Matt and Lenka Abroad

Photos: February & March 2012 - Umang and Grassroots

mandl — Sun, 18 Mar 2012 04:21:00 GMT

January - Trip to South India (Tamil Nadu) : Yogi Bear Course and Auroville

mandl — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 00:44:00 GMT

The train back to Delhi was a lot more enjoyable than on the way up, probably because we didn’t have to wait on a dirty station for 5 hours in the middle of the night but also because we were joined by two lovely ladies from Umang, Pooja and Basanti who kept the journey entertaining. It also meant that I got a chance to show off my newly found knitting skills.

On arrival in Delhi, watching the ladies haggle the hell out of the rickshaw drivers was entertaining and the event developed into a comedy sketch when we realised that they had negotiated for the four of us, all with big bags to go in the same 2 seater rickshaw. In hindsight I don’t know why we were that surprised as anyone who’s a fan of that great philosopher, Alan Rickman, will know that Indian drivers definitely follow the thought stream of “There’s always room for one more!“ Everything just about squeezed in, with Lenka and a few bags on my lap.

We spent a few days at the Delhi Haat, Fair trade art’s and handicrafts festival which gave us an overview of the products from many different NGO’s from across India. We also met with a graphic designer, Nilima, to discuss thoughts and ideas for the Umang catalogue. This was very useful and gave us a different perspective on how the range could be taken forward and simplified.

After a few days in Delhi, which is always enough – its one crazy place, we took a flight to Chennai in the South of India. Lenka’s Yoga course was held at a resort called Joe Beach close to Mamallapullen, a bustling temple town with a backpacker vibe. I spent a few days checking out the temples and getting use to the heat (30 deg C – every day). Feeling happy that Lenka was safe and comfortable and settled in to the course with the other Yogi Bears, I headed to Auroville.

Auroville is only 100km south of Joe Beach, 2- 5 hrs away depending on how you choose to get there. Unfortunately I choose the latter and was feeling rather hot, sweaty and hungry by the time I arrived. Auroville is a relatively confusing place when you first arrive as there are very little signs (some of the locals don’t like to encourage tourism) and just dirt roads going in all directions through the forest. The place was also pretty devastated after the recent cyclone, with fallen trees everywhere, so many of the routes were blocked. After getting pretty lost I was eventually picked up by Roman, an Austrian chap who was volunteering on the farm.

On first impression Sapney Farm wasn’t at all what I was expecting; scattered wooden huts with thatch style banana leaf roofs, hap-hazard vegetable plots and a kind of traveller / hippie sort of community vibe. It didn’t however take long to get into the swing of things and I really enjoyed working on some of the rebuilding. I spent a few days working with a French chap to re-wire all of the huts as the electrics had been damaged in the cyclone. When we took the old cables out, we weren’t however that surprised it wasn’t working, as a strong fart would have probably burnt through the existing cables, they were as thin as shoe laces! During my time at the farm, I also resurrected my boy scout knowledge of a square lashing and used it to repair stairs and build new doors where necessary.

Whilst in Auroville I visited a new forestry project (http://sadhanaforest.org/). The project is only 7 years old and thus the work already achieved is quite staggering. By banking of the earth they have managed to hold water in the area for longer and thus tree growth has been rapid and the landscape has been transformed from a desert waste land into a thriving forest. They gave us a great meal and we also watched David Suzuki’s Autobiography film, Force of Nature, which was quite inspiring, I definitely recommend you check it out. I also visited the Auroville Earth Building Institute and found out quite a bit about building techniques with earth bricks. Some of the structures were very impressive and likewise the plethora of different shapes, sizes and configurations of brick moulds.

After Auroville I was planning to head to the nigirili hills to do a bit of trekking but on my way to the bus stop I had a change of heart and I decided that I was actually missing my lovely wife, so changed my mind and caught a bus back to Joe Beach. I spent the remainder of my time in the south of India there, relaxing on the beach with a book and with Lenka in between yogi bear lessons.

