ahMENdabad

Gillian and I made it to ahmedabad which has little to boast for itself except that it is one of the world's top 10 most polluted cities also is home of the Ghandi Ashram. We ended up calling it, ahMENdabad: the city of men, because there honestly seemed to be men and only men everywhere in the city. It was the craziest place we have been to so far in India, every street was jammed packed with vendors, motorbikes, people, and cows. But we made it though and it was good prep for us to get ready for Delhi and Kolkuta.

The one really amazing spot in ahmedabad though was the Ghandi Ashram, also known as the Sabarmati Ashram.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabarmati_Ashram
The Ghandi Ashram was a very peaceful and gentle place to be in the mists of the craziness of the city. It was also great to renew my knowledge of Ghandi and really understand how one man changed a nation and influenced the world. I am really glad we got there. I also got the play Cricket with the kids who went to school there.

We found a wonderful women's craft Co-Op called SEWA in Ahmedabad were we were able to bye some gifts and actually feel good about it!
http://www.sewa.org/

We made it to Jodpur via a night bus, Again? (We keep taking them because of the schedules, but really instead of sleeper buses they should be called stay awake all night and try to sleep buses). We found Susanna!!!! and we all are going to Jasilmer for the Mr and Mrs Desert contest tomorrow!

In Jodpur we got to see the fort and I got the play with clay! Women in the market here will make little things out of clay or decorate pots while sitting by their stands all day. I sat with women who worked in clay and she gave me some to play with which was a really different texture then what I use in NC. She was making little Ganesh figures, I tried to copy one up with little success. She actually ended up laughing at mine and pointing to her's saying "very good" and then pointing to mine and saying "very bad," so alast guess I could not make it as a potter in India.

We promise pictures to come, we just need to get them on to a computer. Which is harder then you think.