Last week we went on a trip with all of the other BYU students to Rajahmundry, the city where Dr. Krishnayya grew up. Rajahmundry is about 4 hours southwest of Vizag by train. It was a fun little excursion!
One of the highlights was an all day boat ride down the Godavari river. Here is a picture of us before we boarded. We loved our cheesy hats : )
Our boat coming to get us:
Sylaja and Gowri came with us for a few days of this trip. It was great!
We made two major stops during the boat ride. The first was to a temple site in a village where they worship a special goddess that protects them from the floods of the river. I was jealous of the locals swimming. It was hot!
During the boat ride, two young men provided some entertainment. They danced and had members of the audience come up and dance with them. At one point they had Craig and I come up to do this married couple dance. It was embarrassing, but fun!
The girls got asked to come up and perform Gangnam Style. It was hilarious!
Our second stop was to a special hermitage site where strict silence and no photography are observed. Apparently a priest came here years ago and taught the villagers Hindu rites of worship. Today, priestesses manage the hermitage site. This is just a really cool tree that was on the path up to the site.
Sunset on our way back:
One day we went and visited Dr. Krishnayya's brother and his wife (left). We got to see some of the surrounding area where Dr. Krishnayya grew up.
Another major highlight of this trip was visiting a famous textile industry several hours away from Rajahmundry. We took a LONG car ride to get there, but it was worth it! Apparently this industry became especially famous when the British were here.
They hand-print fabrics. It takes hours of labor but the results are beautiful! We got to tour the areas where they do this. It was incredible to me.
All of the dyes are natural/organic. I heard someone say they use peanut oil as part of the base.
"Stamps" they use to print the patterns on the fabric.
These men carve the patterns:
The intricacy amazed me!
I bought a small one of these to take home with me.
Once we got to the store, we kind of went crazy...we bought a lot of fabrics. There were rooms and rooms of it. And yet we only spent $18. I know that if this quality of stuff was in America, it would have cost way more.
Next we visited a Kuchipudi dance school. Kuchipudi is a classical Indian dance form that is popular all over South India. Elli (middle) has been studying this style of dance for her project here in India and got to dance alongside these students. It was really cool!
Then we visited a nearby temple where Elli got to perform the dance for a goddess that has some affiliation with dance. It was a great honor for her to be able to do that apparently.
Temple:
It was a great trip! It was tiring for me, but I was glad we went. Traveling within India is hard while pregnant, but thankfully we were spoiled with an air conditioned hotel room and a very attentive Dr. Krishnayya.
We are coming back to the U.S. on WEDNESDAY!!! Two days away : )