We flew back to Delhi at the end of the month and spent a few days there. Primarily as I needed to renew my Passport at the embassy, which turned into a bit of a nightmare but we won’t go into that. We also did a great tour by a former street child working for the Sallam Ballak Trust. This was quite an emotional experience but gave us a little comfort that there is some hope for the many children we have seen begging on the streets of Delhi. It was reassuring to know that the charity turns no children down and is constantly being able to help more and more (currently 4000 odd children). At the end of the tour we met some of the children and played some games. They also loved taking pictures (see pic).

We are now back in the serenity and fresh air of the Ranikhet hills, working at Grassroots. We plan to stay here, with the exception of a few weekend trips until we leave in April.

Book of the Month:

The One Straw Revolution, Masanobu Fukuoka

Delhi Belly Update:

No fireworks in delhi again which was a great success. The change of diet in South India, did get to me for a few days so I suppose that makes the scores 2 - 2.

Future Plans:

In early April we are off to the Washington DC for Sam’s wedding, via a short stop at mum and dad’s in Buckingham to change our pants. After the wedding we are planning to head south through Virginia, North and South Carolina, Georgia and possibly Florida, with the intention of combining some WWOOFING (Worldwide opportunities on organic farms) with some backpacking on the Appalachian Trail. In early June we are currently intending to go to Haiti to volunteer at a forestry project (which is an off shoot of Sadhana Forest, which I visited in Auroville) and also participate in a permaculture design course. The course finishes in early August and we are currently leaving are plans open for what happens after that.

Photos: January 2012 - South India (Tamil Nadu)

mandl — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 00:32:00 GMT

Photos: December 2011 - Umang and Grassroots

mandl — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 19:45:00 GMT

December 2011– Getting Stuck in at Grassroots and Umang

mandl — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 19:42:00 GMT

Hi all, Well December in Ranikhet has flown by. We feel thoroughly at home with Grassroots / Umang and the staff and have been getting stuck into the charity work. The cold room design is progressing well; I have been investigating earth building techniques and am hoping to get it ready for implementation in February / March when we get back from the south. When feeling a bit restless and the need to bash stuff I have been building a small chicken coop from scrap wood in Kalyan and Anita’s garden. On a visit to the wood store, I was quite surprised how expensive wood is, so this has kind of ruled out using it in a Chicken coop design for the masses. Bamboo however is in abundance and cheap so I am looking in to making use of that and building some prototypes when we come back in February.

Lenka has been cracking on with the knitting product organization, itemizing and cataloguing which is a mammoth task. She is now at a stage when Kalyan, Anita and the ladies have bought into the process and in February / March she is hoping to implement all the changes.

We have also both been teaching computer skills to two of the staff. Lenka has been going on a daily basis to visit, Sunneeta, the manager of Umang and I have been helping Jaqdish, the grassroots technical manager. We have both been finding the experience challenging but rewarding, it sometimes tests our patience but is satisfying when they start to get the knack of it.

In the middle of December we took a four day trip to Mukteshwar where Raju (the grassroots head forester) has a guest out. It was a good chance to spend a few days away from the cold north facing hills of Ranikhet and get some warmth into our bones. Even though Mukteshwar is 400m higher at 2200m it was much warmer due to the south facing elevation. Raju imparted some of his vast forestry knowledge on us during some walks in the area, we also visited an apple tree nursery and also the vertinary institute which was based there (which gave me a chance to inspect their cold room which was carved in top the rock in 1900).It was a nice long weekend and a change of scene, though I was forced to have a haircut and beard trim which I wasn’t best pleased about. On the way back we visited another NGO called Arohi, which runs a local school and hospital and also makes natural apricot oils and scrubs which it sells locally and also in the Umang shop in Ranikhet.

