I am just a few hrs in the school at the moment now exams are over. We've been juggling and doing lots of art. Oh and a bit of English too! :) The children are mostly playing games and the staff are enrolling new students. Aiden's favourite teacher from the school invited us to his wedding. We went home on the school bus with one of Cal’s favourite teachers. Her son is Aiden’s age. We enjoyed a relaxing afternoon there and some typical Indian hospitality. The wedding was in the evening so we went by rikshaw to the ceremony which was [View Full Entry]

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Have been enjoying some late night swims in Talab. Purnima (full moon) is soon so it's great light. Especially floating on your back, because it's so quiet and relaxing!! Last night we enjoyed a typical Indian feast. Lots of oily, spicy food and of course lots of overly sweet halva for dessert! It was great to have puri again. We do have delicious chipatis every day for lunch and dinner but there is something extra oily and scrumptious about the smaller puri bread! The dinner was put on by the nephew of one of Swamij's bhaktas who died one year ago. [View Full Entry]

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I am having fun here. I got a thumb drive and Avatar hid it but I found it again。Well, Gretchen our friend in China sent us Harry Potter number 5 (the movie) and two really cool Dr Seuss Books. At school it’s pretty easy now exams are finished. It’s hot so we start early and finish early. We start at 730 and finish at 1230. I’m doing some revision of the Hindi alphabet, learning some Sanskrit slokas and doing some drawing. In India, it’s a bit like China where they have lots of rules for how to draw things. The library [View Full Entry]

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I was going to ask Swamiji for a Spiritual name but Callum asked for Mantra so I asked for it too. Mum was really surprised! Swamiji doesn’t usually give Mantra to kids. The day I got my Mantra there was a lot of people in the Bhakti Sagar. We gave Swamiji a tray with some incense, a candle, a coconut, papaya and sweet melon, some flowers, and 108 rupees. Swamiji gave us the candle to keep and the papaya to eat. Now I have a Mala with 108 beads on it. It's like a necklace to wear and I can use [View Full Entry]

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When Swamiji was here I went and listened to some of his lectures and when the Bhaktas came to sing songs. When I see Swamiji I go up to greet him. He asked me if I had any wish but I didn’t so I said no. Then I heard there was a tour. When Swamiji left here he was going to visit the other Ashrams in India and then go to Europe. I asked if I could go and Swamiji said yes if my Mum came with me. But then it was really hot so we couldn’t go. Swamiji said next [View Full Entry]

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Cal is helping raise money for the hospital in our Ashram grounds. He has been selling stickers! I happened to chance 5mins alone with Swamiji on the lawn. They'd set him up there on his special chair and gone off to prepare other things and for some reason no one was around. I took the opportunity and asked what to do about Aiden's nose which has been how it is since I left the boys in Sept to return to Australia last year for my knee op (he said put warm ghee up the nose three times a day). I asked [View Full Entry]

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The past week we have also had a few accidents. One 18-20yo Indian guy drowned in Talab (our dam) while doing some repairs. Santoshpuriji had sunstroke and was out of action for a couple of days. Chandrapuriji got stung by a bee up his nose and had bad swelling on more than half his face for a few days. One of the horses here sustained an injury though seems to be recovering. One of the bhaktas who was here in Jan/Feb who was going to drive his car back here and come back to do tiling at Om Ashram, died in [View Full Entry]

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Elections are on and this is one example of what happens in India. One guy up for consideration has a Guru that in this case, just happens to be Swamiji. So although the candidates are not allowed to feed their supporters, he charters about 25 big buses and moves somewhere between 5-10 000 people along in these buses and they just happen to be in the area where his Guru has an Ashram. So they stop in and receive prashad... gift or blessing from the Guru, like when you get the blessed bread at Church... so they got a lunch inside [View Full Entry]

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We have been swimming in the fountain in the middle of the kitchen eating area and enjoying Easter eggs. The Easter bunny even found us here in the desert! Exams are on now. We only go to school on the days we have exams. Cal looked at his fingernails this morning and said “Look at these Mum”. He also asked “Why do you think they look like that?” I said they looked great and were so clean because he'd had a swim AND a shower yesterday. He said "I wonder if I can keep them like this until we see Daddy [View Full Entry]

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I saw a snake on the way to school. Someone found a scorpion behind the alter at the Bhakti Sagar. We are getting ready for exams at school. We are celebrating Navaratri, the start of summer. It’s a 9 day festival event and we’ve had a few days off school for it. Today is the last day of Navaratri and we had a fire ceremony. [View Full Entry]

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