Teach India

When last year the Times of India group initiated the "Teach India" campaign, I was excited to join the program. When this year i saw the advertisement i decided to join as i had time.
I registered in their website. The venue for the induction program was The Indus International School. The date was 19Th July 2009. I was given time at 10 am.We started at 9:30 am as the school was mentioned to be in sarajapur from the mail i got from times group.But the school was on Billapur cross , around 15 kms from sarajapur main road.So i got late. I reached the school at 10:20 am.I was feeling bad. i don't like to be late.
The school is a beautiful place far away from the city's pollution. We were told by the security guard to go to the first floor of primary block. When i reached there i found that the times group people has not come yet. I was relaxed. I thought that then i am not late.

There are around 100-150 participants are there & people from two ngos named "Outreach" and "youth for seva" are there. Neither these people nor the school management have any information regarding times group people or when they were going to came. So they decided to start their program. First the secretary of outreach gave a long speech.They are dealing with the children of migrant labourers in Bangalore. From his speech i could only feel that he's there to collect donation for his organisation. Then their director also gave speech .Then one of there teacher demonstrated how they teach those children. She was narrating everything in Kannada. She couldn't speak any other language. Most of the people present there including me doesn't understand Kannada. I felt pity about those migrant children's whose mother tongues are something different. I don't know how they understand her teaching.
When their presentation started getting longer and longer people get bored and told them to come to the point. So they finished rather stopped their presentation.

Then the member of another ngo youth for seva gave their presentation. He was to the point. He said that their organisation was also part of last year's teach India campaign. He then collected participants details. Then they informed us that we'll be contacted by them. He also gave a list of organisations and hospitals with whom they are associated so that you can choose any of them as per your convenience.Then the induction program was finished. To my surprise The times of India people were still hadn't come. Left the place at 1:30 in the afternoon.

So far i have received no response from the organisers. I am also feeling let down by the apathy shown by the TOI representatives. Being the sponsors for this it was their responsibility for showing respect for the people who had turned up. Since it is a nobel cause and I have always wanted to be associated with something like this, I am hoping I can become part of this movement. Hail Teach India!!

Nandi Hills

Last Saturday my husband & I visited Nandi hills. Its around 75 kms from our place. The road leading to Devanhalli from our place is scenic and very beautiful. So we decided to go by bike. We started at 6:30 in the morning. We reached Devanhalli in 1 hr. We had a good breakfast at hotel shanthi sagar . Then we started for nandi hills.Its around 25 kms from Devanhalli.
The nandi hills are located at 5970ft above the sea level. As we approached the Nandi Hills the temperature dropped suddenly. Within moments we were lost into this world of greenery. Around 8:30 we reached there. Its an ideal destination to spend your weekend far from the pollution and traffic of Bangalore. Amidst the beauty of nature I felt like being in the laps of mother nature.
We first visited Tippu's summer residence on top of this hill. There is a beautiful big water pond named Amrutha sarovar. There is a beautiful garden and children's play area. There is also a temple.Inside the temple there is also a beautiful well maintained pond. There is also a public guest house named Nehru Nilaya surrounded with beautiful gardens. Here a white stone sculptured Nehru stood in front of the Nilaya. In 1986 the SAARC summit was held here.
Above all, the breathtaking views ignite your senses. The cool breeze lets you unwind. Roaming amidst the tall trees we enjoyed the nature at its best. The lovely surroundings touched us magically. Amongst the chirping of birds, the passing clouds which carassed us, the beautiful weather, the cool breeze everything let us feel how close we were to nature. As the day slowly grows we started to feel the warmth of sun.
There are few restaurants on top of this hill. One is hotel Mayur which is run by KSTDC. The view from the restaurant was great. But in the menu card we didn't find any tea or coffee. Tea & coffees are replaced by many cocktails. So we had to leave that restaurant . Then we went to an open air restaurant in front of that hotel to have some tea.