With the Christmas Festivities Lenka obviously couldn’t refuse a chance to do some baking and let Kalyan and Anita sample some Czech Christmas cookies which worked out a treat even though the chef, Ranjeet, didn’t seem to understand that we wanted the oven on a low temp and kept cranking it up to 280 deg C! For Christmas Day we went to church in the morning and sang some rather different versions of English Christmas carols and a new song which went Happy Happy Christmas, Happy Happy Christmas day , Repeat * 100. Then afterwards there was a massive party lots of food and drink and some games which included beer fishing and bingo, which I won, which was a little embarrassing having been given the ticket for free. They insisted that I went to the front and collect a prize in front of 500 or so Indians. In the evening we had a nice meal with Kalyan and Anita and some of their friends from Delhi. Lenka picked up some easier knitting techniques which she has been using ever since and occasionally I even have a go. For New Year we visited a local hotel, where Suneeta’s husband worked. There was some traditional Kumaoni dancing (which we eventually got involved with) and a massive fire and even a few fireworks.

On New Year’s Day we went for a walk with Ranjeet and his three lovely children. We had a long walk through the woods and stopped at a tea shop for tea and cake. Lenka had tried her best to get Ranjeet’s wife, Laxmi to join us as well but unfortunately she was working. Shortly after we finished the walk at Ranjeets home, Laxmi appeared with a massive amount of grass on her head (see pic). We both felt a bit sad as the women here work very hard (and most of the men don’t) and don’t seem to have much of a life. We will try and persuade her to join us on a trip when we return.

Delhi Belly Update – Currently the scores are Lenka 2 , Matt 1. All hits of stomach upset were relatively unexplainable as we hadn’t been anywhere and been eating the same food from Ranjeet. Lenka’s first score came the day after mind, so not sure if the counts as foul play on my part, maybe a Brown Card at least. Expecting some more fireworks in Delhi next week!

Indie - sedmy tyden (Vanocni Kalika)

mandl — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 15:42:00 GMT

Sedmy vanocni tyden prejeme vam vsem milym lidickam spokojene a mirumilovne Vanoce a Novy rok 2012 plny lasky, stesti a radosti.

S laskou a ze srdce vam vsem preji Lenka a Matthew.

Indie - sesty tyden (Kalika)

mandl — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 15:38:00 GMT

Sesty tyden nas nemile prekvapil nevolnosti, ktera nas oba zastihla kazdeho v jiny den. Nastesti trvala jen kratce. Jak nam lide pred odjezdem rikali, ze kazdy se v Indii setka s nevolnosti a to vetsinou kratce po prijezdu, nam se tato zkusenost vyhybala dele nez mesic. Snad uz to tedy mame zasebou a nas organismus si vybudoval potrebnou imunitu.

Opet pokracujeme v nasi praci, jejiz cile jsou velice motivujici. Prijde nam, jako by se zrychlil cas, nebot nam dny ubihaji rychleji nez ze zacatku. Jiste je to tim, ze se nam ustalil denni rezim. Citime se velice pohodlne a klidne. Najednou mame cas, ktery jsme vzdycky chteli mit.

Indie - ctvrty a paty tyden (Kalika a Mukteshwar)

mandl — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 02:18:00 GMT

Zjistili jsme, ze se da text naseho blogu psany v anglictine zmenit do cestiny pomoci volby uvedene nize na uvodni strance naseho blogu (viz Select language). Text se neprelozi zcela spisovne, ale da se mu rozumet.

Ctvrty tyden nam prinels nemale zmeny. Byli jsme prestehovani do baracku Kalyana a Anity. I kdyz jsme byli vice nez spokojeny s nasim puvodnim mistem, jejich utulne zazemi si lehce ziskalo nasi prizen a netrvalo nam dlouho se citit opet pohodlne jako doma. Dalsi prijemnosti vedle teple sprchy je pritomnost domaciho mazlicka Nampiho, ktery nas nemalokrat dokaze rozveselit svymi psimi kousky. Nebot Nampimu je 17 let, vetsinu dne travi polehavanim. Obcas ho musime premlouvat, aby s nama sel na prochazku. Jedna z jeho necastejsich aktivit je cenichani po sladkostech, ceskym lovecaku a skemrani po poradnem podrbani. Je to takovy rostak, ktery vi jak si ziskat nasi pozornost. Ke vsemu vypada jak prerostla Baruska, takze si hned ziskal nase srdce.

