India - Final Day and Final Thoughts

Our last day in India, we were taken to an orphanage run by Ladli, and organization that offers education and vocational training for destitute, orphaned and abused children.  This organization was started by two university professors who left their lucrative jobs in order to help address the huge problem of at-risk children confronting Jaipur.  According to Ladli, there are 300,000 abandoned children roaming the streets of Jaipur.  Of that number, Ladli is able to house 300 in their various homes.  Their focus is on helping girls because they are the most at risk for being exploited, raped or forced into lives of prostitution, although they do help boys, too.  (The name Ladli roughly translates to beloved daughter.)  In India, boy children are much more highly valued, resulting in a high rate of abortion of female fetuses (which the government has now outlawed) and the desertion of female children.  The girls who live in the Ladli orphanages all receive standard education, life skills training and vocational training in things like making jewelry or textiles or paper crafts.  The items they make are sold and part of the money is used to help fund the program, but a large part of the money is put into bank accounts for each of the children to help give them a start in life.  An amazing 90 percent of the Ladli girls go on to university or vocational training programs.  The goal is to empower these girls to be self-sufficient adults.  It's a pretty amazing program.  They even do educational outreach at 21 different locations around Jaipur where they set up street-corner classrooms every day where they encourage destitute and abandoned children to attend each day by not only providing basic education but also a healthy meal and a little money to each child who attends.  The money makes it possible for abandoned children to attend the school without having to use their entire day begging to survive; those children who are destitute but still have families take the money home to their families so that their families will encourage them to continue attending school rather than forcing them into a life of begging or child labor.

Here are a few pictures from our visit to the Ladli home.  All photos were taken with permission.

Children in a Ladli classroom. 

These girls are making cards to sell.  The girl on the right is 21 and has been living at Ladli, along with her three younger sisters, since she was five or six years old.  They were all abandoned by their parents.  She is now attending nursing school.  The toddler in pink on the left side of the picture is her daughter.  The girl in green and red is one of her three sisters.

These girls are making jewelry.

Making scarves

This sweet girl is another sister to the 21-year-old.  The fourth sister was present, but I didn't get her photo.  The girl above is in her second year of university, studying applied arts.

Visiting Ladli was a pretty rewarding experience.  After seeing so many beautiful locations, it was a nice reality check, if only a tiny peek into a little bit of what is going on behind the scenes in the world's second most populous nation of 1.3 billion people.  

All in all, we really enjoyed our trip to India.  Before we left for India, we received some parting words of advice from our tour company in our final travel documents:

      "Be patient, flexible, open and good-natured.  India is a learning experience, not an escape; an      adventure, not a getaway; a new challenge, not necessarily a holiday."  

Truer words were never spoken.  This has most definitely been a learning experience.  India is not for sissies.  India is not in the relaxing vacay category unless you go there and never leave your five-star hotel.  It is chaotic in the extreme.  And at the same time, everything seems to move way slower and take double or triple the amount of time as things do at home.  Every day presented challenges, from navigating through unbelievable, crazy traffic...

to the unbelievable crowds of people everywhere.

From unexpected tastes...

to unexpected ways of getting things done.

From poverty...

to incredible splendor...

India is a land of incredible contrasts.  

Its people are colorful...

and friendly.

Its history is rich

Its ancient architecture is stunning.

Its wildlife is amazing.

India was an unforgettable experience.  It definitely broadened my world view.  And although by the time we left, my mom, Jill and I were on chaos overload and looking forward to the comforts of home, not to mention American food, I have to say that after just 24 hours back in the States, I miss India already. Which I did not really expect seeing as how I did a little happy dance in my seat when the plane took off.  But India has a way of doing that to you.  😉

The Amber Fort

A couple of days ago we visited the Amber Fort in Jaipur.  Jaipur is know as the pink city, although technically it should be called the orange city as it gets its nickname from the terra cotta clay wash that they put on the outside off all of the old city buildings here.  This practice originated with the British who found the glare coming from white buildings to be blinding in the intense sun and heat.  Coating the buildings with terra cotta was a genius idea.  Not only did it cut the glare, but it made the city unique and very beautiful.  

The Amber Fort was built to protect a maharaja’s palace.  And let me tell you, the maharajas of India knew how to build a palace!  Oh, my goodness!  The workmanship and artistry of the Rajasthani maharajas was every bit as amazing as that of the Mughal emperors.  And we all got a taste of the maharaja life by arriving at the Amber Fort in true maharaja form - on the back of an elephant!  What a super fun experience!  

The palace of the Amber Fort was amazing.  It has Hindu style elements and was constructed out of red sandstone and marble.  Here are some pictures so you can see for yourself what an impressive and beautiful place this was.

Inside the hall of public audience

Hall of private audience.  This place took my breath away.  The detail work inside has tiny mirrors all through it.  At night by candlelight, the ceiling and walls would sparkle and twinkle like stars.

Here are more parts of the palace at Amber Fort.  

As you can see, this place was absolutely amazing.  And amazingly well-preserved, considering it's over 400 years old.  They just don't build 'em like they used to.  

We just got back to the States today after 40 hours of travel.  Yeah, we're dead tired.  I've been without internet for the past couple of days and was unable to post to the blog.  I'll have one more post coming tomorrow to wind everything up.  Stay tuned....