Saturday, January 5, 2013

What to do?

We are hosting visitors over the holiday season.  Our oldest, Kid One, has returned to our India home for the holidays and she has brought with her Grandma Mister.  We are so glad to have both of these beautiful women in our home.  If you read my previous post, the trouble with visitors at this time is that we are without a driver.  You picked a fine time to leave me Lucile. 
So far we have managed each day with a temporary driver and an extended out of Delhi trip booked with a driver and bus.  Temporary drivers are easier to find this time of year.  Many expat families leave India and/or go on extended vacations over the long holiday break from school.  Leaving many of their drivers eager to pick up some extra money while the employer family is away.  It’s a way for the driver to earn twice the pay.  The drivers that are willing to accept extra work over the break generally are hardworking individuals.  Instead of sitting around and getting paid to do so by their employer family they choose to take on extra work knowing the pay is that much greater coming from two sources.  If only we could find a hard working reliable driver like we had experienced over the break to hire as our full time driver…life would be so good.
Trying to chase away the no driver blues in an effort to get out and see the area I booked a trip with Indomania Tours www.indomaniatours.com/pottery.html to the pottery village for Mom, Kid Middle and myself.  With a tour group we did not need our car and driver for the activity and we had a chance to get out of the house and explore another side of Delhi, the west side of Delhi.  It was a very full day.  We left from our meeting spot at 10am and did not return until 3pm but it was loads of fun and an opportunity to snap many photos.  Here is a photo tour of the pottery village.



























Indomania offers these tours in association with South Asia Foundation, a non profit that works with the village.  Tour fees help pay for things like the development of a community center that will house a community kiln.  This tour offered a walk through the village, an opportunity to purchase from the wholesalers and a pleasant reminder.  Just keep smiling.