Hlavni aktivitou tohoto tydne byla prace pro Grassroots (GR) a UMANG (UM). UM je spolecnost produkujici ruzne druhy vlatsnorucni vyroby jako napriklad ovocne a zeleninove zavareniny (marmelady, catny atd), med, koreni, orisky, pletenne vyrobky atd. Tyto produkty jsou vyrabene mistnimi zenami, na ktere se UM soustredi zejmena . UM je soucasti GR a zacinal tez jako charitativni spolecnost s cilem pomoci mistnim farmarum s vykupem jejich plodin za ferove ceny, nebot mistni farmari byvali a nekteri stale jsou vuzivani mistnimi obchododniky, kteri jim za jejich tezce vypestovane plodiny plati pod cenou. Cilem UM bylo tez poskytnout pracovni mista mistnim zenam a jejich zauceni do ruznych druhu vyroby z mistnich plodin a rucnich praci jako napriklad pleteni. UM tak obchoduje s sirokou skalou pestrych produktu, ktere maji na trhu veliky uspech, diky k teremu se UM stal obchodni spolecnosti vedenou vsemi pracovniky, kteri se podileji na vyrobe produktu (zejmena zeny, v teto oblasti Indie jako znevyhodnena pracovni skupina).

Nasi momentalni praci je organizovani vsech pletenych vyrobku a vytvoreni tak jejich seznamu stylu a vzoru, ktery by mel zjednodusit organizovani vyroby. Tato prace nakonec povede k vytvoreni katalogu, ktery byl mel pomoci zlepsit prodej techto rucne a tezce vyrobenych krasnych veci a prispet tak k rustu vydelku a naslednemu zlepseni dosavadni klavilty zivota. Matty se podili na dizajnu sklepu, ktery byl mel pomoci uchovat vetsinu plodin po delsi dobu jejich cerstvosti a pomoci tak k vetsimu vykupu plodin od farmaru a k narustu produkce vyrobku.

Tito lide jsou velice sikovni a pracuji opravdu tezce a poctive. Co jim vsak chybi nejvice je organizace a struktura, v ktere jim muzeme asi nejvice pomoci. Pri vzrustajici produkci, omezenem poctu pracovniku a financnich zdroju, je treba planovat. Bez vhodne organizace se casto tezce vynalozena prace ztraci v nepoznani. Dalsi nasi praci je predat zakladni zkusenosti prace s pocitacem, zlepseni anglickeho jazyka, navrzeni kurniku pro domaci chov slepicek, vyroba pristroje na drceni chilli papricek, vyroba oleje z vlasskych orisku, pomoc s projektem maleho obchudku a spousty dalsich ukolu, se kteryma se hodlame poprat.

Paty tyden jsme se opet vetsinu casu soustredili na nasi praci, ktera sla velice dobre. Prodlouzeny vikend jsme travili v nadherne oblasti pobliz mestecka Mukteshwar (2,5h cesty autem smerem na vychod od Kaliki), kde jsme byli pozvani jednim z pracovniku GR. Raju nas srdecne uvital v jeho velice utulnem zazemi, kde jsme opet pocitili pocit pohody, kde neni treba soutezit s casem o zavod. Casu bylo opravdu dost, nebot jsme meli prilezitost ziskat medicinu na muj slunickem spaleny Balounovsky nos a ruce posete vyrazkou (tez od slunicka) a taky nas oba s Mattym ostrihat (viz fotky). Take jsme meli sanci poprve pozorovat uplne zatmeni mesice na zcela jasne obloze. No nadhera.

