Namaste!: Dhonk Craft

Today is a rather leisurely day, which is very nice, especially in this gigantic palace of a place! I couldn’t figure out how the sole treadmill worked (later Charlie told me he couldn’t either, and the guy from the desk he called was useless) so I just ran laps around one of the courtyards near where the wedding was. The entire grounds where the reception was held was strewn with garbage, mostly empty water bottles.

This was the day we were supposed to go to a school, but since it’s Sunday, we had a change of plans. We didn’t head out until 10:00, and our destination was only a 15-minute drive. We went to a place called Dhonk Craft, which is a place that a young, passionate woman (35-ish?) founded in 2010. She came to this area from her hometown of Mumbai as a tourist and decided to start an NGO to help local women from surrounding villages earn a living by selling beautiful, quality handicrafts. She talked to us about her mission—her story is so inspiring! Now she has 50 women working there. She was educated to be a dietician but her life took a different course. She has been invited by the World Bank to speak at a forum in D.C. next month, so she and her husband and 4-year-old son (name Rantham, after the tiger park) are going there, and also to NYC—she is so excited!

After she talked about the craft place, she let us wander around the outdoor market so that we could make purchases if we wanted to. There were so many things to choose from and I did buy several things. It was touching to actually meet the women who made the items. And since it was Sunday. the few who were there had their children with them.The majority spoke no English. If anyone is interested in learning more about this incredible cause, you can look up Dhonk Craft on Facebook or Instagram. (They had a website but it was too expensive to maintain.)

Later we’re going to another local village to eat with the people who live there. And tomorrow anyone who wants to can go on an early morning safari to see if we can spot more tigers. Of course I am going! Oh, I forgot to tell you that on yesterday’s safari we saw a guy who is filing a Disney documentary about tigers, as well as a famous British nature photographer named Andy Rouse.