India: Delhi and Agra on school exchange trip

February 2024

For the first time since covid, Chadwick International did an exchange trip with Pathways World School outside of New Delhi. Myself and two other teachers took ten 10-11 year-olds to northern India for a week. We all had an excellent time. Pathways was a phenomenal host and every day was greatly enjoyed. It was probably the best week of food in my life and the vast majority was vegetarian.

We were warmly welcomed.

Pathways has a gorgeous campus with lots of trees and colorful plants.

They also have a petting zoo.

We spent the afternoon at Madhavgarh farms where we enjoyed traditional food, music, dance, puppet show, zipline, cricket, camel ride, and games.

I was pretty surprised when he grabbed me and put me on the drum, but I enjoyed the ride.

Qutub Minar is a tower built to symbolize a Muslim victory in a historically Hindu area in the 12th century. The original site was built by Hindus in the 3rd century. It is an interesting mix of Hindu and Islamic design.

You never see humans or animals in Islamic design, only floral and geometric patterns.

Hindu design depicts many gods, humans, and animals.

The White Lotus Temple, where all faiths are welcome to worship. It was designed by an Iranian-American architect in 1986.

On campus, we always ate vegetarian, and enjoyed having meat when we ate off campus. Every meal was amazing.

Best cafeteria food ever.

Mukhwas is a popular after-meal sweet to help digestion and freshen breath.

Dilli Haat Market

We bought some art from this local award-winning artist. He gave us a free demonstration and let some of the kids paint.

Saw some great ceramics and historical objects at Sanskriti Kendra.

Terracotta animals were put in front of villages to protect them.

Incredible tree, it looks like a pathway to another world.

Entrance area to Taj Mahal.

We took a trip to Agra to visit the Taj Mahal, deservingly one of the 7 wonders of the world. It is a tomb built entirely of stone (no paint) for the beloved wife of a Mogul ruler in 1648. The Moguls were Muslim descendants of the Mongols and ruled much of India from 1526-1858.