Whitechapel to India and back in one day

Hi everybody, welcome to another edition of Paint Party Friday, hosted by Eva and Kristin, and Darcy's Postcard Challenge, where our participants are off to India.

It’s less than 2 weeks to the wedding now, and tempers are definitely getting rather frayed, to say the least. The ‘oldies’ are happy that Shannon and Jason are going out for the day. Jason has told them that they are ‘off to India’ for a day. ’Don’t be stupid’ they shout in chorus.'It's much too far!' ‘Yes, we are’ laugh Jason and Shannon. ‘Well, actually we’re going to Brent. A friend of Shannon’s is tourist guide at the Neasden Temple, and we’re getting a guided tour, and then we’re going to a posh Indian restaurant!’ And with that, they wave goodbye and go.
They take the tube from Aldgate East Station - next to the wonderful Whitechapel Art Gallery -

and after changing to the Bakerloo Line at Paddington, take a tube to  Stonebridge Park Station, and then walk along Conduit Way, hand in hand, to the Temple, which is called the BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir.

(Temple photos courtesy of Wikipedia Commons)

 Their friend Abha –her lovely name means ‘lustrous beauty’- is waiting for them, dressed in a gorgeous Sari. Shannon sees Jason looking at her a few seconds longer than necessary, and gives him a discreet kick on his ankle, which causes his eyes to water, when Abha turns to point something out to them….At the visitor’s centre they see lots of photos and a film about the building of the Temple, built entirely using traditional methods and materials. Neasden’s Swaminarayan Mandir is Britain’s first authentic Hindu temple. It was also Europe’s first traditional Hindu stone temple, as distinct from converted secular buildings. It is a part of the Bochasanwasi Shri Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha(BAPS) organization and was inaugurated on August 20, 1995 by Pramukh Swami Maharaj. The mandir was built and funded entirely by the Hindu community. The entire project spanned five years although the Mandir construction itself was completed in two and a half years. Building work began in August 1992. On 24 November 1992, the temple recorded the biggest-ever concrete-pour in the UK, when 4,500 tons was put down in 24 hours to create a foundation mat 6 ft (1.8m) thick. The first stone was laid in June 1993; two years later, the building was complete. Angkor Wat in Cambodia is larger but is no longer used as a Hindu temple. It has even been entered into the Guiness World Records as the largest Hindu Temple built outside India.

After touring the different buildings, and admiring the beauty of the temple, they go with Abha to the Shayona restaurant opposite the Temple. The ambience is a trifle more swishy than their usual chippie, and they enjoy enormous amounts of delicious Indian foods from the well stocked Gujarati buffet. After they have eaten and drunk their fill – probably enough to feed and water a herd of hungry elephants – they take leave of Abha. Shannon snarls into Jason’s ear, ‘Don’t dare to kiss her goodbye!’, and so Jason just shakes hands, and they walk off to the tube. The time spent in the tube is great for catching up on some snogging, much to the delight of some kids sitting opposite, and they arrive home in time for a light meal consisting of mounds of smoked sandwiches, Greek salad with feta cheese, strawberries and ice cream and a variety of cream cakes. Here is the card they send home, showing Abha in front of the Temple:

For Paint Party Friday I want to share some journal pages I made using collage, paint, spray etc. Everytime I got something done, I painted over it and started again, but have decided to leave them as they are now, as I am sure they would not be able to take another layer!

These pages were from the week before, and were also not what I wanted, but sometimes you win, sometimes you lose!

Have a great day you all, thanks for visiting and take care!