Indian Independence Day

Today is Indian Independence Day! 60 years of India.

We spent the day at a Red Cross event. Ellen, my Dutch flatmate, works there and had the great honour of taking part in the event dressed as Mother India. With us were Samantha (a new intern from the UK), Yuki (my Japanese roommate), Nienke and me.

The event consisted of several Indian dances, singing and speeches. An elderly lady was invited as guest of honour, though I don't know exactly what her role was. It was very interesting to experience this celebration, even if the speeches were a bit long-winded and only of limited interest to us, since they were entirely in Tamil.

After the talks we were shown around the facility. The Red Cross looks after and supports many people with disabilities, offering them training, places to sleep and food. Everything is rather poor (the printing machines, for example, are at least 100 years old), but the people are so happy to see us; they're very friendly and wanted to share the little they have with us. We had actually planned to go to Pizza Hut after the event, but we were invited to eat and got to enjoy the samba rice.

Ellen's colleagues were totally sweet too; they were so pleased when I took pictures with them. If I understood correctly, I'm now invited to a wedding on 26 August…