Pondicherry and Remembrance Sunday

Well, while Neil was away enjoying himself on his trip to the north east of India, Nana and Grandad came to keep the rest of the family company in Wellington.  We had a lovely fortnight with them visiting Ooty, riding the Toy Train, going to Yoga (just Nana!) and generally showing them the sights of the Nilgiris.  Neil got back a few days before they left and we were all very sad to see them go, but at least we know that it’s only 6 months now until we’ll see them again.

Waiting for the Toy Train to Ooty, with Nana and Grandad

Louise took part in her big dance event at the last Ladies Meet.  It went very well and she didn’t embarrass herself too much.  There is a video of the whole thing, but this is under close guard at the moment!  Neil has also finished another term of his course (3 of 6) so he was allowed a long weekend off and we went to Pondicherry, on the east coast of Tamil Nadu, for a few days.  It was very hot and humid there, but we managed to see quite a lot of the town, which still has a very French influence.  We also visited Mamallapuram on the way there.  Mamallapuram is a UNESCO World Heritage site which has several historic temples and monuments all built between the 7^th and 9^th centuries.  We had a good look round one of the best of the sites, before the heat overcame the girls and their tempers, and we had to retreat to the air-conditioned comfort of the car again.  Pondicherry was lovely.  Quite small, but right on the coast and our hotel was on the beach-front promenade with a nice pool for Daisy.  The French influence also meant good food!  Steak and frites, croissant, baguettes, pain au chocolat, cheese, basil, proper ham and also sausages!  Lots of things that we don’t get very often in Wellington, or if we do, they’re not very authentic, but the bread especially, was amazing in Pondicherry.  Or maybe we’re just easily pleased after 6 months of living in a remote part of India!

Five Rathas site at Mamallapuram

Strolling along the Promenade at Night

For Neil the course has moved into the Joint Exercise phase, with the first combination of forces involving the Navy and the Air Force.  Neil was selected to be the 1 Star Officer in charge of all Maritime Air Operations, which was a challenge and one he enjoyed as he strutted around pretending to be a pilot.  That said, he was soon brought down to earth when he realised he had no staff, and all his inputs would require quite a lot of writing.  The exercise lasted a week, with quite long hours and rather a lot of frustration.  Initially the Navy and Air Force were working as separate entities, so the joint co-operation was very limited.  However, as the exercise progressed, so the integration improved, however, as the overall 2-star debriefing stated, on a scale of 1 to 10, we are at about 3!  And Neil thinks that was being generous.  There was quite a bit of hanging about as well, but Neil managed to amuse himself on one of the Samsung Mobile Phone games, carrying out Maritime Strikes in an F-18 and competing with a Mirage F2000 and Mig-29 Navy pilot on Carrier landings.  He didn’t do too badly in the competition; clearly his hours with the RAF MicroLight Association are paying off.  Next up for Neil is a 3-week exercise with the Indian Army.  He has promised his sponsor student, Kash that he will pay 50 Rupees for every time he swears in frustration at the Army and has set aside 5000 rupees for the occasion!

This weekend we should have been in Delhi for Remembrance Sunday, but for the first time in many years, the College wouldn’t allow the students the time off, so we did our best to mark the occasion here instead.  There are about 60 Commonwealth War Graves in Wellington Cemetery, so we went there on Sunday morning, along with the Australian and Canadian officers and their families, and had our own Remembrance Service, 2-minute silence at 11am and a wreath-laying ceremony.  It was a lovely ceremony, simple, but personal.  Each of the 5 officers on the course laid a wreath on a grave and on all the other graves of British servicemen we laid a small garland of jasmine.  The weather was quite misty and eerie during the service, but we all agreed that it was the warmest weather we’d ever experienced for a Remembrance Service before!  And after the Service, we all went back to the Army house for lunch and drinks and spent most of the afternoon there marking the occasion…

The Five Officers and Wreaths

About to lay our Wreath

Paying our Respects