60th Anniversary
Bill is having problems accessing the site himself, so I'm doing a little copy/paste job from an email he sent.
Monday, August 13
You may have had some of this before. Monday was a day spent in the Department of Enhanced Learning, DEL. I met four different groups of students who all need learning support. In the afternoon I walked down to Ooty, 2240 m elevation, and bought an adapter so that I could recharge my camera batteries for 300 rupees, that is about $7.80 US. I had to take off my sweater and roll up my shirt sleeves. It was very hot in the sun. I stopped on the way back at the coffee shop and had my first coffee and a brownie. The coffee was 44 rupees about $1.14 and the brownie was 40 rupees, about $1.04. By the time I made back up to the school I was sweating.
Tuesday, August 14
Tuesday was a "normal" day. Nothing exciting except for Concert Band practice from 4:30 - 7:00 P.M. with a supper break in the middle. I am also part of an octet and we had to practice the National Anthem for Wednesday.
Wednesday, August 15
Wednesday was the 60th Anniversary of the Declaration of India's Independence. To celebrate the event we had breakfast outside. You could say "picnic style" breakfast. We started with a fruit punch, scrambled eggs, some other stuff, toast, and tea. Breakfast was served at 7:45 A.M. This was followed at 8:45 A.M. with the hoisting of the Indian flag. When retired Colonel Wright, special guest, and Mr. Reid, principal, pulled the cord to open the flag hundreds of flower petals fell to the ground and covered both of the men. The octet then led the school in the singing of the National Anthem in Hindi. We then moved from in front of the administration building to the Sports Hall where we watched a 10 minute clip of the original Independence Day ceremony. Retired military Colonel Wright then addressed the full school assembly and spoke of what India had done right and what India had done wrong in the last 60 years. Following this we were treated to "sweets" which were colored coconut pieces, very similar to fudge.
A group of us left at 11:15 for a hike up to Snowdon. This is a "hill". Right. If Ooty is at 2240 metres, the school must be at 2270 metres. No one seems to know the height of Snowdon. It must be at least 2500 or more metres. The hill is covered in trees, some of which must be at least as tall as a 5 storey building. We lost the sun as we went up a trail through the woods. There were times when we were scrambling on our hands and feet up the steep path. Two hours later we reached the top - 20 students and 8 adults! We had lunch in the mist. We could not see down as we were above the clouds and every once in a while there was a swirl of cloud mist! It was quite awesome. While we were walking around at the top I came across a Hindu shrine. Mountain tops are sacred. We had to be careful not to disturb the pictures of the various gods and goddesses well as the clay oil lamps that were lying in the grotto.The trip down was much quicker and we walked through a Toda village. The Toda's were the original inhabitants of the area. We were advised to not take pictures. We did have to cross a small stream in which a Toda woman was doing her laundry on the rocks. Yes, just like what you see in pictures.
The evening featured the showing of the 3 hour film Gandhi. I wasn't going to stay until the end, but I got absorbed in the film and stayed.
Monday, August 13
You may have had some of this before. Monday was a day spent in the Department of Enhanced Learning, DEL. I met four different groups of students who all need learning support. In the afternoon I walked down to Ooty, 2240 m elevation, and bought an adapter so that I could recharge my camera batteries for 300 rupees, that is about $7.80 US. I had to take off my sweater and roll up my shirt sleeves. It was very hot in the sun. I stopped on the way back at the coffee shop and had my first coffee and a brownie. The coffee was 44 rupees about $1.14 and the brownie was 40 rupees, about $1.04. By the time I made back up to the school I was sweating.
Tuesday, August 14
Tuesday was a "normal" day. Nothing exciting except for Concert Band practice from 4:30 - 7:00 P.M. with a supper break in the middle. I am also part of an octet and we had to practice the National Anthem for Wednesday.
Wednesday, August 15
Wednesday was the 60th Anniversary of the Declaration of India's Independence. To celebrate the event we had breakfast outside. You could say "picnic style" breakfast. We started with a fruit punch, scrambled eggs, some other stuff, toast, and tea. Breakfast was served at 7:45 A.M. This was followed at 8:45 A.M. with the hoisting of the Indian flag. When retired Colonel Wright, special guest, and Mr. Reid, principal, pulled the cord to open the flag hundreds of flower petals fell to the ground and covered both of the men. The octet then led the school in the singing of the National Anthem in Hindi. We then moved from in front of the administration building to the Sports Hall where we watched a 10 minute clip of the original Independence Day ceremony. Retired military Colonel Wright then addressed the full school assembly and spoke of what India had done right and what India had done wrong in the last 60 years. Following this we were treated to "sweets" which were colored coconut pieces, very similar to fudge.
A group of us left at 11:15 for a hike up to Snowdon. This is a "hill". Right. If Ooty is at 2240 metres, the school must be at 2270 metres. No one seems to know the height of Snowdon. It must be at least 2500 or more metres. The hill is covered in trees, some of which must be at least as tall as a 5 storey building. We lost the sun as we went up a trail through the woods. There were times when we were scrambling on our hands and feet up the steep path. Two hours later we reached the top - 20 students and 8 adults! We had lunch in the mist. We could not see down as we were above the clouds and every once in a while there was a swirl of cloud mist! It was quite awesome. While we were walking around at the top I came across a Hindu shrine. Mountain tops are sacred. We had to be careful not to disturb the pictures of the various gods and goddesses well as the clay oil lamps that were lying in the grotto.The trip down was much quicker and we walked through a Toda village. The Toda's were the original inhabitants of the area. We were advised to not take pictures. We did have to cross a small stream in which a Toda woman was doing her laundry on the rocks. Yes, just like what you see in pictures.
The evening featured the showing of the 3 hour film Gandhi. I wasn't going to stay until the end, but I got absorbed in the film and stayed.
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10:18 AM
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