Last Day at Rourkela

We’re only hours away until we leave our Rourkela orphanage and head to the Bhawani orphanage. I wanted to give you a view of the orphanage grounds, so here you are. Here is a shot from the back of the main building. The house mothers live there and there are a couple of meeting rooms. [...]

Velcro Monkey

“Velcro Monkey” is the term used to describe the kids who, when you pick them up, wrap their arms and legs around you and won’t let go. Pawan is the definition of a velcro monkey. He sat next to me on the porch of the orphanage for a solid half hour and we just occassionaly [...]

Ankit!

Ankit is another great kid we have at Rourkela. He’s been a big help to me when talking with the kids. When the kids speak Hindi to me, he says “English! Not Hindi!” so I can understand them. Very nice kid, Ankit. It’s 6:45 AM right now and I’m sitting on the balcony outside our [...]

Rourkela’s Troublemaker

The kid in the middle of this picture is Deepak, a young man at the Rourkela orphanage. Just a couple of years ago, Deepak wouldn’t even smile. In fact, we sponsored him for a time and had his smileless face on our refrigerator for a long time. He definitely smiles now (I don’t have a [...]

More Kids!

We arrived at our orphanage outside of Rourkela this afternoon. It’s about 45 minutes or so away from the hotel we’re staying at in the actual city. On the drive here, we saw our first pair of elephants, as well as many of the steel plants that Rourkela is known for. Right now, I am [...]

Delhi to Ranchi to Rourkela

Okay, folks. We finally have internet access. I am currently in the city of Rourkela at about 10 PM and the city is buzzing. Rourkela is south of Ranchi, which is where Sooch Village is. There is so much activity right outside of our hotel that I can’t get over it. People are selling food, [...]

At Sooch Village

At Sooch Village and it’s time to eat. I’ll update more later tonight.

Now the Real Trip Begins

Chicago O’Hare…more boring than it looks. The routine, three hour flight from Austin to Chicago is over. I’m waiting at gate K16 at the Chicago O’Hare airport for my 7:15 PM flight to Delhi. O’Hare is a madhouse and so were the American Airlines terminals in Austin. Bad weather earlier in Chicago canceled a few [...]

Yep, I’m Actually Going to India

I’m all packed and ready to roll. At least I hope I’m all packed. I’m one of those travelers who always suspects he forgot something. Actually, I have to be all packed because I’m already sitting in the Austin airport, awaiting my flight to Chicago O’Hare. From there, it’s about a five hour layover and [...]