Happy Karva Chauth!

So, this is the second year in a row that I have been eating my breakfast and suddenly remember.  This is Karva Chauth!  This is the day to celebrate love between a husband and wife!  This is the day that the wife is to fast between sunrise and sunset to ensure good health and a long life for her husband!

I am not sure that the McDonalds breakfast we had earlier in the week will do the trick.  However, I have promised one of my concerned students that I will, for sure, do my duty next year.

Yes, I do love my husband and wish him a long and healthy life!

When it is festival season in India, there are definitely festivals.

Wednesday, October 16, we were treated to lunch by Mushtaq Sir to celebrate the Muslim observance of Eid.  This is a day that Muslims participate in acts of charity.  It wasn't only 
donations to the poor that the Ahmed family made that day.  Mushtaq's wife, Tabassum, "donated" a beautiful meal of rice, lamb and desserts to the staff at UFV.

Elante Mall is appropriately decorated for the festive season, and Ninni and I spent several hours there doing some essential shopping.

We still haven't visited every shop in this mall.

Outside in the inner courtyard is a large replica of a Diwali lamp made of tiny lights.  This courtyard must be spectacular at night.

We had our lunch at Brooklyn Central.  I am too embarrassed to show the photos of the food we ate--huge, American-sized portions!

The shopping lasted well into the evening.

We have decided that Elante is, indeed, a suitable place to take the super shopper from Canada who will be arriving next week.

India vs Australia Cricket Match!
Thanks to Angad (and Gurneet and Ishpreet), four lucky Canadians were able to attend.

The match began around two in the afternoon.  We arrived at seven.  India had chosen to bat first and so had accumulated 303 points.  (I think, but I am really just trying to sound like I understood.)

The crowd was very relaxed because it looked like a sure win for India

Some of us even fell asleep while trying to snap a self portrait.

Suddenly, Australia caught fire!  The match got very interesting.

Six points for one hit?  That shouldn't be allowed!

And six more?  And six more?

The silent and sad India fans filed out of the stadium at the end of the game.

This was match 3 of a 7 match series, so there is always next time.

Lunch with the Ahmeds -

After Tabassum's amazing home-cooked food on Wednesday, we were surprised that the boys (including Mushtaq) wanted to go to KFC for Sunday lunch.

I am in love all over again with young Faizan...

and his big brother, Irfan.

Such nice young men and a credit to their parents.

The drive to campus is always filled with interesting sights.

This city doesn't need bike lanes, Vancouver.  Just learn to share the road.  Actually, there are bike paths everywhere but many cyclists choose to take their chances amongst the vehicles.

Brojinder is one of the loyal support staff members.  His responsibility is mainly cleaning and he always does that with a smile.

Suresh, too, is part of the cleaning staff.  He works at the campus and also comes daily to our house to clean and do the dishes.  I plan to take him back to Canada with me!

Sanjeev is the newest support staff member.  He is a driver along with Harbans and Anil.

There are so many people to transport and errands to run, so a third driver was needed.

Monday morning, my students were on campus before me.  This was their teaching day and they had to put the finishing touches on their lessons.



(Chahat, Ishpreet and Hartej)

As usual, their presentations were exceptional.  They showed me how they would like to be taught, I think.  I shall try to match their skills.



(Raghav and Arzoo)

Some of the topics were not really exciting but they managed to engage the class with their Powerpoints, videos and activities.


(Avinder, Jaskiran, Akshat)

I am quite sure that the Expectancy Theory of Motivation has never before been illustrated with Punjabi rap--but it was that day.

Pukhraj, Jitesh and Supreet needed something to add to their presentation so they featured Tarundeep and Ranveer.

Somehow the cricket match photo of Gurneet, Ashley and Bethany slipped out of place when the photos were uploaded to my blog.

So, here they are, as usual wanting to have the last word!


We are all looking forward to next week and the visit of President Mark Evered from UFV, with Maureen, Satwinder Bains and Peter Geller.

We are thankful for......

Family, Friends, Festivals...and many, many more things!

It is festival season in India, and Canadian Thanksgiving was in the middle of it.  So, we gathered the team together at our house for an improvised Thanksgiving dinner.

Adi, our housemate, orchestrated the entire event--or so he says.  In fact, he drove all over Chandigarh to collect food and people as we assembled the feast.

Turkeys are nowhere to be found in India so we had to settle for KFC!  That was our version of "fast" food.

Friends of the Hindu faith had, in fact, been fasting for the nine nights and ten days of Navaratri.  Some of them ate special food during that time which is referred to as "fast" food as well!

Jessica, Ashley and Alyssa (UFV interns working with Dr. Shaw at DIR) had to rush over to our kitchen after their stove ran out of gas in the middle of their veggie preparations.  Unfortunately, Sarah was ill and couldn't come, but she had a plateful of dinner delivered to her at home.

Mashed potatoes, stuffing and gravy were my specialty.  I now have the courage to light the gas stove thanks to Ninni's teaching, but don't have any plans to start cooking meals.  The nightly tiffins are working just fine, thank you.

Simlee also joined us for the celebrations as did Dilmeet, Bethany (dessert queen), and Gurneet--with his family (Satbir, Ninni and Ishpreet).

