Mahatma Gandhi Museum

Last week, we were able to go to the Mahatma Gandhi Museum located here in New Delhi.  As you might suppose, it was as austere as his life.  When he was assassinated in 1948 at the age of 79, what few items of his life were collected and placed in the museum.  There wasn't much there, but what there was was interesting, especially how he chose to live his life and the influence he had on the India nation.    

Gandhi was trained in law and spent much of his early life in South Africa (from age 24-45) as a lawyer and fighting for the civil rights.  He then moved back to India and is known as the Father of the Nation for helping get India their Independence from Great Britain through non-violent disobedience.  As you might expect, he wasn't great friends with Winston Churchill. 

So much for the history lesson.  On to the pictures... I took a few pictures inside the museum until I was told very nicely that pictures were not allowed.

Statue depicts the 241 mile march by Gandhi and
78 selected associates on March 12, 1830 to protest
the British imposed ban on making salt



Sounds pretty good to me, but then truth is truth
wherever you find it

With his wife

Gandhi's bedroom in one of his homes on the
museum grounds. 

Ben Kingsley... huh, no this one is

Mahatma Gandhi

More Interesting Things of India

As we celebrate 1 year in the mission field, I thought I would provide some additional pictures of interesting things we find in our new adopted home. 

Hose Connection

Electrical wiring is very
representative of everything in India. 

Our Internet connection box.  Open in the
middle of an alley.

Typical mall parking - Cars are left in neutral with the
doors unlocked and if someone needs to get out, the
attendants move all the cars that are in the way manually

This is a Delonix Regia tree (thanks Google), commonly
called a Flame tree. It blooms with bright red flowers
during April and May. 

The local scooter mechanic shop - on the
sidewalk on the way to church 

The most common flowering plant in New Delhi is the bougainvillea in all kinds of colors

It's How Hot?

I took this screen shot of a weather app on my iPad.  May and June are the hottest months in New Delhi.  It seems like it wasn't too long ago we were enjoying the cool 90s of April.  It's going to be sunny all week, which is very typical.  July and August are the "monsoon" months, where Delhi will get about 20 of it's 30 inches annually (Sept gets another 5 inches).  The temperature drops to about 95-100 and is very humid (much like Houston).  But for most of the year it's very dry.   On the whole, Delhi is very livable, if you work indoors.  The months of Nov-Mar were quite pleasant (although Angela says it was cold).  Are we ever happy with the weather?
 

Elder Neil L. Andersen's Visit to Delhi

Elder and Sister Andersen and Elder and Sister Watson (Area President)
with the India missionaries. 

Sunday night, we in the India New Delhi Mission and the New Delhi District had a rare opportunity to hear from Elder Andersen and his wife.  They are touring the Asia Area (primarily Cambodia, Thailand, Hong Kong and Beijing, China), but they took time to come to India to meet some of the Saints and to visit the Taj Mahal, along with our Area President, Elder Watson and his wife.  This was Elder and Sister Andersen's first visit to India. 

We have a greater appreciation of what it takes to prepare for the visit from a member of the Quorum of the Twelve.  Itineraries, agendas, security checks, reservations, etc. which change multiple times and are not finalized until they are actually here.  But all the preparation was worth it.  Several members of the district were asked to film short vignettes with Elder Andersen in a simulated branch council meeting.  Then the missionaries had an intimate meeting with Elder Andersen on the stage of the auditorium we rented for the occasion.  That was followed by a meeting with district members.   Including the missionaries there were about 400 in attendance.  Everyone had an opportunity to meet him and shake hands at the end of the meeting.  It was a quick trip, but the members that attended (including us) will remember his visit for years to come.