Links with our...
INDIA
Good God! Why India?
Why not?
Rainbows
Rainbows
India PD
For Theresa
I have returned to India many times; to work with teachers,
college lecturers, street educators, village masters and students.
... Largely at the inspiration of this person;
the most amazing lady it has been my honour to ever meet.
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1986 Sep. with Eddie (World Expeditions tour)
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1990 Jan. with Jodie
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1991 Sep. with Jodie
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1992 Sep.
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1994 Nov. / Dec.
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1995 Apr.
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1996 Sep. with Jodie
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1997 Aug. with Eddie
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1998 Jun. with Eddie, Jodie & Geoff
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1999 Jun.
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2001 Apr. / May
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2002 Apr. with Mary (honeymoon)
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2004 Apr. with Mary
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2007 Mar. with Mary
And,
I'd like to think I shall return yet again...
My "Kolkata" Collection
Kolkata...
Anything but black and white
Kolkata...
Love the colourful street-life
Kolkata...
Painted on a tired canvas
Kolkata...
Sealdah - Suburban allsorts
Loreto Sealdah
Outreach
Programs
Let me introduce you to Sr. Cyril
Searching for inspiration?
The
Loreto Sealdah
Hub
Sure,
time marches on...
Things change.
Our world is now different.
But,
I still draw inspiration
from this truly Christian lady.
Sister Cyril
One truly amazing lady...
Sister Cyril ~ Mentor, colleague, friend...
30+ years ~ that's how long since Sister and I first met
30 years ~ since we began working together
30 years of laughter, discussions, shared stories, happy and sad times.
I especially remember:
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mealtime in sister's getaway by the stairwell
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our chats in her office late at night
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sister's reaction when Mary and I gave her the microwave
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when I hung on tight behind sister on her 'vespa-style' motor bike
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when sister took me by ferry across the Hooghly
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when a student trimmed her cat's whiskers
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the day sister took me to the roof of the new building after a storm
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the sadness shared when Eddie died from a brain tumor
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our disagreement when I took a PD program with the Loreto sisters and I went overtime
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when she brought Mary a block of chocolate after one trying day
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when she brought me a warm bottle of beer after a long hot day of training sessions. Next day she brought ice blocks with the beer. Third day she had the beer kept in a the fridge
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those early nights I slept on a table in the staff room
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our meals at the Taj Hotel
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Our late night tour around the Loreto convent.
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So many great memories.....
Click first image
to see full size.
I just had to write sister's story.
(Still available on Lulu Publications and Amazon)
Click
for an online PDF digital copy of sister's book
My India
BLOGS
In my world of imaginings I'm back there...
Click
for an online e-flipbook copy of sister's book
#1-3 Kolkata Street Scenes
#4
Church of Our Lady of Dolours
#5
Sr Cyril's Outreach Program
(The Sealdah railway platform)
Back in 2007 Sr Cyril asked me to write the story of her school and its Outreach Program.
The result (see above)
The 156-page book is still available on Lulu ($US15.24)
Mary and I head off to the station with a group of Sealdah 'rainbows' laden with food parcels.
As we head down the huge Sealdah station we are unaware of what lays ahead.
Well, that's enough for now....
Mary and I head off to the station with a group of Sealdah 'rainbows' laden with food parcels.
#6
Sr Cyril's Outreach Program
(The Rainbows Program)
Poverty, an in-your-face fact of life in India sees thousands of boys and girls between 4 and 18 on Kolkata's streets. These "Rainbows" live on the top floor of the school. In 2013 I took a bundle of these calendars for sister to distribute to her financial supporters.
Two young Rainbows attend the regular school with 'normal' day-school students
In excess of 300 students attend the Rainbow school (on the fifth floor of the building)
Two young Rainbows attend the regular school with 'normal' day-school students
#7
Sr Cyril's Outreach Program
(The Village Schools Program)
An hour's drive / walk from the Loreto school are many small one or two-teacher village schools which Sr Cyril has taken under her wing. Students go out for a morning every week to conduct lessons with the village school children.
Loreto students assemble prior to departure for the village schools
They board the buses taking their lunches and school activity supplies
On the way back to the bus we passed this bunch of children working in the field. Perhaps they'll go to school next year.
Loreto students assemble prior to departure for the village schools
For Theresa...
Click image to enlarge
Looking back
3 Decades
The book make take a minute to download
depending on your computer speed
MY INDIA BLOGS
My DSLR, iPhone and AIassist ~ in a perspective...
StreetScapes
Let's go shopping
a village walkthrough
On the streets...
Village schools
outreach program
Maths
is
FUN
and last but not least...
For those who enjoy e-Flipbooks ~ with the ability to stay with any given page or move through at your own rate, I suggest you check the following list of E-Book links.
E-book 1 StreetScapes
E-book 2 Vendors
E-book 3 Visiting Villages outside Kolkata
E-book 4 On the Streets
E-book 5 The Village Outreach Program
E-book 6 Maths is FUN
Why India?
I have on occasion been asked, “Why India?”
I have also on occasion asked myself the very same question.
There must be strong reasons for my 14 visits to this subcontinent.
The answer - a three-fold marriage of synchronicity, serendipity and opportunity.
Everything can be traced back to my scouting days where to ‘be prepared’ was key to maximising opportunities.
What could I do when invited in the early seventies to New Guinea to work on a mission station in the gulf country.
Similarly, in the eighties, I was invited by parents of one of my students to stay with their family in Mumbai while on a World Expeditions tour. On the rail journey from Mumbai to New Delhi (prior to joining the tour) I met a gentleman who invited me to visit his family in Mumbai on my next trip.
This I did over the 1991 New Year period with my daughter, Jodie. After staying with the Sharmas, we ventured to Surat (to again stay with Mr & Mrs Marfatia) enroute to Jaipur (bike safari), Jaisalmer (camel safari), New Delhi (staying at the YWCA), overnight on the train to Kolkata (staying at the Fairlawn Hotel of “The City of Joy” fame), Varanasi (boat ride on Ganges) and finally Kathmandu (Prince Charles trek from Pokhara). Phew!
It was while at the Fairlawn Hotel that Jo and I, dressed in jeans with paperbacks in our back pockets, were invited to a formal cocktail party for the British High Commissioner (with men in dinner suits and ladies in gorgeous saris). It was on that occasion I was invited to organise / present workshops on “Maths is FUN” for teachers of Kolkata organised by the British Council. This I did the following year on the basis that I was to provide materials sufficient for 30 attendees. On the way to the Teachers Centre from my accommodation, I was informed that numbers had “blown out”. Nonetheless, the day-long session was a huge success. Sr Cyril (principal of Loreto Day School Sealdah) heard of my program and subsequently invited me to present workshops as part of her school’s “Outreach Program”. This led to annual visits (see “My India”). Subsequently I received invitations to Anand, Shimla, Lucknow and New Delhi.
Yes, but why India?
... the challenge of meeting Sr Cyril’s needs and the opportunity to be a part of her amazing life.
If she’d asked me to swim from Geelong to Kolkata, I’d have given it a good go…