Amravati

We just arrived in our new hosts homes in Akola.  Internet access was poor in Amravati so I will give you the details on our stay there now. First off the locals pronounce it Am-rouw-ti and none of us could pronounce it correctly.  It was a much smaller city (only 680,000 pop.) than Nagpur.  The town has less infrastructure and is mainly used only as a mid-point for transferring cotton and oranges from the farms to the bigger cities.  Our hosts were no less hospitable though.  My host family was great although the hostess made me eat so much is was getting to be borderline punishment.  She was too sweet though and would say "Just one more chapatti Ryan, for me?" Of course I couldn't say no and it turned into three more chapattis, with more palak paneer, curry, etc. Then came the rice and dal, then the dessert. Then chai.

Sartak, my host's son

My host family had a daughter (7) and a son (3) who were both extremely adorable.  The son calls me cha-cha which is Hindi for uncle. I enjoyed spending time in the mornings and evenings with them.
Our GSE program in Amravati had us start with the two New Year's Eve parties I mentioned before. Saturday they took us to a leper colony and then Amravati University in the morning and to the HVPM Sports Center in the evening.  The HVPM is one of the largest sports centers in India and many great athletes train there.  My host, Vinay, brought Tyler and I there on two of the mornings.  The first day we had a private yoga session followed by some badminton which is quite popular here.  The second morning we played badminton with my host's group of friends who are very good.  It was nice to get some exercise in the morning as we have not been exercising at all here.  Between the traffic and the possibility of getting lost, no one is jogging in the mornings and gyms are nowhere to be found.  Also, we are generally too busy to have time anyway.
At our evening tour at the sports center we watched a demonstration of the Indian gymnastics of mallakhamb which is unlike anything we had ever seen.  Search for some videos of it if you have time.
Later in the evening we went to see another new sport for us called kabbadi.  We decided that it is a mix of red-rover, capture the flag and wrestling.  It was exciting as we were honored guests and received some rock-star treatment. Sarah took some great pics that I hope we can get up online.
Sunday we visited a small village that had been adopted by the local rotary club.  We had all been wanting to see a typical village and it was a great experience.  I enjoyed seeing the homes and the different water systems that are used.  They also had a small school and tiny library that we visited.  After the village we visited a small farm that was growing cotton, oranges and lemons.  We had a combined Rotary club visit in the evening a gave a nice presentation that was well received.  Three clubs hosted a joint meeting so we could do one presentation instead of three. They hosted a lovely dinner after the presentation.
This morning we moved to Akola which is normally a two-hour journey.  I think we made it in about 1 hour and 15 minutes thanks to our crazy driver.  I think we all need massages for our stiff back and neck muscles that were continuously clenched in tension for the entire journey. I have a great host here in Akola, Dr. Rajesh Modi who is a gynecologist and endoscopic surgeon.  His wife is also a surgeon and I will meet her later today.  They have a very nice house and I am enjoying a laptop with wifi for the first time here.  I will try to post more often now that access is better.  Tonight we are going to the market to see a jeweler (Kim might  get something nice) and then a pool dinner.  A pool dinner is what we would call a potluck dinner.