Don Rowe: 2011

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Priell teaching Emily how to cook

These are the dishes, ready to go on the fire.

Priell cooking while Emily watches in awe.

BEFORE

HER PLATE

AFTER

Pryana's Kitchen Tools

Grinding Stone & Knife

This is used to grind coconut meat. You sit on the wooden board and move the coconut over the serrated spoon. The shredded coconut is used to make coconut "milk".

The Knife

Priell slicing at record speed.

GAMES

Priell & Emily would just look over at each other and laugh. They didn't have to say a word. Priell invited us to play some games and we had a BLAST!

The Jain Temple on Malabar Hill: (Mumbai Revisited)

This was the first stop on our tour with Babu. This place is on the top of a hill overlooking the metropolis. It's surrounded by plush homes and parks. Apparently the Jains are some of the wealthiest people in India. We happened to arrive just in time to see a wedding!

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

COLOMBO BOUNTY

Nice surprises awaited us at breakfast & then at the Colombo market. We had time to indulge and to begin to feel the warmth of the Sri Lankan people.

DURIAN AU CEYLON

The perfect way to ride, durian buzz and a train along the coast: southbound from Colombo to Ambalangoda.

MAHALAXMI DHOBI - CLOTHES WASHING GHATS

This is where most all of the laundry in the city of Mumbai is done (pop. 14 million).

BABU IN MUMBAI

We met Babu in Mumbai while we were drinking coconuts. He was selling maps and after talking with him for a few minutes we invited him to have chai. He told us about his village in Rajastan where he grew up and explained that he had only been in Mumbai for a few months. Since he arrived in the city he had been selling maps and sleeping at a church outside the city. In the morning he would take the train to pick up the maps and a cell phone from his boss, then take the train into the touristic city center. He told us that his dream was to buy a shoe shine box so he could start his own business shining shoes. We wanted to help him and we chose to meet with him at least once more before giving him the money to buy the box. The following day we met with Babu and Ajay (who I met at the Forum). Babu guided us on an incredible tour around the city. In the late afternoon we gave him the money for the box and as we headed home he left for the outskirts of town where they build the boxes. The following day, before our departure to Sri Lanka, we had plans to meet Babu to see the box and take a photo of him with it. We spoke with him by phone as we were waiting with our taxi to leave for the airport. The night before, when he arrived to the suburbs, there were no boxes made. He had to return in the morning and they made him a box. Instead of risking missing our plane we left a note with a taxi driver to leave with Babu. On the note we asked him to meet us on February 17th at 3pm in front of Regal Cinema and we left our email. Even though Babu can't read he does have friends that can.

LANDMARK FORUM MUMBAI

At the end of January I participated in the Landmark Forum in Mumbai and shared an AMAZING experience with 237 Indian people. I did not feel like an "outsider" AT ALL. I felt like an Indian and they treated me like an Indian. By the end of the three days I was a part of a GIANT NEW FAMILY!