Annapurna Centre in an Indian village


We were fortunate in being invited to participate in a half-day visit to Annapurna Centre.  The Centre is run by the Deva International Society for Child Care, a Varanasi-based NGO which provides educational, medical and social aid to children and young adults. The Annapurna Centre is in a village about 15 km from Varanasi. It brings together young women from the village into a social club in order to "develop their confidence, communication skills, ... [and] vocational skills [such] as sewing and health and hygiene skills."

At the Centre, we met some of the young women, discussed the activities of the Centre while admiring some of their handiwork, and were treated to a concert and a home-cooked Indian meal.
Young women seated for the concert. Visitors are in the background on chairs. The musicians were charmers - always, wherever we saw a group of them.


After lunch, we made a walking tour of the village, which turned out to be yet another highlight of our trip to India. There were lots of those!
In spite of the general dryness of the season, this field was beautifully green. Villagers tilling the earth with hand-held metal plow blades.


Indians and westerners set off for a walk through the village. Boiling down cane juice to make syrup. The fire is under the mound, tended by the woman in the front.



A very solid-looking village house.  One of the several nice-looking houses in the village.


Inside this farm house, the rooms were bare, but an immaculate white. The beds sitting around everywhere are called charpoys and they are also used as 'settees'.  Women at the village well, always dressed  in beautiful saris.

The village's senior citizen. A nicely decorated house in the village.
 
We were honored by the village's senior citizen wanting to come out of her house to meet us.   She was 103 years old!  We were very pleased with our visit.

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