Today is my last day in India. I fly from Mumbai to Delhi, Delhi to New York, New York to San Francisco and then to Oregon tomorrow evening.
It's been a wonderful trip, full of adventures. I have lots more about the trip to talk about here. I've saved the more complicated topics like religion and food for when I am at home with stronger wi fi and better technology so i can organize my thoughts and pictures better.
I've loved almost everything about the trip. I'll miss the people, the sounds, the colors, the food and the heat. I know I'll come back to India. I am already working on plans for my next trip or trips.

The trashes is what our trip leader called the garbage that seriously litters much of the country. In India, all packaging used to be biodegradable  banana leaves or paper mostly  People would toss it into the street or a field and it would decompose or be eaten by the many hungry cows. Now that most packaging is plastic it still gets tossed but it doesn't decompose or get eaten. In some areas there has been progress but it's not widespread. The government has a work scheme for low income people and one of the jobs is trash clean up. Many people find the trash one of the most depressing parts of a trip to India. Our trip leader begged us to leave 'the trashes' behind and just take home our other wonderful memories of Incredible India.

Growing old in India can be wonderful or not. Indian families take care of their elders. Nursing homes are very uncommon. Sons have responsibility for caring for elderly parents which means daughters in law do the real work of it.  Basic medical care is provided through government clinics for free.There is no general Social security. Most people don't have pensions. There is no 'retirement age' and jobs are changing as for the man pictured below who drives a cycle rickshaw. They are not a main form of transport any more, being replace by tuk tuks (three wheeled taxis) and scooters. For elders with no viable family to care for them life can be grim. Several older men and women live in the orphanage our foundation supports. They are the lucky ones, they are not out on the streets.

Silk is everywhere in India. India is one of the world's largest silk producers. It has Asia's largest market for silkworm cocoons. Silk is used for beautiful garments; sarees, jackets. kurtas ,and household furnishings. It looks fragile but it is quite strong and takes dyes beautifully in the bright colors Indians love. We had an opportunity to visit a shop where silkworms lay their eggs and produce the cocoon that silk comes from. We also visited the huge government controlled cocoon market where producers and buyers meet every day but Sunday  It is Asia's largest cocoon market and it a rue commodity market. It is crowded and intense. The government sets a minimum price but sellers always hope to get more. Producers from all over So India bring their cocoons here because they fetch the best prices.

Indians love love and Indians love weddings. 80% of Indian Marriages are arranged. 20% are 'love marriages'.Arranged marriages have a 95% success rate. Love marriages last about 50% of the time, just like in the West.
Weddings are planned based in the horoscope. February is an auspicious month for weddings. When we visited the temple Sri Meenakshe we saw five weddings, took pictures and congratulated the brides and grooms. They were so happy to have us there and some actually teared up as we gave the Best Wishes. 
We stopped at a small village with many wedding halls. We went inside one and became part of the event! we were brought on stage with the wedding couple and videotaped. I stood next to a strapping young man. I think he was the bride's brother, who took a shine to me. We were all invited to stay for the wedding breakfast. the young kept bobbing his head, plucking my sleeve and making the motions for eating. The mother of the bride came over and implored us to stay. We really couldn't so we dropped some rupee notes on the gift table, hopped on out bus and drove off.
Weddings in India are a sight to see, the brides are beautiful and the whole family is involved. The bride and groom may only have met a couple of times before the wedding. Mothers of the brides are fussing. these may be the most momentous occaisions of people's lives!

As we drive through the countryside we often break up the bus trips by visiting local things of interest in the villages or just along the road. I've been fascinated by the cottage industries. They are usually family run and may employ a few extra people. Some are real artists like the brothers who handcraft wooden instruments and the family that make beautiful concrete floor tile. Others are more for the mass market like the cloth weavers. The cloth is cotton and is for everyday saris. It takes 5 yards to make a sari and that sells for about $8. The bricklayer family makes hundreds of bricks a day. 
There is so much more to this country than the technology revolution we hear about. Some of this dates back centuries. The looms the weavers use are electric but are so old that parts are hard to find.
It's wonderful what you can find when you get off the beaten path and into the villages where the action is!

Hi everyone! I am posting this from a nature retreat in Kerala, Cardomom country, where many spices are grown. I am about 10 days into the trip and decided to talk about flowers. They are everywhere here. They are sold street side for women to put in their hair. Indian women do not cut their hair and many decorate their braids daily with fresh flowers, usually jasmine but sometimes other flowers as well. We often get a garland of flowers when we check into a hotel. Fresh flowers are in ever hotel lobby, many restaurants and public places. Flowers are a very important part of temple ceremonies. Saffron is a holy color for Hindus and the marigold represents that roses provide a pleasing fragrance for the gods. We have attended many wedding, more about that later, and flowers play a huge part. Note the bride in the pic of newlyweds. By the way that scooter was her dowery!
When I think of India I will always think of the flowers.

The kids were lively. You could see the effects of prior malnutrition in their small sizes but the all seemed bright and OK now. We only saw the elementary kids as the high schoolers were in class in town. the elementary classes are held at the orphanage.  I interacted with a group of 5 or 6 boy. as always my iphone was a great icebreaker. They like the pictures. They were very intrigued by the pics of pizzas my family had made. They said their favorite sport was cricket which they loved. I demonstrated American foot ball and how the quarterback throws the ball. Even though I know no Tamil and they had very little English we managed to communicate as true sports fans!

I've been in an internet desert for the last few days but a lot has been happening. I know I'll post more about children but yesterday was a real kid immersion and i wanted to get these pictures up. One thing that is striking about this visit to southern India is that the kids are doing better than the kids I saw in the North 6 years ago. The emphasis on school is everywhere. Kids in uniform are all over the place like the little girl with her brother waiting for the bus to taker her to Kindergarten. Kids look healthier and better nourished. The country has instituted a "Mid Day Meal Scheme' so every kid in elementary school gets a nourishing noon meal. It has considerably increased school attendance and is having an impact on malnutrition. Kids look healthier and more have good energy. I haven't seen the skin diseases I saw before. 
A couple of days ago I walked through a village and sand saw all the kids getting ready for school. Yesterday We visited the orphanage out travel company contributes to and then spontaneously stopped at a local village festival in a village where the people are 'Daleet', formerly called untouchable. It was an amazing day full of amazing kids. More on all of this later but I couldn't wait to share these happy faces with you

We Flew from New York to Delhi and then from Delhi to Chennai. It was after midnight when we got to our hotel in Chennai. We had an orientation briefing in the morning and were on to our next stop  Mandellapurum on the Bay of Bengal. We took a quick drive through Chennai viewing major sites and walking through a local market. We stopped at a really good vegetarian restaurant for lunch and visited the Basilica of St Thomas on the way to our place for the night. Eight of us had done a pretrip to Sri Lanka and eight of us were new to this time zone.
I had hope to upload pictures today of some very nice food that we had but the wifi here doesn't support that. I hope it's better at the next place,