"You must be the change.......

.....you wish to see in the world."
         Mahatma Gandhi


Happy Birthday, Mr. Gandhi!

Born October 2, 1869



You have contributed much more to this country than the holiday our students will enjoy tomorrow.

"The real ornament of woman is her character, her  purity."
                   Gandhi



This beautiful woman is our landlady, Mrs. Sharma.  She always has a smile on her face and a warm greeting.  

At UFV Chandigarh,

it begins with this......

BUS 203 students working in teams to complete a number of tasks.

And, becomes this.

Competent, thoughtful, impressive, professional presentations......

 ......by second year students who, in this task, had to present summaries of articles from the Harvard Business Review.

Could I have done as well at their age?  Was Harvard even invented when I was their age?


"Those who know how to think need no teachers," said Gandhi.

Here are the teachers and other staff members.  Our esteemed leader, Gurneet, is off to meetings and a conference in Canada so we sent him this greeting via Facebook.

Of course, this was all staged and we hurried back to our duties after the "pic was clicked."

Today we welcomed back UFV's marketing man, our housemate, aka Chiko, Shah Rukh Khan or, simply, Adi, who has been on leave for a month.

It is good to have him back in the family!

And the everyday activities of life go on.

George sets out the fixings for his now internationally famous, healthy breakfast.

Here we buy our bananas fresh off the vendor's cart, and we still manage to find a few mangos although it is the end of the season.

Gandhi said, "It is health that is real wealth and not pieces of gold and silver."

Laundry is done with our little washer/dryer combination.



I don't think Gandhi had any wise words about doing laundry!

The rains and humidity are subsiding so more often now, the bright sunshine and mild breeze can do the drying in less than one hour.

Just like Vancouver, Chandigarh is undergoing street repairs and repaving. Just like Vancouver, one is likely to encounter big delays in travel around the city.

I have been trained by my brother, Monty, who is in the business, to make note of road resurfacing projects.

The equipment may not be the latest but the results are very good.

Safety requirements are not quite as stringent as they are in Canada, though.

All around the city, homes are being renovated.  Our neighbourhood is no exception.

We watched these men carefully lower a heavy staircase from the roof of this three-storey home using only a rope and their strength.  There were several sidewalk superintendents advising them!

I again marvel at the ingenuity of the people.  They do what they must do with the tools they have at hand.

Gandhi said, "The greatness of a nation can be judged by the way its animals are treated."

Well, judging from the freedom and respect being given to the cows, India is a great nation.

All around the city, flowers are blooming.  Life is good!  We are happy!






"Happiness is when what you think, what you say and what you do are in harmony."

 Thank you, Mahatma Gandhi--and Happy Birthday!

Who let the cows out?

Like the swallows of Capistrano, the cows are returning to Chandigarh!

I haven't read much about this issue lately, but many residents were not too happy when the Municipal Corporation was rounding up the strays.

A Guest Appearance!  We were invited to speak to a visiting group of students from the new campus of SD College.  SD College is our host campus here in Chandigarh, but they have recently opened Kheri-Gurna Campus near Patiala.  There they are creating a new model of college education.

Last week, Mushtaq Sir had his future school company students involved in a team building exercise.

In teams of six, their task was to move the glass of water from the centre of the large circle and empty its contents into another glass outside the circle.

Sounds easy except--they could not step inside the large circle, and the only tools he provided were a ball of string, some elastic bands and a cutting tool.

Students could use whatever they found around the campus and they went hunting.

Using various means, the tools from inside the circle were retrieved.

So very many clever attempts were made.

But, alas, after an hour, no one had been successful.

Of course, I knew how to do it--only because Mushtaq Sir told me.  I thought it was pretty much impossible.

Finally, Sir showed them how it was done!  It wasn't simple, but it was effective.

I am sorry that I can't give away the solution in a public blog.....

Meanwhile, on the food front (there is always a food front), Bethany "baked" a cheesecake which she generously shared with us.

George went to the sweet shop--and had to be dragged away.

Dilmeet's Mom prepared another of her super dinners for us.

She has a very clever method of using her pressure cooker pot to make naan.

Mrs. Bhasin makes a different type of bread every time we visit.

Just a little finishing up and dinner is served!

