Day 3: Karishma's Trial and the Marwari

We spent our first night in Ooty at Fairfield Guest House. It is a nice place. I believe Amy Carmichael visited it often.
I woke up at about 4 in the morning (still not adjusted to the new time, it is 9.5 hours ahead of Atlanta). Boys, who were on holiday from an orphanage down on plains, were up early and playing quietly outside my window.

First Bucket Bath
I did some reading and then I went to find where to get hot water for my first bucket bath. The bucket of hot water was brought to the back door of the bathroom. Bucket baths aren't as bad as I thought they would be. You simply mix some cold water into the hot to get it the right temperature and then there is a smaller bucket that you use to poor the water over your body. There is a drain in the floor so the water just runs over the tile floor into the drain. Actually not a bad way to bath.

After breakfast we headed to Freedom Firm's main office to meet Anandi, Freedom Firm's book keeper. Afterwards we picked up Mala's kids and headed for a resort that also has a breeding stable for the Marwari, one of India's unique horse breeds.


Karishma testified at court.
Karishma was rescued by Freedom Firm in May 2006. She now lives at Freedom Firm's aftercare home. She appeared in court today to testifying against one of her brothel keepers. While we were driving to the horse stable Mala received a text message that said Karishma was refusing to testify because she was afraid. We prayed for her and as we latter heard she too had prayed for courage. She overcame her fear and boldly told the judge her story. You can read about her story at http://freedom.firm.in/karishma.htm.

Two weeks later we heard news that the judge is considering a life sentence for the brothel keeper. In the past keepers have gotten 7 years, but since Karishma is so much younger 13, typically cases involve 15/16 year olds, the judge is considering a life sentence. A decision like this would have huge ramifications in India. We are hopeful.


Got to ride a Marwari horse!
The Marwari are native to India. Their ears curve in at the tips, which is different than most breeds of horses. I talked to the vet who was in charge of the care for these horses. He shared with me all the details of his horse care program, including they types of horse feeds, deworming programs and general health program. He was extremely helpful. He offered to let us ride some of the Marwari horses. WOW! What a ride. These horses are fast and like to run. Very spirited.

Other pictures from the day.

~ view of roads behind Mala's house ~

~ Oscar and one of the puppies at Mala's house ~~ pictures from the drive out to the resort/stable (check out the cows in the background, they all belong to people, but they just wander the streets) ~

~ a little neighborhood along the way ~

~ sorry its a little blurry, this is a tea field. They plant Silver Oak trees because the oaks release water into the soil during the dry season. ~

~ waiting for the vet to show us the stable ~

~ Angela sitting in front of the rooms at the resort~

~ looking down on the fields from the porch at the resort ~

~ another view of the porches at the resort ~

~ view of the Nilgiri Mountains and the stable from the porch ~

~ looking down on a pond from the porch ~

Day 2: Drive through South India

~ loading up: (l-r) Angie, Dorris, Shaker and Cathy ~

After breakfast Shaker and the taxi driver picked us up. We loaded our things and set off for a 7 hour drive through the south Indian countryside.

But first we had to navigate Bangalore's downtown traffic. Several things to note about driving in downtown Bangalore (I latter found, this style of driving isn't limited to Bangalore).

1. drivers do not obey road signs, stop signs particularly
2. drivers honk and/or flash headlights to alert other drivers that they are passing or entering an intersection
3. the white lines that divide lanes are for decoration only
4. there is no minimum or maximum speed
5. bicyclist share all lanes of the roads with horse or cow drawn carts (5 mph), motor rickshaws (15 mph average speed), buses (30 mph) and cars (45 mph)
6. traffic police simple let the biggest or most aggressive looking vehicles through intersections first, and
7. you will loose your arm if you stick it out the window

Atlanta's rush hour traffic will be nothing when I'm home.

The countryside is BEAUTIFUL. Lots of farmland. Here are some pictures that will describe it better than words can.

~ an enterance to a market ~

~ the plains ~

~ we passed lots of people walking their cows down the side of the road ~

~ check out the scafolding on the side of this building, this is what all scafolding is like ~

~ bananna leaf stand ~

~ types of housing: huts and tents in background~

~ shared the road with a variety of vehicles ~

~ my first meal on a bananna leaf with different types of cocconut based curries, bread, yogurt and buttermilk; I ate with my fingers ~

~ the outside of the place we ate lunch ~

~ the cows that provided our fresh buttermilk and yogurt ~

~ many people live in thatch huts made of palm leaves like this one ~

~ railroad track was elevated above the plains ~

~ we passed this truck carrying sticks ~

~ we made a quick stop by Mysore Palace ~

~ Flame of the Forest, it is sacred to both Hindus and Buddhists ~

~ trees along the road ~

~ Indian Laburnum trees are the yellow ones ~

~ rice fields ~

~ cement is very cheep and the clay tile roof is made from the local soils ~

~ other that shared the road ~

~ we saw monkeys when we drove through the national forest ~

~ some vacationers at the national forest picnic area ~

~ Dorris taking pictures of the deer in the national forest ~

~ the national forest has an elephant breeding program ~

The sun set by the time we began to climb the Nilgirls (literally Blue Mountains) so I was not able to get pictures of the mountains. But if you google the Nilgirls you should be able to see some pictures. The books The Jungle Book (1894) and The Second Jungle Book (1895) by Rudyard Kipling include stories about Mowgli and in the jungles of these mountains.