Raju je odbornik prez lesnictvi, takze jsme meli moznost ziskat nove zkusenosti. Lesnictvi je jedna z GR hlavnich praci. GR se snazi o obnoveni prirozeneho rustu smiseneho lesa, ktery byl lidskou cinnosti prerusen. Tato zmena negativne ovlivnila mistni klima a zasoby podzemnich vod, ktere neprispivaji k lepsi produkci farmaru a tez znesnadnuji pristup k vode mistnich obyvatel.

India Week 3&4 - Grassroots and Umang Intro

mandl — Sun, 4 Dec 2011 00:01:00 GMT

After the arduous journey back from the Garwal we enjoyed a lazy Saturday reading outside the Grassroots office, occasionally changing position to keep up with the sun moving across the neighbouring field (The office is perched on a north facing hillside at 1700m, so the temperature difference between sun and shade is quite significant).

We also met Kalyan and Anita Paul, the founders of Grassroots and Umang. They were very welcoming and made us feel at home and invited us for Sunday dinner. The food was great and the best part was that there was meat on the menu in the form of stewed goat, which was delicious.

Kalyan and Anita were keen for us to relax and spend the first few weeks getting to know the structure of the charity, the people and how things work. We had various days out to see some of the good work that they were doing amongst the surrounding villages. This included going to see rain water tanks being constructed and attending a huge grassroots initiated meeting, with representatives from two to three hundred villages. All though we could not understand much, it made us appreciate the scale of the impact that Grassroots and Umang is having on the lives of so many locals.

Towards the end of the week we started to get involved with some of the projects that Kalyan and Anita were keen for us to be involved in. These included:

A Cold Store – Umang use locally grown fruits and vegetables to produce an assortment of jams, pickles and chutney’s. One of the issues they have is when a particular fruit is in season, there is so much produce that they struggle keeping it fresh before it can be used. We have therefore been asked to look into the feasibility and design of a cold store for keeping the produce fresh for longer. Electricity is erratic over here, so it is essential that it makes use of passive ventilation as much as possible. We are currently thinking about possibly looking into an underground solution to make use of the cooler earth temperature .
Knitwear Catalogue and Itemising – Knitwear is made by some 800 women located across the river basin. This is sold in the local Umang shop and also across the country in shops as far reaching as Bangalore. One of the current issues is there is limited structure and organisation with the product range and also hundreds of different types, patterns and designs. We have been tasked with categorising and simplifying the range with the intension of eventually producing a catalogue that can be listed online and used to simplify the sales across the country. This will hopefully lead to a dramatic increase in sales and also help to allow the women to be more organised and be able to work more efficiently.
A spice crusher – The Grassroots women currently crush dried chillies using large pestle and mortar’s with a pounding motion (not grinding as this creates heat and reduces the quality and flavour of the powder). There is significant physical work involved and also the process is not particularly quick. We have had an idea of replicating this motion with a cam and follower design. A local carpenter was drafted in to knock up a prototype and with a few alterations we kind of got it to work. Though it does need some refinement (watch this space!). No cowboy builder comments please.

Kalyan and Anita also have many other possibilities for projects we can get involved with, including the design of an eco cottage, which sounds particularly interesting. We are thus very happy with the way things are going at Grassroots and feel that we can really make a difference here.

For the first week we had been living in an outbuilding next to the Grassroots office (below the cherry blossom tree in the photo). This was more than adequate, though very basic (cold bucket showers and freezing at night). After the first week here the Pauls asked if we would prefer to stay in their spare room and we thus jumped at the chance. It is a lot more comfortable, warmer, with hot showers and fresh bread. There is also a very old fluffy dog, called Nappie, who is an absolute rascal and keeping us entertained with his antics.

This afternoon we took a shared taxi to the top of the woods above Ranikhet and walked back down a lovely old path.

