minute auto rickshaw ride away from the charity office and is a crazy, busy shopping area in Pune where you can find practically everything you want, for good prices.

It really is an experience going Sari shopping. There are so many shops to choose from and you can’t really see what they have without going inside and having a good hard look.

Before you enter the shops, you have to take your shoes off and leave them at the door. This is very important, not only for cleanliness but it is also a sign of respect. Once inside you are faced with thousands of folded Sari’s on shelves that cover the walls from floor to ceiling. You are usually approached by a sales person who invites you to sit on the soft cushioned floor whilst they start pulling out Sari after Sari and throwing them on the floor to show you. At first it can be bit overwhelming due to the sheer amount of different colours, fabrics and finishes of the Sari’s to choose, especially if you don’t know exactly what you are looking for. 


Beautiful Sari's

Thursday 4 August 2011

My daily life


So what do I do with myself here in India? A while ago, I mentioned that I visited a charity called Deep Griha Society to see if I could volunteer with them. 

‘Deep Griha – meaning ‘Light House’ – is an independent charitable organisation working to better the lives of people in the slums of Pune (India) and several nearby villages. Through a range of family welfare programmes encompassing education, empowerment, health, awareness building and self-help projects; Deep Griha Society (DGS) helps thousands of beneficiaries to give them the skills, confidence and support they need to improve their futures.

Deep Griha Society now runs centres in three slum areas in Pune - Tadiwala Road, Ramtekadi and Bibvewadi. Additionally, Deep Griha Society also runs rural development programmes, through its two major set ups; City of Child in Kasurdi village and Vidyanagari - City of Knowledge in Choufula village. Currently Deep Griha Society’s programmes reach out to 68,527 people. '

Sunday 31 July 2011

Marathon - Day 10


The last day of our Marathon started with our longest drive of the trip back to Delhi 264km (164miles) away. We stopped at a small road side cafe for a break and something to eat about halfway there. I was feeling better, but I’d completely lost my appetite, so I just had some dry papad (popadum) and watched everyone else eat.

It was so hot so the restaurant staff decided to turn on the air conditioning units that were in the wall right next to where we were sitting. However, they were quite ineffective and kept spitting out horrible mucky water from inside onto our food! It was all a bit gross and put everyone off the rest of their meal! Yuck!
We arrived back in Delhi late afternoon and were taken back to the same hotel that we had stayed in for the first leg of our trip, Star Rocks. As we were all so tired from the long journey, we took it easy and relaxed until dinner time, when we decided to walk to a local restaurant. Once again, I didn’t have much to eat, but I did manage to eat some potato wedges.

Mum outside the road side cafe

Monday 25 July 2011

Marathon - Day 9

Our next day in Jaipur we had to be up and out of the hotel by 8am in order to ride an elephant at The Amber Fort. I was really excited about the elephant ride but I really wasn't well. Something I’d eaten had meant that I’d spent most of the night in the bathroom and I was feeling incredibly week and ill. However this was our only opportunity to ride an elephant and see the Fort, so I had to pull myself together and drag myself away from my room.

We drove a short way through the pink streets of Jaipur and picked up our guide outside the Hawa Mahal where we got out of the car, crossed the very busy street and looked at it from the other side of the road. The Hawa Mahal is a unique five-storey palace made of red sandstone, carved like honeycomb, with 953 small windows called Jharokhas that are decorated with intricate lattice work. It was built in 1799 by Maharaja Sawai Pratap Singh and was originally designed so that the royal ladies could retain their modesty and be hidden whilst watching and enjoying processions and other activities on the street below.

Jawa Mahal

Thursday 7 July 2011

Marathon - Day 8, Part 2

After visiting the Taj Mahal, it was still so early when we got back to the hotel we were able to catch the breakfast buffet before we set off on our long journey to Jaipur, 230kms away.

