Visiting Badgaon center for the first time

Today I visited Badgaon center for the first time. All children are very friendly. It's certain that they are used to volunteers from different countries. They smile and say Namaste. They are naturally very curious about newcomers. Even though me and Sam sat few steps away from the classroom the kids could not help but occasionally look with eyes full of curiosity about me. I think they wanted to hear my voice.

Looking at them it was hard to imagine that some of them have to perform almost the same tasks as adults: work in the fields, do household stuff. These kids are serious. They have eyes of adults almost.

The teacher was one of DAAN guys. He seemed to be loving and caring about children. The kids repeated English words out loud. They also repeated songs. They seemed to be excited about singing. Perhaps they were sitting too long trying to concentrate. Singing definitely recharged them. Occasionally they would take restroom and water breaks but only when then teacher announced it. I was amazed on how particular they were about taking their shoes off when stepping on the sitting rag. Older helped younger ones. I think they are wondering what I am all about. I should probably spend time today preparing for my first lesson. It should be fun.

Flying and airports

Flying over London

Sushi place in Heathrow airport, London

Flying over slums of Mumbai. A totally different world. World of "slum dog millionaire" next to sky raises.

Domestic flights terminal,Mumbai, India

Yes, I can write and read!

Wow. It took me full 4 days of continuous study to finally be able to write and read. Next -> vocabulary study!

Learning Hindi

I have decided to learn Hindi. Found a lot of great study materials and loaded them onto my iPad. I even found a Hindi course in Russian language! Cool stuff.

Received a very very generous donation from wholesalechess.com!!

I have received a very generous donation today from wholesalechess.com.

It's simply overwhelming!

15 chess sets/boards and a wonderfully large demonstration board.

Wow!!!

I

Plane

Decided that I will be taking a short plane ride from Mumbai to Udaipur!

Train or Plane?

Still deciding whether I will take an overnight train Mumbai-Udaipur or plane.
Plane is $70 more but arrives the same day. Train is a bit of local adventure but arrives the following morning at 8:25AM.

I guess I had my fair portion of indian transportation back in 2006-2007. I even tried Second Class Unreserved once for 10 hours. Funny enough it was also to Udaipur. I remember me and Glenn were resting for a few days after this famous ride. I also remember it made me write the story. A famous story about my Second Class Unreserved experience.

This time, it will be more or less civilized experience in the first class. Second class story still gives me shivers. I do not want want to go through this ever again. Glenn would probably say the same thing.

Train might be actually even a better option. I will be exhausted at this point after 2 days of flights from LAX to London, whole day in London, and then London to Mumbai. I might as well pass out immediately in the 1st class AC sleeper. I think nothing will bother me at that point. I will be dead.

Anyways, not sure...will decide later...