Much Ado About Nothing........

A day spent marking projects and doing laundry does not make for interesting writing material!

So, following the lead of Shakespeare, and of Jerry Seinfeld who wrote "The Show About Nothing," this is my blog about nothing.

 Friday is our day to pick up/drop off  dry cleaning so we did take the five minute walk down the street to Blue Box Drycleaners.  Good prices--five shirts for 350 rupees.

They also do some stitching at the shop so if you wish to have some clothing made, this is one of the men who will do that for you.

Quite amazing to watch him work, sans electricity.  Even the serger is a treadle machine.  Many years ago, I tried to sew with a treadle machine and just could not do it.  This man is an expert!

All the feral dogs around must have started life as cute little puppies, but rarely do you see the puppies.  This litter was hanging out by the dry cleaners one day.

Mom was there, too, and she got a little protective of her hungry baby when I got too close with the camera.

In Canada, TATA usually means "thank you" when one is talking to a baby.

In India, TATA means a huge and diverse global company that makes a very small car.

 This is the Tata Nano, and there are many on the roads here.

It is the cheapest car in the world, priced between $2000 and $3000.

The car is 122 inches long, 59 inches wide and 65 inches high.

This particular one belongs to someone just around the corner from our house.

On the other hand, TATA also makes these big and colourful trucks that haul goods everywhere.

In 2008, the company purchased Jaguar and Land Rover.

It has quite a line of vehicles!

But that is not all.  Recently we were at a restaurant and this particular brand of bottled water is another TATA product!

They are into everything--originally starting with steel.  But, their long list of products today includes teas, iodized salt and many, many more.

Cricket!  Cricket is to India what Ice Hockey is to Canada, except the professional cricket players are not involved in a labour dispute.

We have yet to see a live cricket match other than the games the young boys are playing in the neighbourhood.   However, we can see serious matches on television most days.  I understand that some of them can actually last for a few days!

Here is our closest neighbourhood supermarket.  This one has room for one line of customers.  So, if you are first in you will have to wait to get out!  But there is a lot of inventory to choose from.

And here is a memory from Mark Evered's visit to our house.  Yes, India has built a better mousetrap.  Actually, it is for a rodent that is a bit bigger than a mouse, and even at that, the tail is sticking out the trap door.

We did have a wee bit of a rat issue and, fortunately, the heroic UFV President and Vice Chancellor was here to remove the trap and its inhabitant for us.



That is all from Chandigarh today! 

Class Dismissed!!!!

The fall semester is over, and the very sad third and fourth year students, with their very sad professor, couldn't hide their sorrow!

Every student was given a certificate from Team Peary saying, "if it were within our power" we might declare them an..............

With 86 students honoured in this way, it is not possible to include photos of them all.  So, I have chosen a few from each year who may not have been featured in previous blogs.



First year student, Taksh, was always the first student into class.

Mehak quietly went about her business.  Red shoes seem to be popular this fall.

Sahil, too, was seen but not often heard.  He has worked diligently throughout the term.

After the certificate presentation in Business 100, Ranveer and Tarundeep (he was Mr. Fresher) performed an impressive Punjabi rap.

Everyone else ate the potato chips and drank Coke.

In the second year classes, Bharat was the first one to class for the past couple of months.  This was mainly because he broke his foot in a bicycle accident and had to be helped to class each day.

Ravneet was one of the quieter students in class, 

as was Eshaan.  (That is nice sometimes!)

Shrey flattered George the other day by getting an identical haircut.

Amandeep had a birthday yesterday along with Guru Nanak.

And in Business 304.......


We expect Ankit will have the first Tim Horton's franchise in his home town of Shimla.

Ratanjit has a winning smile and she got to work with Arpit's team studying Research in Motion.

Gurmeet sat quietly absorbing the teachings of Professor George.

George offered a public apology to Opinder for always teasing him about coming from Toronto--and congratulated him on the Argonauts victory in the Grey Cup.

So, WE close our books on the classroom chapter of this adventure.  It has been an honour and privilege to work with some very talented business leaders of tomorrow.

STUDENTS better not close their books yet!  There is studying to be done because the final exams start on Monday. 

Happy Birthday Guru Nanak Dev Ji..........

A very special birthday today in India!  Sikhs, and everyone else, are celebrating the birth of Guru Nanak Dev, the founder of Sikhism.

I have read that he was actually born in April but the celebration takes place during the full moon in late fall, and so the date will change slightly from year to year.

He was born in 1469 and died in 1539, and his legacy lives on.

The day is marked by visits to the gurdwara, singing of hymns, and firecrackers!  The firecrackers haven't really stopped since Diwali, and the singing and prayers have been starting early in the morning--like 4:30 am.  Between this celebration, wedding season and our closeness to a mosque, it is pretty much 24 hour action.

