Winding up

We head back to Melbourne in just a few days after 8 incredible weeks, the significance of which I feel will be even more apparent after we return. Especially as we reflect with Mitali on the people and places, and as we correspond with the Darpana folk, Subhadra and our "house family" - Rohan is currently pretending to be Mitali's pet dog, "Kulu", on our bedroom floor below us as Mitali runs around avoiding nips to her ankles. We'll really miss the family. There's a lovely sense of communal life here which we feel inspired to somehow, even in a small way, recreate.

Kate has pulled out all stops for her last 2 weeks, working every night with the girls from Apang Mandal Manav. They are performing on Thursday this week. Darpana are also making the most of her last days here getting her to choreograph scenes for a work to be presented in the December Vikram Sarabhai Festival.

Tonight Kate and I are going on a date!! Josh has generously offered to babysit. We're very excited - dinner at House of MG and then off to see the performance of a work Darpana are taking to Dubai this week - a performance for the large number of manual labourers from Indian living in Dubai in squalid work camps. See you all soon.

Rohan and Mitali are great friends. She will be very say when leave and so will we.

The three kids, Kiran (10), Rohan (5), Rohul (14) and Mitali.

We accompanied Shivnath and Rohan to school on Saturday.

Shivnath took us into Rohan's classroom to say hello. Rohan was not impressed.

Some of the girls from Apang Mandal Manav...

We found this delightful woman at a crazy market at Ellis Bridge on Sunday last week. It was near a slum dwelling by the river. It was hot and stinky so after a quick whip around and couple of purchases, we retired to the House of MG for an ice-cream.

Return to Basundhara

 
Geeta, her house-mother, and Mitali

At 4.40 am this morning a full, dirty-orange moon lit the morning sky in Delhi as we drove to the airport. We spent a not-really-planned night in an expensive hotel due to a loosely connected flight from Bhubeneswar back to Ahmedabad. The vast disparity in wealth distribution in India still baffles us - this one night's accommodation cost about 3 times what we're paying our lovely housekeepers for a month's worth of cooking and looking after us. Fireworks are once again filling the night sky for Dev Diwali, the last night of the holiday season, as I reflect on an amazing weekend in Bhubeneswar, Orissa. We returned to Basundhara, the children's home where Mitali spent her first 21 months.

Sodumini with her charges.

Shosheela, Kate and Mitali.