Udayan - a new beginning

This morning was difficult to say the least. We were told to be ready at 5:30 in the morning. Although it was hard, it did allow us to see a different Kolkata. There was barely any people around and it was much less noisy aside from the inevitable beeping from cars. Mrs Weldon ended up knocking on taxi windows and waking up the taxi drivers to take us to church as the coach was running a bit late. The taxi ride certainly woke us up a bit but we arrived in one piece at the Missionaries of Charity Mother House for 6am mass.

Sitting in the mass, seeing the famous white cloth with blue stripes on the sisters’ saris that we had seen being made at the Leper Colony in Titagarh, was quite a surreal experience. After mass, we were allowed to visit Mother Teresa’s bedroom. It was humble room with only the bare necessities. There was also a crucifix and a crown of thorns that Blessed Theresa gazed at whilst she was dying. We then saw a small museum devoted to her memory including her earlier life, the projects she was involved in and some of the few possessions she owned. Finally we visited her tomb which was simple but poignant at the same time; it was a moving experience.

Back at the Fairlawn, we packed up our stuff to make our way to Udayan again. At the start of the minibus journey we were excited but half way through the lack of sleep got to us and we all tried to sleep (this is very hard when swerving in and out of cars constantly).

At Udayan, we were given the warmest of welcomes. The girls, especially, ran towards us in a stampede shouting ‘aunty, aunty!’ The girls then brought us to the sports centre, sponsored by AC Milan, to watch the younger girls in a dance lesson. It was adorable! The older girls then showed us a routine to ‘Jai Ho’, which was like Bollywood meets Zumba! All of us were then told we had to perform the routine we had just seen, which was not quite as professional as the girls but it was certainly funny for us and for everyone watching! This then brought us to lunch so we parted ways with the girls and went off to eat. After lunch we noticed that some family members had arrived at Udayan. As today is Sunday, the children have no school so it is the one day in the week where family members are brought to Udayan so this was an exciting day for some of the children here.

After eating we needed a nap so we retired to our rooms for an afternoon siesta. Ole! The JOA girls woke up to two Udayan girls who managed to open the locked door to our room. How, we still have no idea. It was then cinema time for the Udayan children, and tonight was ‘Happy New Year!’ This is Bollywood movie filled with action, romance, comedy and dance, starring Rohan, who looks exactly like Pedro. He now has the older Udayan ladies fan-girling over him! It was very entertaining, despite the language difference and the fact it was almost 4 hours long!

This brought us to the end of the day and a well-deserved early night so that we can be up, bright eyed and bushy tailed for the kids tomorrow!