Packing chaos!

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Learning more about rural life in India

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Yesterday I visited Nimgaon Bhogi, as I do normally on a Wednesday, but on this occasion I was given the opportunity to meet some of the mothers of the girls I teach to find out more about their way of life. First, we got shown around their cooperative dairy (set up 7 years ago by Ashta No Kai, the NGO I am working with). The women are helped to buy cows with interest free loans. Any surplus milk they get they are able to bring to the dairy room attached to the women's centre. Samples are taken to assess the milk's quality and they are paid accordingly ... Apparently buffalo milk has the highest quality but lowest yield, whereas the white desi (local) cows have lower quality milk in greater quantity. Many of the cows they have are hybrids with European milk cows. The milk is collected by a large dairy who process, homogenize and pasteurize the milk for sale. The co-operative dairy has really supplemented their incomes. The other main source of income for the women is farming....
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Catch Up Part 1: Home Town Tourist

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Visitors to our apartment in Pune could quite easily spend their time relaxing in comfort (some might even say luxury).  Our apartment is plush, even by Western standards, and we live in a part of town that has very western malls/restaurants/bars within only minutes.  To be honest, you could be forgiven for thinking you were somewhere in Europe/North America at times.  But obviously, you don't have to go very far to leave that all behind.  Pune may not seem like an obvious tourist destination, but there are some pretty interesting places to visit.  Dad, Claire, and I tried to explore the city and see some 'real life' India to get a flavour of the history and culture of this part of the world.  We visited the Aga Khan Palace (where Gandhi was imprisoned for a while), several temples including the impressive Pataleshwar cave temple, the old potter's colony and its adjacent Hindu/Muslim community in the Kasba Peth, plus its local fish and meat market....
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The First 36 Hours!

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We are finally here! It's been a bit of an epic 36 hours with a lot of contrasts. There is the stark contrast between the luxurious transport and accommodation we have experienced set against obvious poverty and hardship on the streets of Pune, but it has also been a period of very contrasting emotions. I have experienced moments of excited curiosity to downright exhausted "WTF have we done?!!!" moments, and just about every emotion in between! The vlog I've posted is rather long (about 10 minutes) but click here for a link to some photos and short video clips that show some of what we've experienced in our short time here already!
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