Days 12, 13 and 14: Lunar New Year, the Half-Way Point and Museum Day
It’s not often that you have a quiet day to yourself during SAP Social Sabbatical, but that’s what I’ve found today as the rest of the team traveled to the Taj Mahal, Udaipur and Delhi — all of which I visited on my last trip to India.
The Half Way Point
It is hard to believe that we have reached the half way point of our assignment with Vatsalya. We accomplished more in the last week than I’d thought possible, navigating Indian government web sites and phone lines to fully understand the accreditation process for vocational training organizations and nearly completing the application form with the Vatsalya team. Next week, we will help the team with closing gaps to accreditation and thinking about actual implementation of the accredited solar program.
Celebrating Lunar New Year
Thursday evening, we helped our Chinese colleague overcome homesickness by celebrating the lunar New Year’s Eve in style. We started with a trip to see the Indian Naval Orchestra play a surprisingly upbeat set containing classics from Beethoven, Abba and Kenny G and more. Everyone’s favorites were the xylophone piece, the song where an artist played the typewriter, and the marching drum line routine designed for the annual Edinburgh Military Tattoo.
After the show, we sped over to the best Chinese restaurant in Jaipur to share as traditional a feast as possible with our colleagues from China and the Philippines. All the women made sure to wear something red in honor of the day. Two bought the same dress from the shop across the street from out hotel, completely by coincidence.
Museum Day
Solo day in Jaipur = museum day. First stop was Albert Hall Museum built in honor of the former Albert, Prince of Wales and dedicated to the preservation of traditional art forms from around the world. The collection did not miss much: pottery, clothing, jewelry, painting, sculpture, coins, instruments, weapons, etc. My favorites were the small sculptures depicting different occupations and yoga poses. The building itself was worth the visit. The structure was designed by a British architect but all the details were designed and created by local artists.
The second stop was the ultra modern Jawahar Kala Kendra (JKK) museum, which was a surprisingly quiet oasis in the middle of the city. I had many of the exhibits to myself and was free to take my time with the various studies of architecture and space. Two favorites were the nine squares using blocks to rethink urban space (It was very hard not to play with the blocks.) and the Toilet Manifesto, which showcased the results of a cross-disciplinary effort to solve the fact that many Indian citizens do not have access to a toilet. The published book was accompanied by blown-up images and models of the 10 different types of bathroom facilities the authors dreamed up, all designed for different types of spaces, like bus stops, side walks and women’s centers.
Following the visit, I sampled southern Indian food at the Indian Coffee House on site. A mother and her two children joined me at my table and oriented me to the proper way to eat my dosa. Yum!