Our large dining table, around which we managed to seat thirteen people, was made up of all large pieces of furniture we had available.  That included our much smaller dining table, the credenza and my desk.  Once it was all covered in Adi's bed sheet, it looked quite good!

As we all gathered ready for the feast, our "pic was clicked" with the help of Steve Jobs--wherever he may be!  Thanks, Steve!

The desserts deserve honourable mention!

Apple Pie from Monica's!

Cheesecake and authentic pumpkin pie (with pumpkin and spices hand delivered from Canada) prepared by Bethany!

 Of course, after a big holiday meal (or while still eating mango ice cream) men the world over must watch sporting events on television.  No, not hockey or football.  This is India so, of course, it was the big cricket match between Australia and India.

This was also the day of the Dussehra festival, but our dinner time coincided with the burning of the effigy of the evil Ravana so we had to miss that event.  For certain Good again triumphed over evil at the 40 celebration sites around the city.

This past week included another of the monthly social gatherings at the Canadian Consulate.  It does seem that we just attended one.

There were some new faces, as usual, including Logan and Katie who are also CIDA sponsored interns working on a project in Chandigarh.

Two of our favourite people to see at the Consulate are Gurjeet and her husband, Manjeet.  Gurjeet is a new bride from Montreal, and her husband is a merchant in Sector 17--and the funniest man in India, I am sure.  That is clear from his bright smile and twinkling eyes.  They are also our just-about-neighbours across the street in Sector 34.

Meanwhile back at the Chandigarh campus of UFV, the new computer lab, opened last December by Mike De Jong, is well used for computerized components of Accounting, Statistics and Finance, as well as BUS 160.

This dream of Gurneet's came to fruition in a matter of days last year.  It is a great addition to this modern little campus.

I am sometimes caught working--surrounded by bottles of water that are my constant companions in this warm place!

Not everyone is anxious to come to my class on Monday mornings, but this woodpecker really was this week.  He is so interested in Organizational Behaviour!

I am waiting to have a visit from some of the beautiful green parakeets that live in the trees at the back of the campus.

As the sun sets on the City Beautiful........

Today we finally did have the beautiful sunshine, blue skies and light breeze that we look forward to here in the fall.

At the end of our work day, George and I took a long walk around the perimeter of Sector 44 (well 4.5 km of it) as the sun was dropping down behind the Hindu temple.

Midterms.........

............. one more night without sleeping!  You have to be a bit old to catch the resemblance of that line to a song from the 50's, Green Door.

Or, how about Johnny Cash singing, "I hear the brain a hummin"?

Oh the songs running through my mind as I invigilated midterm exams!

Yes, it is already midterm.  Accountability time for the students and the realization that we are on the downward side of the term.  So much left to learn; so little time!

What would be a week in Chandigarh be without a meal from Ninni's kitchen!

But we were able to repay the hospitality later in the week with an outing with the Anand family to Flamme Bois Bistro.  This was our first visit this year to sample the continental cuisine of one of our many favourite restaurants.


The evening included a stop at Satbir's office.

Simlee Ma'am, our loyal UFV staffer!

Dressed beautifully for the day of work, and then armed for combat as she is about to take on the streets of Chandigarh on her scooter.

An absolute highlight of the week was attending the Inter School Business Quiz at Vivek Highschool.

Mushtaq Sir is usually our quiet Faculty Head at UFV with whom we share an office.  Well, it turns out that he is quite a performer--and a great organizer of this large business competition.

Competitors came from highschools around the region.  We were invited to attend the final round in which six team of three competitors each were challenged with questions from Mushtaq.  The competition went on for almost two hours with various types of questions like identifying logos, music from ads, names in the news.........

Can you see the connection between between the four photos on the right?

Do you know which is the most honest city in the world?

We had the honour of presenting all certificates and trophies to the finalists.

The competition was won by Bhavan Vidyalaya Chandigarh.

Mrs. Renu Puri is the very competent Vice Principal of Vivek Highschool, and she presented us with flowers and gifts.

She also presented Mushtaq with a traditional scarf to thank him for his commitment to this event.

He is a true hero at Vivek Highschool where he taught Accounting and headed the Commerce Department for 20 years before making the move to UFV.

The entire Commerce Department has been involved in the competition planning for several months.

Every time we visit a school in India, we are so impressed with the student hosts that greet us on arrival and are right by our side throughout the day to help in any way.

These were two of the many students who were proud to represent Vivek Highschool.

Just when we were wondering why we hadn't had any visits from friends in India, some arrived today.

Hardeep Jawanda stopped by with one of his students.  Hardeep is Head of Computer Engineering at Guru Nanak Dev Polytechnic College in Ludhiana.  We look forward to meeting his students, and seeing his family again, at the end of this month.

Avtar Gill, son of the Punjab, citizen of Abbotsford, BC, Canada, arrived next.

Avtar is a character!  There is not much more one can say!

With Avtar was his very beautiful niece, newly married.  She will soon be on her way to live in Canada with her new husband.

One of Avtar's interests is providing television stories for a South Asian station in Canada.  So, members of his entourage set up the camera and he did an interview with George.

And we continue into another week enjoying the sights, sounds, fragrances and adventures in beautiful India!