Year 2 trip to Mandir

On Thursday Year 2 were lucky enough to visit Neasden Mandir. After the initial excitement of going on a coach trip wore off, the inevitable "are we nearly there yet?" chorus began.....luckily the Mandir is not too far away! When we finally turned the corner there were audible gasps of amazement from the children, as they caught a first glimpse of the temple. They couldn't wait to get inside. We even had to go through a security screen, which provided much excitement...especially when Mrs Dalby-Smith's feet managed to make it beep!!

After changing into our slipper socks we went into the Haveli and watched a fascinating film about the construction of the temple, which only took 3 years to build. A lovely man took lots of questions from our eager children, who wanted to know as much as possible, including how much the entire temple weighed! He gave us a gift of some prayer beads and a kite from the recent Indian Kite Festival.

Then it was time for the Aarti Ceremony in the temple itself. The children were truly stunned to silence at the sight of the marble room and the Murtis. They sat captivated by the music and the waving of the sacred light by the monks. Once the ceremony had finished and everyone else had left, we were lucky enough to spend time alone in the temple. The children studied the Murtis and carvings, of which there were many.

The day was summed up by the comments from the children "amazing," "incredible," "best trip ever!"