While dinner preparation is happening in the kitchen, the men engage in their usual solving of the world's problems.

Real Chandigarh Chaat!!!  Ninni made this appetizer dish for us when we visited the Anand's on Sunday.

My one taste of restaurant chaat last year didn't really impress me, but this certainly did!!!

Paneer and paranthas also came from Ninni's kitchen.  Yumm!

We had been watching a structure like this rise up in the exhibition grounds in Sector 34 and couldn't imagine what it was going to be.

On Sunday, we went down to see what it had become.

Of course, festival season is just about upon us and the exhibition grounds will be filled with action from now until Diwali.

Can you believe that a web of bamboo sticks could become a huge replica of the Titanic?  This is the entrance to the midway, complete with two naval officers standing at the bottom of the ramp.

The finishing touches are still being done--like the lifeboats which turned out to be quite important to the Titanic.

No factory-manufactured pieces for this ship!  The craftsman were working with limited tools to put this amazing structure together.

And the rides are ready to go!

As usual, the new batch of BUS 100 students got to meet Colleen Bell via technology for their UFV Library orientation.  Colleen did a late Sunday night presentation in Abbotsford so she could talk to George's students on Monday morning in Chandigarh.

Amidst this wonderful and comfortable life we and many others have, there are reminders of those who have nothing.

As we walked by our neighbourhood park the other day, we saw a young boy of about six sitting on a blanket on the dirty parking lot, cradling and comforting his much younger brother.  That little one was very ill and in so much distress.

I didn't need to take a photo.  The image is still so vivid in my mind..............

Something to Sing About........

This Land of Ours!

We are getting better and singing adds some variety to the English Support class activities.

Connecting with Canada in Chandigarh

On Thursday, we joined other Canadians abroad and some friends of Canada at the monthly social held at the Consulate.

Urvashi Sandhu is an employee at the Consulate and also the mother of a UFV Chandigarh student.

The Consulate and UFV Chandigarh are missing former Consul General Scott Slessor.  The staff is awaiting the appointment of Scott's replacement.

Abbotsford was well represented at this month's event with five young interns and two old instructors joining the celebrations.

Friday!  Another dinner out and another new restaurant for us.  Ghazal is a very classy spot to dine in Sector 17, and we accompanied the Anands to sample a sizzler.

And sizzling it was!  This was the most delicious, and largest, ground chicken patty I have ever had.  It was served sizzling hot on a bed of spinach.

No surprise when Gurneet is around.  No matter how large the dinner, we must stop at Giani's for ice cream after.

 Gurneet's Bad Day (A Children's Story?)

On Saturday, Gurneet had a very bad.  "Where is my bag?" he said in the morning.  "It contains my life!  It has my computer and my backup drive."  He was in a panic and accused everyone of playing a prank.  But no one knew where it was--except Radhe.  Fortunately, he had found it outside on the step the night before and put it away safely.  Gurneet bought us all Indian Chinese for lunch to celebrate!  Minutes later, Gurneet said, "Where are my car keys?  I have now spilled food on my shirt and must go home to change."  Again, panic and accusations.  The keys were found.  At the end of the day, Gurneet was back to saying, "Where is my bag?"

The lesson in this story?  Even good guys have bad days!

On Sunday, we took a sentimental journey back to our old neighbourhood and the park where we jogged many kilometres last year.  Terraced Garden is just a 25 minute walk from our new guest house in Sector 44.

Work has begun to prepare the beds for planting.  By the time we leave in December, the park will be in bloom with all varieties of chrysanthemums.

We weren't surprised to see a friendly and familiar face when we arrived at the park.

UMT Barbers are still doing a great business everywhere around the city.

Monday's Organizational Behaviour class was busy working in teams that were formed based on their learning styles.

I think the differences in the ideas generated convinced even the skeptics that we learn and think in many different ways--and they are all good!

We had a huge storm on Sunday evening.  Lightning!  Thunder!  Strong Winds!

Many trees, dry after the long, hot summer, just broke apart or toppled over.

On the positive side, the storm seems to have cleared the air.  It is fresher and less humid.

On a very sad note, we learned that a student at SD College (where our campus is located) was killed in the storm when a brick wall fell on him.