A Little Sufi for the Soul.......

Tonight was the big Hans Raj Hans Sufi Concert to raise money for the NGO Distributing Indigenous Resources (DIR).  Unfortunately, the founder and guiding light, 80+ year old Dr. Shaw was too ill to attend.
The outdoor venue at Chandigarh Golf Club was beautifully set up by UFV staff and students.  Our students sold tickets and worked at the event ushering guests to their seats.

 Hans Raj Hans has had a successful career as sufi singer.  The fine gentleman sitting beside me said that sufi music is about praising God.  Although
we couldn't understand a word, it was clear that Hans Raj Hans can dazzle an audience.  We didn't get the funny things he said but the audience thought he was hilarious.

The entire groups was so talented.  No whirling dervishes, though.  As far as I can determine, the instruments played were the diruba, tabla, santoor and harmonium.

Hans Raj Hans had a short career as a politician.  It isn't really clear if his offer of his talent for this event will help him most to revive his music career or his political career.

Apart from Gurneet, this is the staff crew that helped put on the event--and they worked hard.
Jeevika, Adi, Simlee and Dilmeet.

 Of course our students were there helping out.  Here are Milan and Sumanpreet (who encouraged me to sparkle).  Unfortunately, her parents couldn't make it but we did meet some others.

Ankita, Opinder and Divya are senior students in the BBA Program.  The senior students show great leadership skills.

UFV Chandigarh got good exposure on the signage around the site.

Here is the crew:  Gurneet, Kathryn, Adam, Guillaume (from the Consulate), Jeevika, Dilmeet (crouching), Stacy, Team Peary, Simlee and Adi.

Everyone was in a picture-taking mood to celebrate the success of the evening.

Here we added the drivers and cleaning crew--all essential (and helpful) men.

Harbans, Suresh, Brojinder and Anil.

Of course when the students saw us posing, they just had to join in.

Ravneet and Vartika are second year students.

The best thing about the evening were the cheers that came from our students every time UFV was mentioned.  They are truly proud of their school.

All were called on stage for a group photo.  I will have to get a copy of that from someone else.

Gurneet and his staff and the students of UFV Chandigarh are A++ and they put on an A++ event!

Every day has a little drama........

Friday is usually just a prep and marking day.  However, because of Gandhi's birthday on Tuesday, our Business 100 class was held today.

And the drama?  Well, George decided this was the day to do his schtick that is probably familiar to those who know him.

He is, of course, reminding the students that they will be able to see farther because they stand, or in this case sit, on the shoulders of the generations who have gone before them.

Poor Gaurav!  Of all the kids I have seen up there on George's shoulders, he was the most terrified!  Of course, the rest of the class loved it, and the camera phones were immediately capturing the scene.

I can't believe this has not yet appeared on Facebook.

Final preparations were being done today for the Hans Raj Hans Charity Sufi Concert that UFV staff and students are helping with tomorrow night.

I couldn't disappoint one of our sweetest little girls who asked me what I planned to wear to the concert.  She went on to say that the girls were all wearing Punjabi suits and I should, too. And because she wanted to introduce me to her parents, she wanted me to be "sparkly."

Sounded like a reason for a shopping trip so off I went with Dilmeet (she loves to take us shopping), and in the short time we had, this is what I bought.  Hope it is sparkly enough!

Canada is well represented abroad.......

Tonight we enjoyed a dinner at the residence of the Consul General of Canada in Chandigarh, Scott Slessor.  We met Scott at UFV Abbotsford in July, and George had met him on his tour of the Punjab a couple of years back.  He is a big fan of UFV Chandigarh and a very personable fellow.

We were joined by Guillaume who is "on loan" to Scott for a couple of months from the Canadian High Commission in Sri Lanka.

The Consular Residence is a very beautiful home that is decorated with a lot of Canadian art on loan from the National Gallery.

Scott's family has returned to Canada so he is finishing his last year on his own in Chandigarh.




The fine gentlemen standing with me are the ones who cooked and served our meal--great Indian food with a fresh green salad to start.  Scott knows what food Canadians miss most when staying in India!

