Hursts in India

Not how we expected to exit . . .  After being advised by the Area Presidency through President Hansen we made some quick arrangements to depart from our beloved India.  Much of the week was hectic and few photos but this is what we have:   Farewell luncheon with our CAD (Culturally Active Delhi'ites) at the Gujarat House in Delhi   Jasmeet, , Anand, Sanjeev, JJH, GAH, Fazalur Rehmaan, , Alok and   Farewell lunch at India Habitat Centre, Delhi 'o Delhi-Platers, Achana (NGO-Connecting Lives), Vikram Dutt, JJH & GAH  Jeanette and dear friend, Nirmala Dass Our choice Udayan Girls Top:  Gulrahar (Goongoon) Soni, Dollie (adult), Ganga, JJH, GAH & Moshmi Middle:  Sonu, Rampal?, Aarti, Kushi, Deponchi & Rhada  Front:  Bhoomi, Nandini, Anjali, Chandini & Kushi  Depanchi, Aarti & JJH   Pushakar & GAH Pushkar & JJH Farewell - on way to t...

As it turns out, this will be the penultimate entry in our mission blog.  Due to corona virus concerns we have decided to end our mission three weeks early and return home.  We made arrangements yesterday to leave on Thursday.  While disappointed that our final month with its planned visits from family, major cultural event and a little extra travel in India will not happen, we are grateful for the time we have spent here, the amazing people we have met and life-changing experiences we have had. On Thursday evening, March 5th we attended Sulabh's 50th anniversary gala celebration at the India Habitat Centre.  It was good to see our friends there.  Here are Sister Hansen, a woman from a small village in Haryana that we met and danced with last year and Monika Jain, the project manager who accompanied us on that very interesting trip. On Friday morning we drove to the sacred city of Mathura, about three hours south of Delhi, almost to Agra.  W...

Wednesday we flew to Kolkata.  Our Branch assignment was not until Saturday, so we had a couple of days to explore the Sunderbans--one of the items on our bucket list.  The Sunderbans or "beautiful forest" is a delta formed by the confluence of the Ganges, Bramaputra and Neghna Rivers running into the Bay of Bengal and covers about 6,526 miles.  Roughly one third is in West Bengal, India and the other 2/3 is in Bangladesh.  Its 3,900 square mile mangrove forest has been described as a "water logged jungle."  During Mughal times and then under the Portuguese it was inhabited by pirates, salt smugglers and bandits.  It was first "managed" by the British East India Company in the 1860s.  Today about 4 million people live in the delta and subsist by fishing, a little farming and gathering honey.   We went with an outfit out of Kolkata called Backpackers, leaving Thursday morning and driving 3.5 hours southeast to the village of Go...