GOA - the Bali of India is how I'd describe it. Development has altered the place a lot since our previous visit in the early 80's; there has been a big influx of people from elsewhere in India for work not to mention the bus-loads of Russian tourists.
Steamy, sticky & green with jungle encroaching; there is now only a fading memory of the Portuguese who ruled Goa for 450 years until they were kicked out in 1961. We've played at being tourists for a couple of days, using a driver to visit the sites over narrow roads clogged with scooters & horn-tooting.  Old Goa, the original Portuguese capital now only has UNESCO-listed R.Catholic churches & huge cathedrals; unfortunately poorly maintained although their past grandeur is evident. We had fun on a sunset ferry trip around Panaji harbour; the Indians on board weren't interested in the view only on dancing to the disco music. A flea market crowded with Poms & Ruskies, a potent combination; & the merchandise was very "Baliesque"! Lunch & a tour of a spice plantation proved educational - cardamon, peppers, nutmeg, cashews, cinnamon, vanilla plants all being harvested. 
Tomorrow to Sri Lanka, just as news reaches us of a UN Human Rights committee & it's finding the SL govt. are guilty of war crimes - hope it doesn't cramp our style at all. We've endured Indian bureaucratic pettiness at it's best at the GPO when wanting to send a parcel to Shikshangram -"no From address in India": so we returned later & no problem:) Still we've also had great coffee & internet access at Lavazza cafe & Sally has had a trim for wait for it  - 100 rupees, A$1.85!! And the fascination Indians have with any westerners continues to amaze us, they will stare for ages & ask the most inane questions with a seriousness that means can can't laugh.

Chapter 2 : A reality check

Pune, formerly Puna and Poona, home in the swinging 60's & 70's to Mahareshi Mahesh Yogi and the Orange People, now a fast growing manufacturing and service city 560 metres above sea level in the Deccan region of Maharashtra state. Yesterday we drove for just over an hour from www.shiksangram.com where we had stayed for 11 nights in fairly spartan surroundings up in the Western Ghats; washing from a bucket, eating vegetarian rice & chapattis with the kids, trying to make ourselves understood in a Maharati community of 120 children and a dozen or so adults.
Various kids from the most basic of upbringings- garbage sorting, orphans, alcoholic & mentally damaged parents, living on the streets, on railways platforms, with severe growth deficiencies now given an opportunity to have a roof over their heads, three meals a day and an education. Amazing,  friendly, resilient boys and girls from the ages of 6 to 18 who wrung the cynicism and Western world-weariness from us, whose love of living and learning has made our journey worth it. We've promised to go back and we will with a better grasp of what we can assist with.  Fundraising can also be done now we have lived amongst the kids and we better understand their needs.
Tomorrow we head back to the coast, to Goa, formerly a Portuguese colony for 5 nights before Sri Lanka beckons.

Pune is a typical indian city with noise everywhere, duelling tuctucs, rubbled strewn pavements under large poster ads for luxury goods. It is such a contrast to our time at the childrens shelter where possessions are few, kids go to school in shifts and spend much time doing homework afterwards.  Some of the classes in their schools have sixty kids, and numbers are growing fast.  A good sign in  rural area that families value what education can give their children, especially the girls.  It is difficult to even think about what the shelter kids have gone through in their short lives before they came to Shiksangram and then to see them as the confident young people they are becoming, happy to stand in front of a large group and speak in English, perform traditional dances and martial arts.  We have been very privileged to have had this insight and in so doing, reviewing how we live, are much of the trappings of modern life really vital to living fulfilled lives?