With the focus on Sikhism today, I thought it would be a good time to record a visit that UFV President and Vice Chancellor, Mark Evered. made to Punjabi University when he was here a couple of weeks ago.  George accompanied Mark and Satwinder but I did not.  We were in the midst of planning for the Awards Ceremony.

This unique building, Guru Gobind Singh Bhawan, is located on the university campus which is in Patiala, about 70 km southwest of Chandigarh.

The five points of the star that form this building represent five great religions of the world.  Above the doorways are the symbols of those religions, and the one pictured above represents Sikhism.  It is in the shape of a kettle in which food is prepared for everyone.  Equality is a fundamental belief in Sikhism.

I understand that the building houses many books about religion, and there is conference seating for large groups of people in this bright central dome area.

Mark is here presenting a gift to Dr. Avinder Chawla who is the Registrar at Punjabi U.  We met Avinder not long after we arrived in India when Paul Wadhawan from Abbotsford was visiting here.  Paul and Avinder went to college together and have remained friends.

The UFV Abbotsford delegation met Dr. Saroj Sharma.  She is the curator of the Museum and Art Gallery that is on the campus.

The purpose of this facility is to promote the art and cultural heritage of the Punjab.

Mark is checking out a Doli and the description of it is in the photo below.

India is so rich in history, culture and spirituality.  I have a sense that there is now more emphasis on preserving,  displaying and sharing those features.  

President Mark admiring the art work......

and examining the artifacts.

They also visited the library and saw some very old manuscripts.

Looking at the Holy Book with Mark is Prabhjot.  She is connected with UFV and is here in the Punjab doing some research.

Sikh Holy Books have their own beds for comfort and safety.

When we visited the Golden Temple some weeks ago, we learned that the Holy Book inside the temple is ceremoniously carried to its "bed" nightly and covered up.  There is then a procession very early in the morning to return it to the temple to begin its day's work.  It is treated very much like a person.

Mark's visit to Punjabi University also included a business meeting with the Vice Chancellor, Dr. Jaspal Singh.

George was surprised to see Professor Gurvinder Dhaliwal who had interviewed him several times on Sher-e-Punjab radio in Richmond.  He is finishing some studies at Punjabi University.

Seated beside him is Prabhjot.

Dr. Jaspal Singh presented his guests with beautiful handmade traditional shawls.

Mark was quite impressed with the Vice Chancellor's vehicle with the insignia on it.  He is probably trying to work something similar into his budget at UFV.

Looks like it was an interesting and productive visit.

A Tribute to the Faculty on this last week of classes.....

Yes, this is the last week of classes for this fall semester!

Next week, exams will begin and the faculty members will be busy marking and doing final grades for their courses.

So, here are the other professors who teach in the BBA program at UFV.  Other than Mushtaq, we do not see them often.

Mushtaq Ahmed is the Head Faculty.  He and his wife, Tabassum, are seen here at the President's Dinner hosted by Dr. Evered when he was in Chandigarh earlier this month.

Besides teaching Accounting, Mushtaq is an avid photographer, especially of things small and close up!

He was at lunch with us last week and became fascinated with taking photos through water, of water, in water.........  The company mustn't have been very stimulating.

Rajesh Ahuja (Economics) and his wife attended the Awards Ceremony on November 10.

At the President's Dinner, Jackie Hogan (CFO for UFV) is seen with Vipnesh Bhardwaj (Geography) on her right and, on her left,  Aseem Kaur Sohal (Computer Applications) with her husband.

Here is Gagandeep Sharma (Math, Statistics) and his wife, Divya.  She is also a Business teacher.

Mukul Sharma is also a Math Professor.  

Vishal Chaudri, on Jackie's right, is the Law instructor.

On her left is Guy who we know as the guy from the Consulate.

There are some others in these group shots from Mark's visit who must be introduced.  So, the men from left:

Gurneet, Ajay Sharma (will be teaching Human Resources Management next semester), Rajesh, Mark, Vipnesh, George, Gurmit Singh (English), Mushtaq, Harneet Singh Batti (Math TA), Gagan and Adi.

And, the women:

Jackie, Aseem, Jeevika, Ashima Dhir (Communications 125), Satwinder, Mark, Me, Dilmeet and Simlee.

I am positive the students would want me to say, on their behalf, a big THANK YOU to the Faculty for their dedication!

Mustn't forget today's birthdays back home because it is a popular birth day!

Happy Birthday to my big sister, Eleanor!

Happy Birthday to my friend and former colleague at CTC, Miss Patti!

Happy Birthday to my friend and former colleague at WJ Mouat Secondary School, Jennifer Edwards!

And, Happy 40th Birthday to my nephew-in-law, Paul Trattle!

This is how your special day looked here in Chandigarh.