Indie - prvni az treti tyden (Delhi, Ranikhet, Joshimath a Grassroots)

mandl — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 00:52:00 GMT

Pro ty, kteri umi take anglicky, doporujcujeme si precist i text v anglictine, ktery je psan Mattym a neni doslovnym prekladem ceske verze.

Po hektickych pripravach pred nasim odletem z Velke Britanie nas v hlavnim meste Indie cekal kulturni sok. V preplnenem a rusnem velkomeste Delhi bez odpadkovych kosu a s dopravnim pravidlem ‘rychlejsi vyhrava’, jsme nakonec vydrzeli pouze par dni. Nase dalsi cesta vedla smerem na sever do mesta Ranikhet, do hroskych kopcu Himalajskeho podhuri.

Prvni zkusenosti s Grassroots (GR – charita, pro kterou jsme se rozhodli pracovat) byly velice pozitivni. Jiz prvni den jsme citili ze jsme na spravnem miste. Nejen krasny vyhled na hory Himalaji, jez zdobi okna nasi male skromne mistnosti, ktere jsme uz po par dnech zacali rikat domov, ale take mile a pratelske prijeti ze strany mistnich obyvatel a pracovniku charity a stene tak i zjisteni nasi potreby pomoci nas o tom brzy utvrdilo.

Charita, pro kterou pracujeme (vice na: http://www.grassrootsindia.com/), prinasi mistnim lidem radu uctyhodnych moznosti od zakladnich zivotnich potreb kazdeho cloveka (napriklad pristup k ciste vode) az po celkove zlepseni jejich zivotni urovne (napriklad moznosti vydelku). Je nesmirne motivujici videt, jako malo staci k ucineni tak vazenych hodnot, jako je napriklad prinest lidem spokojenejsi, stastnejsi a jednodusi zivot a zejmena zenam, na ktere se GR sameruje predevsim, sebeduveru a rovnocenost v socialnim zivote.

Tato zkusenost nas velice inspiruje a prejeme si, aby v nas zanechala pocit, ktery nas bude doprovazet i nadale. Preji si, abych nikdy nezapomnela vyraz hladovych deti, ktery nas mlcky prosil o jidlo. Pokud byste se mne zeptali na moji dosavadni zkusenost z nasi cesty, ktera mi dokazala nejvice zahrat a potesit srdce, byla by to chvile, kdy jsme se s detma delili o jidlo. Jak malo staci k tomu, udelat nekoho alespon na okamzik stastnym. Velice si s Mattym vazime, ze tu muzeme byt a hodlame pomoci, jak jen bude treba.

Druhy tyden naseho pobytu jsme meli moznost dostat se blize k Himalajskym horam, kde jsme podnikly tridenni vypravu po krasnych kopcich s nadhernym vyhledem na nejvyssi hory sveta. Byl to opravdu nadherny zazitek a pro nas milovniky hor a prirody obzvlast. 12 hodin cesty z mesta Ranikhet do maleho horskeho mestecna Joshimath stalo opravdu zato.

Tento vylet nas vsak opet presvedcil, ze cestovani po Indii je casove i zdravotne narocne a vyzaduje spousty trpelivosti. Jako maly jsme s Mattym oba trpeli cestovni nevolnosti, takze si asi dokazete predstavit jak musime trpet na vice hodinove ceste v automaticke pracce. Kvalita silnic je tu horsi a hodne spatna. Bracha, ktery pracuje pro reditelsvi silnic a dalnic CR, by asi nekdy trnul hruzou, kdyby videl po cem se tady jezdi. Po nadherne zkusenosti z hor jsme stastne a spokojene dorazily opet zpet do naseho noveho domova s GR.