Travelling across the Punjab 2 - the Road Trip.....

Here are some photos from the road--literally, as these were taken from our moving vehicle, often at speeds of 110 kph!  Some scenes will make Sukh homesick.  Some will make readers cringe.  Others will inspire future visitors.  Some may cause you to ask, "Are you really just in Saskatchewan?"

Above is a near miss approaching!  We had many of them as cars passing cars were being passed by another car--and a bus was coming at us.  It is definitely a credit to all drivers that we drove a total of nine hours on these highways, many only two lanes, and we did not see one accident.

There are vehicles of all sorts on the roads as well as pedestrians.  The slower ones, like tractors, horse or water buffalo drawn carts, bicycles and tuk tuks just move at their own pace. Everyone else just moves around them--with a lot of horn honking.

People make do with whatever means of transport they have.  That is impressive, though it is difficult and often not safe.

I am not sure if there are any laws about the loads on vehicles but if there are, they don't appear to be followed.  People riding in the front seats of cars are supposed to wear seat belts, but not those in the back.  We all belt ourselves in very securely when we ride no matter what seat.  Cautious Canadians!

Bicycles and motorbikes are loaded with all types of things.  Here are some sticks being transported-- and this is a small load.  The camera just wasn't ready for the bicycle with a ladder being held upright, or the motorbike on which the passenger was holding a window, about 10 feet x 2 feet.

There is a law requiring the use of helmets.  It is good to see that this driver complies, but the usual site is the bareheaded lady riding on the back.

As mentioned, people use what they have for transportation.  This is not just a rural scene but one found in the city as well.

These women are most amazing.  Again, the camera wasn't ready for some really good photo ops but this gives some idea of the heavy loads they carry on their heads!

These signs are leading up to a toll booth.  The father of our UFV guru in India, Gurneet, is the owner of the company that makes all of these expensive signs in the Punjab.

The new four or six lane divided highways that are being constructed are privately owned.  So, between Chandigarh and the India - Pakistan border, we went through seven toll plazas.

Tolls ranged from 22 to 38 rupees for a one-way trip.

Usually, there was someone trying to sell something to the people in the waiting vehicles.  Often it was this fresh coconut.

Much road construction is happening.  These divided expressways should keep people safer though occasionally we saw someone heading in the wrong direction.

All along the route, we saw these chimneys at the brick plants.  Maybe Jack Robertson could get a job here!

Brick construction is very popular, even for fences around rural properties.

Here it is, Saskatchewan, India!  Very flat and fertile land.  Harvesting and planting is going on at the same time.  The Chandegarh Tribune ran a story about the probability of very good winter crops this year because the monsoons were late and the soil is still moist.

This looked like a vegetable crop of some sort.

Beautiful, huge houses dot the farmland.  These appear to be very wealthy farmers.

 In contrast are the accommodations of what probably are the migrant farm workers.  Often these makeshift shelters were found beside construction sites as well.

Entrepreneurship is alive and well.  The roadsides are populated with stands selling everything.  These are inflatable toys and some have stuffed animals.

The name Punjab means five rivers.  Apparently, five (punj) and water (aab) have Persian origins although the number five in Punjabi is panj.

There are actually six rivers in the Punjab but the sixth, which runs along the western border, is not counted for some reason.

This is the Beas River and it is in the area of the dera where we visited Mohini.

Sugar cane!  Lots of it is still growing and being harvested.
Roadside carts squeeze out and sell the juice.

Occasionally, there is a sign of American fast food.  I'm not sure how KFC can create a vegetarian menu but McDonalds is moving in that direction in India.

No sign of Tim Horton's yet but our students know of them.  Maybe one of them will have the first franchise.

I am not sure WCB would approve of this worksite.  This is another example of the people doing what they have to do with the equipment and materials they have.  They are masters at improvising.  Even my dad, Matt Kallio, would have been impressed, and he, too, was a master!

