Staring at the television screen

A Passage To India

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It was a great learning journey. The Secondary One and Two students did service learning while the Secondary Threes did a comparative study on Industrialization and Education in Singapore and Bangalore.

It all started at the airport, in the plane.

Movies and games were the entertainment.

It was a 4-hour flight. And yup we reached the Bangalore Airport. We got out of the airport and breathed the 'India Air'. Yes, we're in India!

The taxi drivers were rather horny. They kept honking their horns.

We boarded a coach, a rather sassy one.

And we reached our hotel, VT Paradise. I would rate it 3-star.

The hotel room was okay.

And the television was fabulous. The channels available were Cartoon Network, MTV, AXN, Discovery, Nickelodeon, etc etc. (For all seven nights, I watch Cartoon Network until I sleep.)

The Next Day: 10/06/2007 Sunday

We went to visit Mysore Palace. On the way, I saw a lot of Yellow Top Taxis.

I must say that Mysore Palace is beautiful. It's historical.

My god-ma, Mrs Ong aka Mdm So, loves me. :D

Another of my god-ma, Mrs Lim aka DM, also loves me. :D

Sama-thu-va-thai-yum. (Suma-ti-va-thai-yum)

We had our lunch in an Indian restaurant. Papadum(cracker) rocks.

After-meal dessert.

One of the famous dams in Bangalore.

At night, we went to a toy emporium.

Mr Ernest Fu wanted to buy this for his girlfriend. Zzz.

The Next Day: 11/06/2007 Monday

We went to Sri Kumaran Children's Home!

The school was cool-looking, and the students were very friendly towards me.

This is their auditorium.

Physics Lab.

Chemistry Lab.

Biology Lab.

We went for some classroom observation.

I made a new friend. :]

And he took this picture.

Oh yeah! Huimin is right that Indian children are damn cute.

>:]

That afternoon we also went to 'Tiger' biscuit factory. The owner of this factory then explained why Bangalore is known as The Silicon Valley, and what are the key success factors to it, etc.

We saw the whole process of making of biscuits and we could take as many as we want. :]

That night, we had dinner at Mainland China, a Chinese restaurant which had good ambience.

Pragati made this. .___.

The Next Day: 12/06/2007 Tuesday

We visited an aerospace museum.

We then headed off to the Dell Headquarters.

The manager introduced Dell and explained the critical success factors that made Dell a successful multi-billion company.

Pretty cool uh, got to speak to these people.

Erm, that afternoon's lunch was a surprise one. We had pizzas and softdrinks at Domino's Pizza.

It's 100% pork. (4 days never eat already, cannot tahan.)

The Next Day: 13/06/2007 Wednesday

Home Visit! :DD

Rahul's the man. He brought us to Electronic City where Infosys (the company) is.

Electronic City is a pollution-free campus. The businessmen and students cycle around the campus. And I heard that Infosys is one of the largest companies in India.

Anyway the place has many facilities.

There are more facilities actually, like gym, shops, restaurant, etc.

After the tour, the manager brought us to that cool-looking conference room (above) and answered our questions on Industrialization.

Next, we headed to Forum Mall to shop. Okay. I didn't buy a lot of things anyway.

After we're done, we went to Rahul's house. It's like a condominium, and Rohan lives there too. His parents were very hospitable. They provided us with snacks and drinks. & his mother taught me how to cook Papadum! :]

Okay I took a few shots of his home.

Not bad eh?

We even played soccer for an hour. Rofl.

It was getting really dark at about 8.30pm. So we rushed to the vegetarian restaurant somewhere near his apartment.

Alright, most of the food was spicy and heaty. As I was having a sore throat, I didn't eat much. I tried to use my hands to eat the food. It was a good try anyway.

Thanks for everything Rahul! (I hope you see this. ^^)

The Next Day: 14/06/2007 Thursday

School lessons dah. ('Dah' is like our Singlish 'Lah' in their language.)

But it turned out to be very fun and exciting! Science experiments. :]

Physics

We did an experiment on weight and mass.

Biology

We did an experiment on cells using a microscope.

There's a skeleton in the lab too.

Chemistry

Yes there were super reactive experiments. But we didn't do them, the Chemistry teacher demonstrated them.

I'll try to put up the videos as soon as I can.

Yup. Next, visit at the another Sri Kumaran School. (There are three: Children's Home, State School and Public School.)

The principal's respectable and I find her interesting.

Lol, yeah.

Last happening of the day: Service Learning/Charity Work at 'Samarthanam Trust For The Disabled'

It's weird to talk to someone when their eyes are not looking at you. You feel ignored, neglected. Yeap, most of the children at the Trust are blind. I tried to ask them to get up of their seats to play a game but they seemed to be ignoring me. Partly because #1. they can't see, and #2. my voice is unfamiliar to them. At this point of moment, if you walk away, you'll leave that person confused. You should offer a hand, to hold them up. They are blind people who depend on guidance to walk around, especially in a crowded area. So yeap, I tried and that girl grabbed my hand. Ah then she trusted me even that I can bring her to anywhere I want, and I'm a stranger to her.

Oh well, lessons learnt:
#1. Be contented with what you have, for example: eyes. You have them to read my blog. :]
#2. Never give up on the bad times.
#3. Be independent when some blind people are independent.
#4. Some of the children are not happy with what they received. It's alright, we'd done our part.

Okay, pictures.

Yeap. We used all the donations to buy stationaries and chocolates and we gave out everything.

The Next Day: 15/6/2007 Friday

The day started off at the pottery room. We had pottery lessons and we played with clay.

Our teacher, and his fine arts.

I made this! :]!!

"Fighting crime, trying to save the world.."

-

The last activity was Indian Dance.

We had to dance like them, and we did.

Okay. There was a mini farewell ceremony. Gifts, hugs, wishes and handshakes were exchanged. I felt effing lousy as it might be the last time that we'll be seeing each other physically.