Anticipation

Expectant, the air is heavy with spring rain storms, trying to materialize. The school atmosphere is heavy with Board Members' presence, and the dreams of all the passionate people who make their lives here (physically and metaphorically). It's exhilarating, that sense of anticipation, along with the sense of history that accompanies looking forward.

Pilgrims

Although we're not strictly pilgrims, I felt close to the Punjabi pilgrims we met who came to worship at the confluence of the Ganga with the sea near Kolkata. They were on their way home, our guide said, having bathed in the sea before surise yesterday. We passed them at lunch time. They were sitting on a big sheet on the road between two parked busses eating their rice and bature. In the windows of the busses, I glimpsed their clothes hanging up to dry; their watter bottles prickled out of the overhead luggage bins like porcupine quills. On top of the busses, their straw mats were rolled up between big recycled bags of belongings. One traveller was adjusting the little camp stove back in between the bundles. Towels were draped over people's heads.
We are not strictly pilgrims, but in some ways we compare with them, homeless for a while, accomplishing something meaningful, at significant cost.
Cheerfully!

My thoughts on blogging

Blog is short for weblog, which should mean something like a diary of daily happenings (or travels), like in the old days. But of course this is the technological age, and everything is more complicated than it used to be. I've been doing some more research, and I want to record a few of my thoughts. This is mostly for my sixth grade readers, but my other readers will recongnize my "Mom" voice....
My fingers aren't working very well for typing, because it's too cold!
These thoughts were inspired by Darren Rowse on Problogger.com.
- Make sure you cite your sources. If you borrow ideas or content from someone else, please tell your readers where you got it from.
- Stay safe. Remember blogging is public: anyone can read your blog--we talked about this in class. What we didn't talk about in class is that you can read anyone else's blog too. Be mature, and make good choices. Decide if you want to read what you are reading. Decide if the person you're reading is honest or not.
- Choose your topics and titles carefully. Snag your readers' interest.

So how do you keep up with a blog, and a journal too? More thoughts on this later.
Coming soon: a new travel log at woodstock.sageprogram.org.

Papa

At lunchtime, outside the dining room, I experienced the scene. Five little kids poured out of the childcare room, and all at once, they all called out, "PAPA!" with smiles. One child's Papa answered him in French, along with a kiss. Another child's Papa answered him in Bengali, with a hug. Another child's Papa answered her in English. Another child's Papa answered her in Swedish. And another child's Papa kneeling, grabbed his child enfolding her in a hug, and answered her in Hindi. My children's Papa answered them in Spanish when they were little.
Replaying this poignant scene in my mind at Christmas time, I can't help but think of God's gift to people. We can call God, "Papa!" We will be answered with a hug, God coming to our level so we can see in each other's eyes, we can feel each other's hearts beating--in whatever language we need to hear.
I am also happy to be in this place, where I can hear "Papa", and never know which language I'll hear in reply!

I forgot something important

My two younger daughters helped me think of the name.

The Naming of Blogs - by Kathy

So I set up my Facebook, hoping to do some creative writing (can one create on the keyboard?), but it turns out that it's mostly for reading other people's walls and looking at pictures. That's fun, but I still want to do some creative writing, and my ESL students have to set up blogs for their holiday homework (what an oxymoron!), and the Development Office is asking for blogs, so I decided to go along with it and set one up. I'm nervous about keeping up with it, but one of my new year's resolutions this year was to keep in better touch with people that mean a lot to me...
I've named my blogspot Himalayan Highway because I'm back at Woodstock School in Mussoorie after let's-just-say 30 years, a road I've been subconsciously following for 25 years. It's also a symbol of the speed of development in India right now--there are traffic jams on Mullingar Hill regularly--and the speed of life here at school, and also progress towards some undefined larger than myself goal in my life. In case you needed to know...