Old School
Up early ready for breakfast. Once again - delicious home cooked food.
We made sure we had packed our bags ... as today we were going to school. We had very kindly been invited to attend our friend's school. She owned and ran the school whilst her husband taught at a Government school.
The school started with an outside assembly and impeccably behaved children. Not one whispered a single word unless of course they were meant to!
Next was excercise with one of the older children banging a drum to keep everyone in time. It was interesting to see the arm raising and dropping exercises. As the drum beats increased, the children followed with their arm and now leg movements.
The children disappeared to their classrooms without any fuss and politely greeted us as they passed with good morning sir, good morning ma'am. It was an absolute pleasure to watch. In class all sorts of lessons were taking place and the children showed us their work. English books, maths books etc. etc. and they spoke to us with great enthusiasm asking many questions about where we were from.
Tea with the principal followed before more exploring of the school plus chasing a woodpecker around the school field trying to get a photo! The principal, owner and our friend gave us free reign to do and see anything. She was in charge and no one would dare to question her.
It was interesting to see the relaxed nature of the pupils, all so eager to learn The discipline was just unbelievable. One child was late and turned up with their parent. They knew this was unacceptable and pretty much begged for forgiveness. It was incredible to witness the respect teachers had from not only the children but the parents too. It feels so sad to compare the schools back at home. Something has gone seriously wrong!
We ate sandwiches and patties (toasted sandwiches) with the boss. She asked one of the pupils to collect them for us. He grabbed his scooter and off he went. We are not sure how old he was but driving a scooter (moped) as a youngster is completely normal in India. Risk seems to be accepted as a normal part of life!
Unfortunately, it was time to leave. At 11am we had failed to book Tatkal tickets on the train (all 125 sold in about one minute) We could.get a general tickets through the night for about £5 on the train. Probably awful and no sleep, or we had a recommendation by a friend of a friend to get a train ride in the police carriage - we needed protection and nothing that a little 'friendly' money couldn't solve. As honest people (sometimes) and not wanting to be arrested, we decided to pay for a more expensive sleeper bus - often called a Volvo bus.
We caught the bus to Amritsar after saying goodbye. In Amritsar we drank tea with the locals at a little stall. There we met an Indian man living in Spain with a super cute baby. We spent our time chatting with him and holding his angelic baby girl. Others joined us and we had a nice time ... before visiting a nearby Gurudwara.
Food was required as darkness came. Dominos provided 2 small pizzas for £1 - special treat.
We headed towards the Gobindgarh fort for the sound and light show. On the way we passed a very busy market and a beautiful Gurudwara all lit up in the back streets. We drank delicious hot rose milk, dahi (curd) and an Indian sweet that looked like a pumpkin.
The sound and light show was apparently 2 hours long and expensive. We didn't really have time so we retraced our steps to the market. We passed a cow shed where they fed a lot of cows. We are not exactly sure why all the cows were there but we though it must be a milking parlour. There was a super cute calf with a long licky tongue. He was very cute.
Back through the market to the bus stop. We charged our phones and waited for the bus. It was late so we snacked on crisps as we were pretty full!
The bus arrived. We climbed on and found our little twin sleeper box. We crammed the bags inside, followed by us. There was not a lot of room but we just fitted in with bent up bodies. In the beginning everyone was talking loudly and playing their music through their speakers. Eventually they slept and so did we. A few wriggles during the night to reposition but we slept until our wake up call at 6.30. We are in Delhi!
