Here I am with the beautifully decorated bride.
The whole crew in our Indian finest.
The elaborate Bengali ceremony lasted for hours. Here is one shot with Piya's new husband, Pradeep, and the priest.
Last night with Katie in India. I wish her well in her next couple years in Hyderabad!
My sister and I all dressed up in our bright sarees. A fine way to bid India farewell.
In December, my family and I took the whole Sharanam crew to Water Kingdom, Asia's largest water park. Everyone was thrilled!
Here I am with little Jenny (nicknamed "Shiny"). She is the daughter of Sharanam's wonderful house parents, Sharda and Nirmal. Sharda is to the far left in this photo.
At Water Kingdom we had a grand time splashing around. Notice our mandatory rented swim wear.
After a long day, we took a boat back to Mumbai just at sunset.
My family also brought these lovely quilts from a school in the US for the children of Sharanam.
The girls had lots of fun wrapping themselves up in the quilts.
We also went to Sharanam's weekly session with Magic Bus to play dodgeball and soccer.
Here I am in my last cab ride home with my little friends. I will miss them dearly.
Here we are in Kerala.
Mom & Em at the Taj Majal.
Fishing boats in Kerala.
Blue skies and colorful boats.
And houseboats in the sunset.
Next we went to Kolkata for Piya's wedding.
Then had our luggage carried to an overnight train.
And the next day arrived in Varanasi, a holy city on the banks of the Ganges.
Many people bathe each day in the holy waters.
The old forts by the river.
Out on a boat.
And goodbye to a Sadhu before heading on.
I met with a women's self help group that provided adult literacy classes to the community.
Back at NGO headquarters I worked with the team on fundraising strategy.
All over Madurai, people were selling sweet smelling flowers for your hair.
And brewing famous South Indian coffee, very sweet and very milky.
Here I am starting the day with street chai.
And ending the day with a beautiful sunset in the Tamil Nadu countryside.
Here is a man getting a local shave. A very common sight.
These men were next in line.
I also visited Madurai's famous Meenakshi Temple.
Inside the temple.
And I ate lots of delicious parathas - a type of South Indian bread.
A colorful bucket salesman.
In India it is cheaper to do construction with people and buckets than to hire a machine. This is a very common sight across the country.
At last - combining old and new - I edited video with my right hand while getting henna on my left!
And I left Madurai with this beautiful Mehendi design on my hand.
Our first meeting was with an organization that supports primary education in the villages outside of Udaipur.
Along the roads we passed many women carrying rice.
And many camels.
Far out in the desert, we met with this group of village women to ask about the education of their children.
The women were eager to talk to us about the difficulties of desert life.
We then met with members of a nomadic sheep herding tribe outside Jodhpur.
We sat with the men and discussed the challenges to education for their children.
The women of this tribe wore bangles up and down their arms.
At the end of the meeting we said farewell to our hosts.
In the desert of western Rajasthan, I helped make chapati over the fire.
We then visited a rural desert school.
And met with the children.
In the end we headed home with many ideas about education and funding for children in rural India.