Of course the highway goes through many villages.  In this one, an entrepreneur is selling another popular item--coloured plastic tubs and buckets.

The Canadian connection is strong in the Punjab. There are many, many "agents" who will help students connect with Canadian educational institutes.

We know the best one, though.  And if it is a BBA the student wants, it can be done at UFV Chandigarh!

Travelling across the Punjab.....

Right on schedule at 6:00 am Monday morning, George and I set off with Simlee, a staff member at UFV Chandigarh, and Harbans, the driver, for our journey across the Punjab to Amritsar and the India - Pakistan border.

The trip takes about 4.5 hours to travel just over 200 kilometres.  So, you can imagine there were many interesting things happening along the way.

Definitely topics for future blogs!  Here is the short version.

Our first stop was Haveli which is near Jalandhar.  This is a vegetarian Punjabi restaurant--and much more.

It was breakfast time around 8 am, so the choice was more of those delicious paranthas.

We didn't have a chance to tour the model village they have created complete with lifelike statues.

This is not a lifelike statue but our real life driver, Harbans.  He is truly an amazing driver as he weaves through trucks, cars, tractors, tuk tuks, motorbikes, bicycles, horse carts, people, cows....

He was all prepared with his head cover to visit the temple.

The Golden Temple!  And, golden it is.  Such a feeling to visit a place that you have seen so many times in photos.  This spot did not disappoint.

The temple was started in 1585 by the fourth Sikh Guru.  It has had some refurbishings over the years and the gold wasn't added until the 1800's.

We were tempted to join the Sikh faithful who were dipping into the sacred waters around the temple.

The temperature was 35 degrees at least, and the beautiful white marble was a little warm on the bare feet.

Simlee was our very able guide.  She is a devout Sikh and so was able to explain what we should do and why.

Many, many, many others had the same idea to visit the temple that day!

We joined the queue to enter inside the temple--and 90 minutes later, we did get inside.

Fortunately, the walkway is covered and there are several fans along the way, but it definitely was a crush of people.

Photos are discouraged inside and each person is given only two minutes.  The inside was much smaller than I had expected.

We were able to go up on top and so this view is from that perspective, looking at one of the four sides of the site.

 After leaving the temple, we took a short walk to the site of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre of 1919.

This is a public garden in which British troops opened fire on some Indian protestors, killing close to 400 people.

Our hotel, the Altonia Comfort Inn was the next stop.  We did a quick check in and prepared for the 30 kilometre trip to the India - Pakistan border to catch the Retreat Ceremony.

This was George's second attempt at seeing this ceremony.  On his previous trip to India, his group arrived too late.

Well, I guess it is not meant to be!  We had a little "India" experience, I think.  Our good friend, Gurneet, had worked hard through his channels to secure us access to VIP parking and VIP seating.  So, we waited in a line for 40 minutes only to be told by the soldier in charge that our car number was NOT on his list.  "Out of the line," he pointed.  There is no discussion on these matters so out of the line we went.

By the time we parked and walked back with the thousands of other spectators, there was not a chance of seeing anything.

We could hear the music and the cheers from the huge crowd so it must be quite a spectacle.



We decided then to do a little retreat ceremony of our own--that is, we retreated back to Amritsar and went shopping at the beautiful Alpha One Mall.






 BIBA is the shop and George is the man to take with you.  As you can see, it is a ladies' wear shop--and he is paying the bill!

And, we finally ate chaat!

This was kind of like deep fried pie pastry smothered in yogurt and cream.

I would describe it as fancy junk food--which makes the name of this blog all the more suitable.





Our trip back to Chandigarh today included a stop at the Dera in Beas to visit Mohini Khosla.

Unfortunately, because it is a spiritual community, we were not allowed to take any photos.  It is a the cleanest, most peaceful place we have seen in India--or any other country, for that matter.  We were able to tour some of the buildings on the many acres that are home to about 7000 people, and see the classroom where she teaches Biology.  We had a nice lunch with her and were pleased to see her looking well and happy.  We didn't spend all of the time talking about the precious grandchildren we share!