We checked out of the hotel around 10.30 ish and hit the road again. About an hour out of Agra, we stopped at our next sight Fatephur Sikri.

Fatehpur Sikri is a walled city (which is now deserted) that was built during the second half of the 16th century by the Emperor Akbar (Akbar the Great who also built Agra Fort and Sikandra). Popular legend has it that since Akbar was without an heir for a long time, he made a pilgrimage to the renowned Sufi saint, Sheik Salim Chisti, to seek his blessings and he was told that his Hindu wife would give him a son. When a son (Jahangir) was in fact born, Akbar built the new capital to mark his birth.

The city comprises of a series of palaces, public buildings including  Diwan-i-Am (the Hall of Public Audience) and one of the largest mosques in India, The Jama Masjid, as well as living areas for the court, the army, servants of the king and room for an entire population. The city remained his residence for about 15 years but it was later abandoned due to the lack of easy accessible water.

Monday 4 July 2011

Marathon - Day 8, Part 1

The day of our visit we woke at 4.30am in order to be ready in time to arrive at The Taj Mahal entrance for when it opened at 5.30am. The drive there was short through the tight cramped streets of Agra, which were, at that time of the morning, deserted.

We arrived at the visitor centre where we bought our tickets for 750 rupees each (£10.40) and we were each given a small paper bag that contained a bottle of water and shoe covers. The entrance to the Taj was a 4 minute journey on an electric float/bus that carried about 20 people at a time. It was a bit like being at Disney World in America where you get picked up from the car parks and taken to the theme parks in groups.

Once through the gates, after we were searched by security we headed down a long walkway with red sandstone buildings and walls flagging either side that were covered in groups of monkeys. At the end of the walkway, it opened up into a large courtyard, with grassy areas and a large sandstone and marble gate which was The Great Gate or Darwaza-i rauza and it was the main entrance to the gardens and the Taj Mahal.

Our guide Ghopal walking down the entrance walkway

Sunday 3 July 2011

Marathon - Day 7

The next day, we woke early and set off about 9.00am in our Toyota Innova Car for our 4 and a half hour journey south to Agra 205kms away.

Mum and dad’s luggage was tied to the roof of the car with some rope and we all were a bit worried that as we were driving, it might come lose and we’d see their underwear and clothes strewn across the road behind us. Every time we pulled up next to a reflective surface, e.g. the side of another car, building or bus, I had a quick look to make sure it was still there on the roof.
I was so glad to be getting out of the car and stretching my legs when we arrived at our first sight of the day at 1pm; but I was very quickly hit with the urge to dive back in as it was so unbelievably hot!

The sight was a place called Sikandara which is in the outskirts of Agra and on arrival we were greeted by Ghopal, who was to be our guide for our whole stay in Agra.  He spoke perfect English, was very knowledgeable and looked like a really tall Michael Jackson from his pre surgery ‘Rock With You’ era (minus the huge afro).

Sikandara Is the Tomb of Akbar the Great who started the build but it had to be completed after his death by his son Jahangir in 1613. The tomb is surrounded by large gardens which are enclosed by a large wall that has four grand entrances. The largest and grandest of the entrances is the south gate which has four marble minarets. All the buildings are constructed mainly from red sandstone, enriched with features in white marble, black slate and semi-precious stones in beautiful geometric, floral and calligraphic designs.



South Gate.

Wednesday 22 June 2011

Marathon - Day 6, Part 2


As we had eaten a massive lunch that day at a random restaurant, (that I can’t remember the name of) we decided to skip dinner and go to see the daily Light and Sound show at The Red Fort. We had about an hour to kill before we went to the fort so we went to see the Houses of Parliament, the Presidential residences and the India Gate.

The whole area around the Parliamentary building reminded me of the Champs-Élysées in Paris. There was a really long tree lined road that had the President’s house and Parliamentary buildings at one end and the India Gate at the other end, which also reminded me of the Ace de Triomphe. The surface of the road was so smooth and well kept so that (according to our guide) in an emergency, it could be used as an aircraft runway to evacuate the president or other such important people that needed to be taken to safety.

