The Course begins...

Well the first week of College seems to have gone well, although it’s not over yet, as they work on Saturdays here!  Neil has to wear suits 4 days a week and uniform for 2 days a week, and he’s really enjoying the requirement to wear a jacket and tie in a hot, stuffy lecture hall!  The wives were all invited for the first 2 days, which mainly covered information on India, Wellington, the course, and introductions from all the 34 international students, which were really interesting.  Tomorrow, Louise is invited again for 2 hours, this time to find out a bit about the local area, and learn some Hindi and Tamil!  And on Sunday we’re being taken on a trip to Ooty and Pykora, which should be fun. 

The other piece of excitement this week was a flood in the apartment upstairs from us.  We were woken by Daisy at 6 one morning, and when Louise got up to get her milk, she found water leaking through the kitchen ceiling.  From our back garden we could hear what sounded like the bath in full flow in the empty upstairs flat.  It turned out that the workmen who had been in the previous day had left all the taps open and when the local pump station had opened that morning, the flat had started flooding. Luckily, Anandh knew where an external stopcock was and managed to put a stop to the water which by now, was pouring out of every overflow pipe around our apartment.  He said that it looked like there was about 3 ft of water in the flat above. 

On the Golf Course with the Malaysian MiG 29 Pilot

So to the golf course.  Neil had been promised a lush green course, with challenging holes set in the tea hills of the Nilgiris Hills.  He has not been disappointed and has managed to play there 3 times already.  He was also told that the high altitude here would help his ball fly further, unfortunately he has to hit it straight first!!  The course itself is beautiful and was built by the British and is now a part of the Wellington Gymkhana Club.  It is an extremely challenging course with a number of the holes playing directly over the driving range, making those shots a form of suicide golf, particularly for those facing Neil’s shots!  The driving range also offers the opportunity to improve your game, but here they don’t have a buggy to collect the balls.  Young boys of 6 and 7 run around after the balls on the driving range and collect them, risking life and limb avoiding the balls raining in from everywhere.  To be a member of the course costs a staggering £4 a month, with Neil able to play all the golf he can for that cost alone!  The Directing Staff have said that the International Students should play as much golf as they can before the full course starts, so Neil has been trying to take up this challenge.  When he went for his first game, Neil found that there was a dedicated caddie for the RAF student!  Martin, the RAF Caddie, is also a qualified golf coach...so for £3 a round Martin caddies for Neil and for another £3 an hour, he gives golf lessons.  India is definitely the place to play golf!  During the evening, Bison wander down from the hills to the streams littering the course, and so unique rules are in play where you can replace your ball if it lands in a Bison footprint, or worse, Bison poo!!  Neil’s golf has taken a bit of battering since he’s been here, but he’s determined to improve with Martin’s help...otherwise he’s said he’s taking up darts when he gets back.

Jubilee party tomorrow with afternoon tea, so we’ll tell you all about that and the trip to Ooty next time....

Daisy helping Anandh wash the car