Welcome back to the third day of our Virtual Spring Break! If you missed our two prior adventures, you can catch up on our day at the ocean here…and our trip to Japan here! Today, we are jet-setting to a brand new location – India!
As we mentioned in our previous posts, we spent our Spring Break traveling the globe (virtually). Each day included some virtual reality (VR) exploration and expeditions, a documentary, a snack/dessert that was representative of the locale, and a themed craft. When it came time to eat dinner, we decided to fully embrace the vacation, and support our favorite local restaurants, by picking up take-out (from an establishment that was also representative of the dayβs locale). We capped off each evening with a movie that showcased the place, or culture, that we had explored that day!
So let’s get going!
Virtual Spring Break: Day Three – India
India Overview
Just like our visit to Japan, we began our trip to India by popping over to National Geographic Kids, to gather more information about the South Asian country. We learned that there are more than 20 different official languages! We also discovered that the country uses a caste system, where they divide people into social ranks at birth. Changing castes is said to be nearly impossible.
We read about the Hindus’ deep respect for animal life. And we learned that cows are sacred – they often roam around freely…sometimes causing traffic jams. π We were also amazed to learn about the wide variety of animals that call India home – from lions, tigers, rhinos, and elephants – to river dolphins, saltwater crocodiles, and snow leopards!
India VR Expeditions & Explorations
We kicked off our virtual exploration of India with this One Day in New Delhi 360Β° Virtual Tour. The video includes a voice-over, which allowed us to learn even more about the capital city. We were able to visit a few different temples and palaces…along with a handful of colorful markets and bazaars.
Next up was a visit to one of India’s most well-known landmarks – the Taj Mahal. The Taj Mahal is a marble mausoleum, located in the city of Agra. It was commissioned in 1632, by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan, to house the tomb of his favorite wife, Mumtaz Mahal. The 42-acre complex attracts 7-8 millions visitors each year! We were able to get an up-close look through our Google Expeditions app.
We also decided to watch a brief, and very colorful, National Geographic video about Holi. Holi is an ancient Hindu festival…often referred to as the “Festival of Love,” “Festival of Colors,” or “Festival of Spring.”
India Documentary
When it was time for our daily documentary, we found three different options on Disney+. Our choices consisted of India From Above, India’s Wild Leopards, and Secrets of Wild India. Our animal-loving daughter chose to watch the Tiger Jungles episode from Secrets of Wild India!
We embarked on a journey through the jungles of central India, and got up close and personal with two of the world’s top predators – the beautiful Bengal Tiger, and the Indian Wild Dog (or Dhole). And we witnessed just how easy it is for these jungle predators to find their prey during the hot summer months…thanks to a lack of abundant watering holes.
Indian Rangoli
Rangoli is a traditional Indian art form, where various patterns and designs are created on the floor – either inside or outside of the home. The designs can be made using many different materials, such as colored sand, colored rocks, flower petals, powdered lime stone, etc. Making Rangoli is a common, everyday practice in most Hindu households, but the more colorful designs are usually more prevalent during important celebrations – most notably during Diwali (the Festival of Lights). A Rangoli is created to welcome Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth and good luck!
After spending some time looking through several different images of beautiful Rangoli designs, we decided to try to make one ourselves! We scanned through a wikiHow page titled How to Make Rangoli, and then we prepared our materials. We used salt, because it is super cheap, and also very easy to dye with liquid watercolors.
We initially planned to create our Rangoli outside on our back patio, but the weather would not cooperate. So…we moved our car out of the garage, and utilized that space instead. We decided to go with a simple flower design, which we outlined in sidewalk chalk. Our daughter mapped out exactly where each color would go…and then we all worked together (using small plastic cups) to carefully add the colored salt to each section.
Making Rangoli turned out to be a super enjoyable family craft – we relished the opportunity to get creative in a brand new way!
And as an added bonus, we surprised our daughter with a 185-piece, wooden Mandala Puzzle, from Wongo Puzzles. We thoroughly enjoyed trying to fit all of the uniquely-shaped, wood pieces together…and we completed it in one sitting!
Indian Dinner
We love eating Indian food, so were all thrilled to order dinner from our favorite Indian restaurant! We filled our bellies with delicious veggie samosas, naan, chana saag, chicken tikka masala, and biryani.
Indian Dessert
And then it was time for dessert! We cooked up yet another new recipe that we had never tried before. We made Coconut Ladoo (or Indian coconut balls), using this delicious recipe, from Spice Up the Curry.
The recipe also provided us with another brand new experience – extracting the meat from a fresh coconut. The recipe calls for the use of fresh or frozen coconut…and since frozen coconut was nowhere to be found, we decided to press our luck with two coconuts from the grocery store.
We prepped the coconuts the previous day. We poked a hole in the softest of the three eyes, and drained the coconut water. Then we carefully hammered around the seam of the coconut, to break it into two pieces. Neither of our coconuts actually broke along the seams, but they still worked just fine. I was personally dreading the part where we had to remove the meat, because it seemed like such a time-consuming and tedious task. But I happened to come across a helpful internet tip, that suggested popping the coconut halves in Ziploc bags, and placing them in the freezer overnight. I’m happy to report that the meat inside our coconuts popped right out the next day – in great big chunks!
The Coconut Ladoo was delightful! We certainly enjoyed it a lot more than our homemade mochi. π
Indian Movie
Our feature film for the evening was The Blue Umbrella, on Netflix. It is an Indian film that was released in 2005, that is also based on a 1980 novel, written by Ruskin Bond. The story revolves around a young girl (Binya), who makes a special trade with a Japanese tourist. Binya exchanges her bear-claw necklace for a beautiful blue umbrella. The umbrella immediately becomes the talk of the town! And a few people begin to covet the unique accessory. Needless to say, suspicions run high when the treasured parasol goes missing.
Our daughter had her first experience with reading subtitles during this film (it’s in Hindi), but she did remarkably well. She could easily follow the storyline…even in the rare moments when she couldn’t quite keep up with all of the text. It was another movie that the entire family enjoyed watching!
And just like that, the third day of our Virtual Spring Break came to an end. We loved our virtual travels through India…and we are eager to learn even more about the unique country!
Where do you think we will head to next? Make sure to swing by tomorrow, as we embark on a brand new adventure!