Treti tyden naseho dobrodruzstvi se tykal zejmena s blizsim seznamenim se s nasi praci pro GR. Zakladatele charity GR, manzele Kalyan a Anita jsou velice vzdelani lide, s kterymi je radost a zazitek hovorit o vsednich a zivotnich zkusenostech celeho sveta. Bude pro nas radost s nimi spoluparcovat. Uz ted se od nich hodne ucime. Maji uzasny pristup k zivotu a take k nam. Je to moc hezky pocit citit, ze si nas lide vazi, nasich zkusenosti i pomoci.

India Week 2 - Trekking in Garwal

mandl — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 22:51:00 GMT

The 12 hour, 200km bus and taxi ride from Ranikhet to Jossimoth was certainly an experience, although not the most pleasurable. Some of the drops from the edge of the roads were draw dropping to say the least, on a particular bus we were stood up holding on for deer life as the door was open, the Indians however seemed quite relaxed and a few of them stood casually in the door way not holding on. The roads were horrific, a lot of the time we felt like we were being shaken around like being inside a washing machine and by the time we arrived in Jossimoth we felt all shrivelled up, like a dried up spider.

Luckily we managed to catch a trekking agent just before he closed his doors and we arranged to do a trek which would depart the next day. A 1 hr drive from Jossimoth brought us to the ski resort of Auli and an amazing panorama of the Indian Himalayas including Nanda Devi (India’s highest peak). We had wanted to travel as light as possible but felt that given we were taking heavy Indian camping equipment and that my back was still not the best, a porter would be useful as well as the guide. The small Nepalese chap had no problem with carrying about 25kgs with a strap over his head for the entirety of the three day trek. The guide also did a great job and chatted a lot and provided a wide range of information on India culture that we would have not received if we had gone it alone.

We were blessed with sunshine and amazing views for all three days of the trek. The show peace being the view from the 3770m Kuari Pass (see pics). Both nights were spent above 3000m and thus were subsequently very cold, we did however manage to get a fire going which kept us a little warmer. Unlike previous treks we have done, it was a very remote area to be trekking and we barely saw another sole, other than the odd farmer and a German lady doing a similar trek.

The journey back to Ranikhet was a little quicker though was more hassle as we had to take a lot of shared taxis (7 in total) each not wanting to go further than their regional area. It was a great short break and good to be out in the mountains but after the long journey we were glad to be back in the tranquillity of Ranikhet, with no horns and no taxi drivers to haggle with.

The grassroots chef had prepared chicken for our arrival back, which was very tasty after two weeks of vegetarian food.

Photos: November 2011 - Delhi, Ranikhet and Garwal

mandl — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 20:13:00 GMT

India Week 1 - Delhi & Ranikhet

mandl — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 20:01:00 GMT

After the wedding it got a little hectic with packing up all our belongings and getting the house ready to be rented and thus when it was finally came time to board the plane at Heathrow we were a little surprised as we hadn’t really spent much time in recent weeks preparing for the trip or even getting excited.

After a swift and painless eight hour flight we landed in Delhi. The airport metro express, which took us into the center of the city, was definitely the best option as it was fast, clean and hassle free which was in stark contrast from our first impression when we stepped out on to the streets of Delhi. It was incredibly hot, dusty, crowded and a little bit disorientating. After receiving lots of conflicting advice from ‘helpful’ bystanders milling around we finally got to our hotel where we could relax. For our first real Indian meal we were joined by some furry onlookers. Monkeys! And cheeky ones too, they were jumping all around the neighboring roof tops, scavenging as much as possible.

As expected we weren’t very impressed with Delhi, it is dirty, polluted and very crowded and thus we felt that two days in Delhi was enough and we left the capital city on the overnight train the next day.

After an eventful train Journey (having to wait 5 hrs at the station from 10pm to 3 am) and a bone shaking 3 hr taxi ride we arrive at Ranikhet. Thankfully the town looked nicer than the average Indian town we had passed through on the journey and looked like a place we might like to stay for a while. 5km the other side of the town we got to our destination. Initially it felt a little bit like being abandoned on the side of the road as all we could see was a Grassroots sign pointing down hill and into the trees. We walked down the 150 steps to find a collection of buildings perched on the edge of the hillside and an impressive mountain panorama.

