Lock Down

Just as I was thinking that routine was setting in "Lock Down." On Wednesday morning just after the helicopter flew overhead the Air Raid siren went off and the school went into "Lock Down!"

It turns out the helicopter had nothing to do with the "Lock Down." The drill had already been planned. Draw the drapes, lock all doors from the inside, stay away from the windows, and keep quiet. The Air Raid siren went on for about 5 minutes. The all clear was then sounded and life got back to normal, or as normal as it can be.

At the beginning of every term Fire Drill and Lock Down Drill are conducted. We had had the Fire Drill and now the Lock Down.

Every day at 6:00 A.M. and again at 6:00 P.M. the Air Raid siren goes in the town of Ooty. I think this must be a communal alarm clock in the morning and a signal to stop work in the afternoon. When I hear it in the morning I know I have another hour in bed before the alarm goes off. Friday morning as I lay in bed dozing and drifting in and out of sleep I heard the siren in the back of my mind. Only after it had been going for a few minutes did I realize that it was the Fire Drill sound! That's right - at 6:45 A.M. Friday morning we had an out of school hours Fire Drill. It was quite the pyjama parade with a real bunch of sleepy heads. Except for those in the know. They were properly dressed!!!


Today was the school's Cross Country day. A compulsory school event for all to attend. Each grade level in the junior school ran their respective races. The Middle and Senior schools had time trials during the week and so only the top 6 ran in these groups. The train was progressively longer and harder. I was a course marshal at Post 14. To get to Post 14 was a 20 minute walk up the hill through the Toda village and then up the path. The first runner came by at 10:17 and the last runner at 11: 25. By 12:30 all the ribbons and prizes had been presented and the Blue House won.