The closest we could get to the President's House

Wednesday 8 June 2011

Marathon - Day 6, Part 1

Our day started at 9.30 when we were picked up by Sanjay and greeted by our tour guide for the day and were driven to our first stop of the day.

The first place was Jama Masjid Mosque in Old Delhi, which was commissioned by the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan (the builder of the Taj Mahal), and completed in the year 1628 AD, it is the largest and best-known mosque in India. It’s constructed of red sandstone and black and white marble. It has three entrances that lead into a huge courtyard that is big enough to house up to 25000 worshippers at any one time.

Jama Masjid Mosque

Monday 6 June 2011

Marathon - Day 5

The day started off with a short trip via an auto rickshaw to Pune airport and then a two hour flight to Delhi in the North of India.

Delhi airport was massive! It seemed like we were walking for at least 20 minutes before we got to the baggage carousel. In the arrivals hall, there was an amazing display on the wall. There were 9 large metallic hands that depicted various hand gestures called Mudras surrounded by large copper discs that were either concave or convex. 

Arrivals

Sunday 29 May 2011

Marathon - Day 4

We went to visit Pune’s very own caves called the Pataleshwar Cave Temple. It is a rock cut excavation that was made in 8-9th century AD. The temple is dedicated to the Hindu God, Lord Shiva. The caves and carvings are nowhere near as impressive as the Karla Caves but I still find it all quite amazing considering that when they were made the tools they would’ve used were very limited.

Wednesday 25 May 2011

Marathon - Day 3


Day 3 was a slow start. Before coming out here, my dad was trying to organise a sightseeing trip for us all to see Delhi, Agra and Jaipur. Unfortunately the trip we had fell through so organising another one is what we spent most of the day doing. After waiting for email responses and phone calls back and forth, we finally got another tour sorted through Go Heritage Journeys India. Phew! It was a relief considering we were supposed to be going in two days from then.

Friday 20 May 2011

Marathon - Day 2


Day 2 of our sightseeing was a spot of retail therapy in Pune. I wanted to show my parents a popular shopping area called Mahatma Gandhi (MG) Road or Main Street where they have everything from small independent sellers to Reebok and The United Colors of Benetton. It’s a 15 minute auto rickshaw ride away and we arrived just after 1pm. Unfortunately we were a bit early for most of the shops, here, they tend to open up in the morning, close for a few hours at lunch and then open up again in the afternoon. We did have a walk up and down the street though and looked at all the old buildings with their closed shops hidden behind old rickety wooden shutters.

Thursday 19 May 2011

Sightseeing Marathon!

Well, sorry I haven’t been around for a while, my parents have been over visiting us and we have all been on a marathon of sightseeing both here in Pune then onto Delhi, Agra and Jaipur.

The first stop of our sightseeing marathon was the Karla Caves which are impressive man made Buddhist caves that date back to approximately to the 2nd century BC. They are near a small hill station called Lonavala, which is located high up in the mountains on the National Highway that connects Mumbai and Pune. It is a popular destination for locals who want to escape the hustle and bustle of the cities and get some respite from the heat.

Tuesday 3 May 2011

Cycling Madness! (Oh and a bit of volunteering)

I decided to cycle to Deep Griha Society on my first day. It is about 3 miles away and fortunately most of the journey is on level ground.

I got up, was dressed and ready to leave on time only to find that my bike had flat tyres and I didn't have a pump or anything to fix them! Luckily, just opposite my apartment is a little man that sits at the side of the road fixing bicycles for people. I walked over with my bike and asked him to pump my tyres, he charged me 30 rupees, pumped them up and I was then ready to be on my way.

Tuesday 26 April 2011

Me Too!


As I am known for being a "Me Too" by my family, and not wanting to miss out, I have bought myself some wheels as well! 

