News from India over the weekend

On Friday we continued visiting classes, watched a senior school presentation of the Indian culture entitled 'Incredible India' which included singing, dance, information in a power-point presentation with explanations of the festivals held during October, and a highly professional 'gig' by the school rock band 'The Metaloids'. In our capacity of 'welcomed guests' we were asked to present the many awards to a variety of students who had been successful in winning state competition honours. The two cricket teams had done especially well, with one member, Mandeep Bhardwaj, winning a number of awards, including 'best player of the tournament' and another, Sagar Sharma, representing the state in the Under19 cricket team.....maybe we will see these players in the future competing against England as part of the Indian cricket team!

We have been treated so well by everyone and feel like celebrities! We were even interviewed by a journalist and will appear in the local Hindi newspaper on Saturday.

Later, In the school garden we took part in a mult-faith birthday ceremony to burn away impurities called a Hawan; a holy man leading the ceremony said prayers in Hindi for Baring School and all people and families connected with our school.

In the afternoon we visited the other Gurukul school on the outskirts of Panchkula. On the way we saw wild monkeys crossing the road so we stopped to take a photo. The second Gurukul is a Primary school which has students up to Year 7. We visited the classrooms and met the staff and children who were very excited by the prospect of Diwali next week. We saw some amazing Rangoli patterns on the floors in the corridors and continued to meet courteous, respectful children wherever we went.

After another scrumptious lunch in a Fort designed at the time of the Raj, which has the biggest wooden door in India, we made a journey into the Himalayas. At dusk we arrived at the Timber Trail set within the mountains.....it was magical!