Blogs from Secunderabad, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India, Asia

The early morning Indigo ATR 72 turboprop Pratt & Whitney powered engines landed at Madurai starting from Hyderabad early morning at 5:20 Am on the 30th January 2019. The chilly wind at Hyderabad and the warm humid weather at Madurai , the Tamil -English - Hindi combination language speaking driver takes me from Madurai to Rameswaram stopping on the way at the Meenakshi Amman temple. The pathway to the temple entry is the narrow street with flowers, coconuts, artefacts, saris vendors and some small restaurants. There is a whiff of spirituality as you enter this temple town and also the traditions being followed for centuries. As I enter this magnificent temple , I am awestruck with the architecture of the 12th century constructions. The amazing pillars around 1000 to be precise 985 and each unique with ... read more

"People are illogical, unreasonable, and self-centred. Love them anyway. If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives. Do good anyway. If you are successful, you win false friends and true enemies. Succeed anyway. The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway. Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable. Be honest and frank anyway. The biggest men and women with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest men and women with the smallest minds. Think big anyway. People favour underdogs but follow only top dogs. Fight for a few underdogs anyway. What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight. Build anyway. People really need help but may attack you if you do help them. Help people anyway. Give the world the best you have and you’ll ... read more

Today i dream of pools, airconditioning, cold weather, cold food...anything cold! My tolerance is low. Im sticky, sweaty and everything is uncomfortable. Mosquito bites are all over me, fortunately not itching me to death like they are Katja. The mozzies are relentless, even when we stopped into a hotel for a cool drink, the mozzies and fruit flies seem to follow us. I remember the heat and humidity in Bali, but there the water was close, the hotel room was airconditioned and there was always a cold beer on the little pub on the corner. I attempt to self soothe by buying a chocolate icecream on the walk back home from the markets, but even thats not enough to comfort my insatiable appetite for coldness. (the chocolate was pretty good though :) I guess this is ... read more

Its a special day today! Katja's birthday AND Indias National Independence Day (65th). Freedom from the Brits! We celebrated Katja's birthday with a delicious banana cake that Ingrid cooked this morning and then went off to the childrens school to see their singing and dancing performances for Independence Day. Our kids were a little shy and later we found out that none of the other children know they are from the orphange...so i think they didnt want us to create too much fuss over them....which is fair enough! We met the Principal of the school who reported the children were excellent behaved and couldnt praise them enough :) We have been so stoked to see the donations coming in from Australia!!!! Thank you to everyone for your generosity.... if we get enough we will be able ... read more

We have now been at the orphanage for five days and are slowly, but surely settling into this very different way of living. To help you picture what an average day of a child here looks like, here is the the schedule, which is strictly adhered to (one has to right a tight ship here with so many children): 5am - wake up 5-7am - daily chores (sweep, wash their clothes, cooking, washing dishes, clean floors, bathrooms, etc) 7-8am - breakfast and prayer after 8am - walk to school 4pm - come back from school 4-5pm - more daily chores 5-6pm - go to park 6-7.30pm - homework 7.30-8.30pm - prayer 8.30-9pm - dinner 9pm - bed-time 38 children, boys and girls aged 4 to 16 live in a large rented house of a very unusual ... read more