I'd mentioned the fact that I wanted a bike to Hiren, (one of Tom's work mate's) and he kindly took us to Laxmi Road (which is a crazy, busy shopping area in town) to buy one.

Tom's wheels

Tom decided he was fed up of having to rely on taxi's and auto rickshaws to get to and from work, so he has bought himself a blue Pulsar motor bike! According to him it's only a small one, however all his work mate's seem to reckon its quite big really.



In Pune and as in a lot of India, it isn't compulsory to wear a helmet when riding so you very rarely see people wearing one. However, Tom has said he will go in search of a helmet as soon as possible, as he knows what its like to come off a bike and it's better to be safe than sorry. There's no way I'm going to get on the back of it without one either. Back in the UK I'd refused to get on Tom's bike but I am warming to it and may just give it a go. I've got to get a bit braver and it'll give us both more independence if I do, plus Tom would really like me to.


I'm back!



Well after a short trip back to the UK, I am now back in India so my blog will be up and running properly again.

Now I have successfully changed my visa from a tourist to an employment one, I can do some voluntary work over here. Tomorrow I am off to the charity Deep Griha Society that I visited last month and I will begin working there 3-4 times a week which will be fun. I am really looking forward to it as it not only gives me something to get out of bed for in the morning, I actually feel like I will be doing some good and helping the people of Pune. I will let you all know how it goes!

Saturday 16 April 2011

Making friends

I've been going to the gym everyday and it is exhausting but also really (surprisingly) fun! Everyday at 11am there is some sort of aerobics class. Tuesdays and Saturdays are Bollywood themed and focus mainly on learning a set of moves and putting them all together into a routine to Bollywood songs. It is really good, however I have found out that I am not very good at it. There is a lot of hip wiggling and it is a bit tricky to make myself look graceful. I seem to look like a gyrating hippo in the mirrors that we dance in front of!

First an apology, then a thank you.

Apology then Thank you
So sorry I haven't been updating for a while. I have had to pop over to the UK in order to change my Indian Visa and been running around all over the place! I am going back to India in a few days and I promise I will get right back on top of regular blog updates.

Thanks to all of you who have been reading and commenting. I have now had over 1000 views and I am well chuffed! So thanks to you all and keep following me because I have loads more to tell!

Sunday 20 March 2011

Keeping fit


Well I've done something that no one will ever believe! I've joined a Gym! I've never belonged to a gym in all my life! 

Before I came to India, I was hoping that the 'delhi belly' would help me out and make me lose loads of weight but that hasn't happened yet so I guess I'm gonna have to lose weight the old fashioned way - Excercise! (However I am glad I haven't been ill yet, it seems like a horrible thing to go through!) 

Thursday 17 March 2011

Aga Khan Palace


We wanted to visit somewhere 'touristy' and with a bit of history and looking on the internet I found that just a short walk from our apartment was Aga Khan Palace.

It was built in 1892 by Sir Sultan Muhammed Shah Aga Khan III and was donated to the government of india in 1962. It is most famous for being the place where Gandhi and his family were kept under house arrest in the1940's. Both his wife and Secretary died there of dysentry and it has memorials to them both. It also has some of Gandhi's ashes in the grounds aswell, which is quite cool to see.

Wednesday 16 March 2011

Meeting Tom's work buddies

On Friday 11th February Tom rang me on his way out of work and invited me out for drinks with him and some of his workmates at ABC Farms. I tried to get an auto rickshaw there but every driver I asked either refused to go that way or wanted 70 rupees for the journey, which was ridiculous because it should only cost 15 max! They can be quite grumpy and stubborn sometimes! So in the end I just had to walk. 

Wanting to do good

Before coming to Pune, I researched places that I could maybe volunteer for whilst I'm here. I think it would be really great to not only do some good but also to alleviate my boredom. As nice as it is sitting around all day playing on the computer and watching TV, it can get a bit mundane after a while. 

