Last night we spent the night in the Hotel Paris Continental in Nawanshahr, a bit of a scary two-hour drive from Chandigarh. (Harbans is an amazing driver!) That is where we met up with the Mike De Jong tour across the Punjab group as they headed eastward from Amritsar to Chandigarh.
Mike is, of course, the Minister of Finance for the Province of British Columbia and a former student of ours at W. J. Mouat Secondary School.
Hotel Paris in India?
Well, the owner, Mr. Atwal, actually lives in France. He is currently in India, though, and so was able to join us for dinner and was a great host. He and Mike carried on their conversation in French. Again, a little unusual in the Punjab.
We had a large, comfortable suite.
Unfortunately, we didn't have WiFi in our room so blogging, email, etc. were put on hold.
Mike and crew have been visiting villages in the Punjab bringing a message about diabetes prevention.
Mike's righthand man on this tour is Barinder Bhullar (now working in the Premier's office). Avtar Gill from Abbotsford is also accompanying him probably to keep spirits high.
Another crew member from Abbotsford is Balwinder Dhaliwal. These men are great supporters of Mike, have many connections in the Punjab, and really enjoy being a part of the delegation.
Avtar got a bit of flack from us for enthusiastically digging into the plate of sweets while wearing his Diabetes Awareness t-shirt.
Note that it says Diabetes Awareness Walk. That was the plan until the delegation landed in Amritsar. Officials here were concerned about security and so would not allow any walking portions. Plans had to change but the tour has been successful nonetheless.
In the photo, Mr. Atwal, the hotel owner, is seated next to Mike. A Sufi singer who was being recuited by Avtar is also at the table. Barinder's cousin from Amritsar also joined the group, and the photo includes one of the young waiter/bellboy/helpers at the hotel.
Earlier in the day, George and I were able to visit an impressive global consulting and IT firm in Mohali, ONE Business Consulting Group.
The young owner/entrepreneur is Givy Dhaliwal, cousin of one of our students, Opinder Dhaliwal. Opinder works in the firm and is the man on the ground here when Givy is away.
We have met so many young people who have accomplished so much already in their lives.
Givy's home is in Australia and his business has offices there, in the UK and in the US, as well as here.
Opinder works full time while studying full time in the BBA program.
We met another young employee we had already heard about at UFV Chandigarh, Deepshikha. She is a UFV BBA graduate.
ONE BCG has also offered internships to other students in the program.
Thanks, Opinder, for the invitation.
Today was full of adventures with Mike! More on that tomorrow.
Fourteen weeks down and only one to go! Next week at this time we will be on our way home.