We spent the next few days chilling out in this tranquil hillside setting. We were introduced to Umang, an off shute company of grassroots that specialize on giving women in the mountains an opportunity for work and helping to better their livelihood. This includes teaching them to knit clothes that are sold all across Indian and the proceeds go back to them. Many food products are also made and sold, including honey, jams, pickles and nuts. As I type this I am currently sat next to a massive pile of dried chillies.

http://www.grassrootsindia.com/meetumang.html

As Kalyan and Anita (the founders of grassroots) were not due back to the grassroots office for a week and we needed to discuss with them before embarking on the charity work, we decided to use the time to travel further into the Himalayas and try to catch the end of the trekking season.

Volunteering in The Himalayas 2

mandl — Thu, 6 Oct 2011 05:59:00 GMT

Hi all,

Well plans for our trip are coming together. We are flying out to Delhi on 7th November. We have made contact with a charity which is located close to Ranikhet, in the Uttarakhand proficient which is about 3 hrs by train from Delhi.

http://www.grassrootsindia.com/

We are hoping to start volunteer work for grass roots from mid November. We have not commited to any fixed time period as wish to be flexible to how the experience goes.

Its all a bit hectic getting all last minute admin things done, so will keep this short for now. But please come back as we will try to post much more regularly when we are out in India.

Love From

Matt and Lenka

Volunteering in the Himalayas

mandl — Fri, 1 Jul 2011 03:05:00 GMT

Hello Friends and Family,

Well we hope you are looking forward to the wedding, its getting pretty close now. Final preparations are falling into place and we are both getting very excited about our big day.

You have probably opened this link expecting to find a selection of wedding gifts, and yes that was our original intention. However over the last few months we have both been reflecting on our current life in Manchester and been thinking about the path we wish to follow in the first few years of our marriage. We have come to the conclusion that its time for a bit of a change and decided that, at the end of the year / start of 2012 we wish to take a break from our life in Manchester to become volunteers for charity(s) in one or more developing countries. We have therefore decided that material gifts for the house or outdoor activities is not what we really require or wish for at this moment in time and that we would prefer a donation that will contribute towards are living costs whilst volunteering and also go towards much needed materials for the projects we will be working on, this being anything from books and pens to bricks and mortar.

We have looked into many opportunities all over the world, but found that our love for the mountains has been pulling us towards possible opportunities in the Himalayas. After a fair bit of research we have managed to find a small charity, Volunteer Society Nepal, that places volunteers in a variety of situations and environments across the country. It is a charity which is purely based in Nepal and thus benefits from not having costly overheads, such as overseas consultants, therefore placement and accomodation fees are very reasonable. We initially intend to arrange a one month placement working and living in a Himalayan village. After this month, if we feel that the work is rewarding and are satisfied that it is of benefit to the communities we will look to extend the placement (for anything up to six months).By extending the placements we will hopefully be able to make an impact as we get to know the community and develop a better understanding of there needs. If however we feel that we can be of better help elsewhere then we will seek other opportunities whilst out in the region. Please be assured that we will make every effort to ensure that any financial support you give is utilised as much as possible to help the people in this region have a better quality of life, whether this be spent at VSN or on projects at another charity.

If you wish to read more about VSN and its projects please visit

http://volunteersocietynepal.org/

So if you've read all of that and think that its a worthy cause and would like to provide a little financial support as a wedding gift then we would be most grateful. We were unable to set up a just giving or similar type fund as it will not be a UK charity that we will be working for, so please donate by cash or cheque and we will make sure it is put to good use.

We intend to make further posts on this blog in the next few months as we arrange the final details of our placements and travel plans. When we are in the himalayas we also intend to make further posts with pictures to show you how your kind generosity is being put to good work.

See you all on the 27th August if not before.

Love and Thanks

Matt and Lenka