Tuesday 15 March 2011

German Bakery

I wanted to make it my mission to find the German Bakery as we couldn’t find it the first time that we went to Koregaon Park. (Although now I know it no longer exists and will never be found.)

It was a really lovely day on Wednesday 9th February, the sun was strong and intense but there was a good breeze which helped to take the edge off the heat somewhat. I decided I’d walk all the way to the other end of Koregaon Park which is nearly two miles!

Saturday 12 March 2011

The view

One of my favourite things to do every day is to sit on the terrace and watch the sun set. (A nice G&T would top off the experience, but surprisingly, I haven’t bought any yet).

End of 1st week in Pune - Feb 6th

We went out for dinner at a place called ABC Farms, which is basically a collection of about six restaurants on a piece of land that used to belong to a farm. In fact you can still get dairy products at the back of the complex.

Thursday 10 March 2011

Exploring nearby


Another area that Tom was considering as one of the places we could live is a place called Koregaon Park, which is one of the most expensive areas to live in Pune. It is just the other side of the Mula-Mutha River, about a 10 minute walk from our apartment in Kalyani Nagar.

First Friday


Well on my first Friday in Pune (4th February), we were supposed to be meeting up with some of Tom’s work mates at a place called The Ship. Unfortunately they all had to cancel on us last minute which was disappointing because I had really been looking forward to going out and meeting them all. I decided that we should still go to The Ship anyway, just the two of us.

Monday 7 March 2011

Tom's Work

On Friday 4th Feb Tom texted me at 11ish saying he’d forgotten some papers he needed and could I bring them to his work? I agreed as I was curious to see where it was he went to everyday.

I walked across from the apartment and got a rickshaw from the rank. Apparently the rickshaw should have only cost 50 rupees, but the driver wouldn’t budge on 60 rupees or use the meter! So reluctantly I had to pay that, even though his meter was running after all and said only 48 rupees when I arrived!

Friday 4 March 2011

Learning lessons

Throughout my first week I got braver and more and more used to my surroundings. One day I decided to take a rickshaw to a shopping mall called Ishanya Mall that I’d seen on a map that I had. It is a about 2 miles away in an area called Yerwada, which is very near to where Tom works.

Making a home - 3rd full day


Tom gave me the idea of buying a few plants for the apartment, to make it feel a bit more like home; well it’ll only really feel like home when I've killed them, but hey!

Wednesday 2 March 2011

Bedding down



My mission on my first full day in the apartment on my own was to buy some bedding. We didn't realise until it was time to go to bed on that first night after our meal with dad that there wasn't any; no pillows, covers, sheets, nothing! It was a good job it is nice and warm here otherwise if we were in England we would have been sleeping with all of the clothes that we own on!

Friday 25 February 2011

Moving In - 1st February 2011 - First full day in Pune.


Well my first night’s sleep in Pune was hot! Even with the ceiling fan on I was boiling, but I didn’t want to sleep on top of the blanket because I’d probably get bitten to death by the mosquitoes. A couple of times in the night I was woken up by them whining past my ears! So I ended up sleeping with the blanket over my head too! I really don’t like the noise of them it really freaks me out! Yuck!

Monday 21 February 2011

First Day - although now I've been here nearly a month.

(Don't get scared off by the length/ amount of these first posts. Due to not having access to the net until now I'm having to catch myself up. Hopefully I'll be able post more regularly after these).

Well, I've arrived! I'm finally here in India!

I left a very cold and blustery Heathrow on 30th January 2011 and landed in a very sunny and warm Mumbai on the 31st January at about 11.30 India time. I was very relieved to be back on solid ground and all in one piece. I don't like flying at all, so spending 9 hours on a very uncomfortable plane all on my own wasn't much fun. Every bump or wobble seemed to scare me a bit, but hey I got through it with the help of some wine and two and a half men. ;)