Religious Studies Trip Returns from India

The Fifths’ and Lower Sixths’ ten-day trip to India during the Easter break proved something of a spiritual adventure for the pupils involved, accompanied by Rev Briggs and RS teacher and Hailey HM Mrs Alison Baker.

Mrs Baker said of their travels: "India is an assault on the senses with life lived on the streets and the whole country brimming with things to see and experience. We went to four centres; each was awe-inspiring and amazing."

The trip included a visit to the beautiful Mogul Jama Masjid Mosque in Delhi, the largest and one of the most magnificent mosques in India. "We visited the home where Gandhi spent his final weeks and where he was assassinated in the gardens on the way to evening prayer. We followed his concrete footprints which trace his last steps from the room to the prayer ground."

In Agra the group visited the world famous Taj Mahal and in Amritsar they spent Easter Sunday at the Golden Temple. "We made Indian bread in the enormous kitchen complex which feeds 10,000 daily and wandered around the Golden Temple, the holiest shrine for Sikhs, listening to the prayers and soaking up the amazing atmosphere."

The final destination was the Tibetan community in exile in Dharamshala, at the foothills of the Himalayas. "We saw the monks worshipping, we walked the pilgrimage kora around His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s home and practised silence as we trekked through the gorgeous wood land decked with Buddhist prayer flags. Our hotel overlooked the valley and we could see the snow-capped mountains and the tiny streets below. A highlight was visiting a Tibetan boarding school and orphanage where we presented the PE department with three cricket bats from Haileybury. The school was a beautiful, happy place and for many of us this visit was the most inspiring part of the trip."