What a beautiful day…

We got up early this morning and drove out of the city for about three hours.  It was nice to get some fresher air and to see the smaller towns and villages which are very beautiful and completely different from Kolkata.

Just north of Diamond Harbour we stopped to see a school that Rig is setting up here.  It was India’s  national day today so the children were all dressed up and, after they had given us flowers and sprinkled us with petals as we came in, there was a ceremony with the raising of the flag and singing the national anthem.  They also had a big picture of the man who wrote India’s constitution- must look that up when we get back!

The school children took turns to come and sing or dance for us.  The dancers were amazing, I think South Darley children would love some Indian dance lessons.  Then they took us on a tour of the village and into people’s houses to see some of the ways that they earn money- you can see some of them in the pictures.  Everyone was so friendly and the village was so quiet and beautiful that I think we could have stayed for longer.

We drove back to the harbour and had a boat trip around the Bay of Bengal for a couple of hours.  We saw lots of dolphins although they move so quickly that they’re difficult to capture on camera!

Bananas!

Sewing room

Making school uniforms

Washing in the river

Rice ready to be husked, and straw made from leaves from the rice plant.

Rice is put in these huage containers for three years before being out into packets for the supermarket.

Coconuts!

Papaya!

Balls of wheat mixture are dried on cloth and then fried before being sold at the market.

Doesn’t get fresher than this!