Early Monsoon?

I woke up to the sounds of pouring rain.  As I groggily looked outside, it was quite dreary.  “Should we go to work today? Do people take a holiday when it pours like this?” We had heard that rain in Chandigarh is quite spotty so it may not be raining in our work area.  Anitha and I decided that making the trek in the rain to Bandmajra would be well worth it.  We called a radio taxi and promptly departed from Sector 10 (though Nanaji offered to drive again haha).  The rain only got worse as we were making the half hour journey to Mohali (the city where Bandmajra is located).  The dirt road began and our taxi driver dropped us off about a mile from the entrance.  By the time we arrived at the center we were both soaking wet.  We (tried) dried off inside and once the rain subsided Neelam Ji and Kamlesh Ji took us for a walk around Guru Nanak Colony (colony right beside Rajaram colony where the center is located).  There were fields full of green vegetables and sumptuous fruit trees in parts of Guru Nanak colony.  We stopped at their quaint local Gurudwara (Sikh temple) and had some parshad (blessed, sweet brown sugary goodness).  Then we went to the lunch (langar) at the Gurudwara afterwards which consisted of daal (lentils), phulka (tortilla), and sweet milk.  They served mango for dessert YUM! (that is one thing that I love about langar that everyone and anyone is welcome)  As we walked back to the center we came to know that the man living right next door, whose daughters come to the tutoring sessions, drives an auto rickshaw.  We made arrangements with him to pick us up from our house in Sector 10 and drop us right in front of the center which saves us the walk through the blistering heat AND sometimes the pouring rain.  Anitha and I happily took the auto rickshaw home.  It was quite a bumpy ride at times—at one point Anitha almost bounced right out of the rickshaw—but overall we were so thankful we could give back by hiring the rickshaw driver from the very community we are trying to help :)

A pomegranate tree that we stumbled upon growing inside someone's yard. We resisted the urge to pick it.