I'm not the linguist Grey Lad. All I've managed in a month is ' daniabad ' . Helens the one holing conversations in Hindi with all and sundry and she has delighted every one of them.
Now about the children ..........
We stopped at an ashram for sadhus.
The women there were cleaners/ caretakers and the children were on holiday , the holiday which prevented us floating Dhiren's ashes on 23rd. so were there with their mothers. They surrounded us immediately, practising their English , asking our names, where we lived, they were all bright sparks, lively inquisitive and smiley.they laughed at our attempt to repeat their names. They guided us to view all the temples to the different g-ds. They loved having their photos taken with us except for one boy who refused. Even so he stayed with us, enjoying the novelty of our visit.
We gave them some money to put in the collection boxes and our loose change for themselves, luckily having enough for all of them. A couple of the older boys, about 11 or 12 years old, refused the money. They were full of dignity, very impressive.
A sadhu came to us and asked a few questions in halting English including why we came. I told him about Dhiren's ashes. He asked his name and where he came from and when I told him and he nodded in recognition I could feel Dhiren smiling.
He allowed us to take photos of him and when we were done he took out his own smart phone and photographed us. Everyone seems to have a phone even if they don't have a bed .
The children took their leave and we went on our way.
On the last stop Govind the tuk tuk driver told us to be careful of pickpockets . This is what was so wonderful about him, he looked after us so nicely. I didn't fancy it , it was a park *** market place leading to another area of the Ganges and in addition to visitors, there were lots of people begging. I Was tired and didn't feel like being hassled so I let Helen go and stayed talking to the Govind our tuk tuk driver.
He was asking about our pensions and paying for education. He gets no pension because he's self employed and didn't earn enough to pay for a stamp. He pays for his children's education post 16 and has seen 2 through university. His 12 year old will get a grant due to changes in provision but he missed out with his other two.
It was lovely to talk to him. He was curious about our lives , as curious as we were about his.