Namaste!

As promised here are some more photos from the exciting portfolio from Two Wheels Whirled....

The following photos are from our visit to the creche for Dalit children in Kodai:

The small building which housed creche number 2.




As part of their daily routine, the children brush their teeth with much enthusiasm and concentration.






We played Duck Duck Goose, I entertained everybody with my great rendition of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star along with accompanying hand movements.




The children played games and sang songs, where they pretended to be wild animals.








Soon it was time to eat. Some children were given the responsibility of waiting on other children and delivering the food.






After finishing their main meal of the day the little darlings have a nap for three hours. It is probably warmer and quieter here than they are at home, thus they get the best quality sleep in the creche.




There is a chart of stats on the wall recording the children's growth showing measurements for the children's weight, height and arm length.




The star of the show. This is Hilda, she is invaluable to all of the creches. She not only teaches but she manages, surveys Dalit villages for children who may need to come to the creche, recruits teachers, keeps the accounts in check besides many other roles. Everybody is proud of her and her hard work.






A Dalit village.

The street with the house that we visited.






The life saving smokeless stove inside the house.




The kitchen.




The only other room in the house where all the family sleeps.




Another street.




A single roomed hut, it looked like the cooking was done out the back of the house.




A standpipe. Normally it is the job of the woman to get the water and carry the heavy urns back home, although I have seen children carrying water too.




There is laundry to be done everyday.




In the Dalit villages as well as everywhere else in India, politics plays an important role. On many walls you can see painted the signs for various political parties. This one is for a Tamil party.




Next images from the BIG TEMPLE in Tanjore (that is the official name). The temple is from the period of the Chola empire. Much of the sculpture is less elaborate than the intricate Vijaynagar styling that we saw in Madurai.




The Brahman stood in front of the six metre long Nandi at the temple, he gave blessings to worshippers.



We were lucky to go inside the inner sanctum at this temple although I could not take any photos.



There were many lingas at this temple, well over one hundred in number, normally you would see just one or two. This Nandi faces a row of them, in the back ground are some detailed paintings depicting events from the Ramayana and other great stories.



There was also a lot of script carved into the walls.



Finally we sat and soaked up the atmosphere as the sun went down. We could hear chanting and bells as well as smell incense burning. It was incredibly beautiful.



This brings our photo selection up to date. I hope that you have enjoyed them.

Until next time.......