I have just returned from a wonderful trip to India. For the past 45 years I have been working in the Oriental rug trade importing Oriental rugs from many countries including India, China, Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan and nearer to home - Belgium.
I have been privileged to be able to visit all of these countries and see a lot of the world during my career.
Having started my travels to India back in the seventies, when things were very different compared with the India of today, I really had no intention of going back. I had more or less retired in 2008 and thought that I had enough of India, so much so that my wife Brenda, who always wanted to go, went with a friend a few years ago because I said I wouldn't go.
However, we were having lunch with friends one Sunday last year and they said they were planning a trip to India. They started asking me all about it and I was trying to give them a few pointers. They were going to the main tourist places which people go to on their first trip known as the Golden Triangle which means Delhi, Agra and Jaipur.
They added that they wanted to go to Varanasi which is the most holy city in India. People come to Varanasi aer travelling hundreds of miles to bring their dead to the side of the Ganges for cremation in Funeral Pyres. It is quite something to see, a very emotional experience. Their wanting to go there triggered a spark.
Varanasi is also the place where the rugs I imported were made but really what made me think about going back was the fact that my company had help build a girls’ school back in 1997 which I had never seen. The rugs are made in villages on farms about 100 miles from Varanasi. There were boys’ schools in the villages but no schools for girls. The girls had to travel into Varanasi every day - that meant two hours each way by bus every day. Our manufacturer had a dream about building a school for the girls and we said we would help, along with John Lewis who was our biggest customer at the time.
The school was opened in l997 in a village called Ghoshia with 350 girls attending on that first day. The school has since expanded and now 1000 girls attend.
Well, I did go back, and it was one of the best experiences I have ever had. They made me, my wife Brenda, and our friends so welcome. We were met by the head teacher and 1000 pupils - something difficult to describe. They showered us with flowers and garlands, danced for us and sang. We were shown around the school and met nearly all the staff and all the children. It was a day I shall remember for the rest of my life. I was proud that my company had been involved in the making of this wonderful school which I am sure will achieve much more in the future.
By the way, besides going to Varanasi we did visit many other places. India is a vibrant country full of colour and so many other things that I wouldn't know where to start
If you get the chance go, you will not be disappointed.
No comments:
Post a Comment