Week ending 29 July 2018

Last Sunday following meetings we jumped on a Vistara Airline flight to Bengaluru.  It was quite heavenly, being over 10 degrees cooler than Delhi and with relatively clean air.  Monday morning we were picked up by Motivation India, an NGO out of the UK, which focuses on providing wheelchairs to around the world. We drove to the campus of the Association of People with Disabilities, another NGO were we celebrated the final distribution and fitting of 851 wheelchairs in India funded by LDS Charities.  Two more large donations are planned for the next two years.  The women on the right in the blue sari is the trainer who taught these folks how to maneuver their chairs.

The chairs are not just mass produced and handed out.  Rather  the appropriate model is chosen and then custom fitted for each recipient, based on his/her needs.  This mother from Bengaluru just couldn't stop smiling and saying "Thank you."  She came with her brother.

This man suffers from a spinal cord injury.  He was also very excited to receive his custom fitted chair.  He came from a village about four hours away to pick it up.

It was so fulfilling to see the appreciation in the faces and expressions of gratitude.  It was a truly moving experience and another (there are so many here) that makes me wonder why so many have such severe challenges, especially compared to what we have and take for granted in the U.S.

The next day we  had some down time as the India Service Center was closed for Pioneer Day.  We hired a car and traveled southeast about 80 miles to Mysuru, seat of the ancient Hindu kingdom of the Wodeyars.  We first stopped at Srirangapathna  to see the well preserved garden house of Tipu Sultan (his summer palace inside the nearby fort was destroyed long ago).  Tipu was Muslim and the son of Haider Ali, a general who usurped power from the Wodeyars in the late 18th century. 

The beautiful carvings and delicate paintings and inlays that adorn the structure did not disappoint.  These photos only hint at the splendor of the Mughal court. 

After several conflicts with British East India Company, Tipu was finally defeated and killed on 4 May 1799.  The British reinstated the Wodeyars and from that time held India in a pretty firm grip.  Tipu and his father are buried in this magnificent Mughal style tomb at Gumaz, just down the road from the garden house.  

Before leaving Srirangapatna we visited the Ranganathaswamy Temple, one of five dedicated to the God Ranganatha. The spot was first consecrated in 984 A.D. 

We next drove to Mysuru where we visited the Palace which is still the residence of the Wodeyar dynasty.  It was built in 1897 when the Old or Wooden Palace burnt to the ground.  This golden howdah is mounted on the back of the lead elephant during Mysuru Dasarais and caries an image of the goddess Chamundeshwari.  It weights over three quarters of a ton and is  insured for almost 4 million dollars.

An opulent audience hall.

Exterior of the palace.

Her name is Ruby

Sorry about the leg but we had to prove that we actually got on.  

We arrived back in Bengaluru in time to attend the Indira Nagar Ward Pioneer Day Celebration.  This brother made these replicas of items from Church history.  There was also a stick pull and some other activities followed by a nice dinner of dahl, beef curry and rice.  Celebrating Pioneer Day with some real Pioneers!

Grant came across this cow in the middle of busy traffic.  

Saturday evening we attended a Kathak dance performance.  Its a major form of classical Indian dance from the north and it was beautiful and fascinating.  The live musical accompaniment (lower left) was very pleasing also.