The Final Blog

Final Blog – Incredible India!

Sadly, this will be our last blog about our time in India.  We can’t believe where the year has gone; we can still remember writing the very first one from the Oberoi Hotel in New Delhi last May.  We started writing this during our time in Goa after spending  2 days back at the Oberoi in Delhi whilst Neil completed his debriefs at the British High Commission – we seem to have come full circle!

Ava enjoying a drink by the pool in Goa

Since the last Blog we celebrated the Indian Festival of Holi.  Holi is a spring festival celebrated as a festival of colours. It is a Hindu religious festival which has also become popular with people of other communities.  It meant we travelled around Gorkha Hill getting covered in various coloured dye.  Thankfully there was a water shortage in Wellington otherwise we would have got drenched as well.  Ava and Daisy were a little unsure at first, but soon got into the swing of things and we as covered in colour as both Louise and Neil

Loving the Colour

Bandari and Neil taking a break

A pink Daisy

Louise gets in on the act

A more sedate level of involvement from Ava

Asleigh (US) and James (Singapore)

The last week in Wellington was very sad, saying goodbye to all our new friends and especially to Fathima, Anandh, Vassa, Angel and Grace.  Prior to that we had a great Break-Up party at the College and 2 weeks of dinners, lunches and parties at people’s houses, plus packing up the house and our luggage, so we were exhausted by the time we left;  Most evenings we did the Indian thing of visiting numerous parties in one night!  The Break-Up party was the best party we had been to all year!  It was held in the grounds of the Officers’ Mess and was sponsored by Bacardi, so the drinks were free all night – as long as you liked Bacardi!  That is a measure of how much the Armed Forces are revered in India, that a drinks company would want to sponsor a party for over 1,000 military personnel and their wives.  The food was catered by a local hotel chain and the music was provided by a DJ who’d come down from Mumbai – it was a fantastic night!

Our extended family for the year - with Fathima, Anandh, Grace and Angel

 

The number of parties being held in Wellington has been amazing!  Everyone seemed to be hosting one last party for all their friends before they had to start packing up their houses, and we had at least 1 invitation a night for the 2 weeks running up to the end of the course.  We had a big party ourselves to celebrate the 95^th birthday of the RAF and then a smaller BBQ for our closest friends in Wellington.

Spitfire House ready for the celebrations

Anandh fixes a roaring fire

With over 100 guests - The Party in full swing!

Top Chef - Anandh at the BBQ

One interesting turn of events for our Blog was a call that Neil took from the College, informing him that they had been reading the Blog and had requested all the military photographs be removed!  Neil explained that all the photographs were of his own taking were unclassified in nature and available via open source on the internet.  However, the Indian Military is very sensitive about such photos, so Neil complied with our hosts request and removed the photos and Blog entries, which is why there are now 10 entries less on our Blog!  It was pleasing to see that the College had finally realised that we were writing a Blog, although it was little disappointing that the request came in with only 3 weeks of the course to go and most of the posts had been online for 8-10 months!

It was also a successful month of awards for both of us. Louise won a crystal vase after coming third in a putting competition, and a trophy for being the runner-up in the DSSC Tennis Open Ladies’ Singles competition (she played in the Ladies’ Doubles and Mixed Doubles too, but unfortunately went out in the first round of both).  Neil captained the International Students football team against the Indian Officers, which the Internationals won 3-2 whilst Louise was awarded a Brooch in the Sports and Past-times awards. 

Louise plays another impressive ground stroke

A chance goes begging in the football

Neil - A midfield General !?!?!?

The victorious International Officers Football Squad

Louise collects her Tennis Award

Tennis Champion

A very proud Husband

The 2 Ladies Tennis Singles Finalists

But the icing on the cake was Neil winning a prize for academic excellence on the course and being told that he was the runner-up for the Southern Star medal which is presented to the best international student on the course.  Finally, the last week came around all too quickly and we had more invitations to people’s houses for lunches, cocktails and dinners, an invitation to the Ooty Club, awards rehearsals, the graduation ceremony, the closing ceremony and packing day – it was a busy week! 

Li (Vietnam), Aarti (US) and Ashleigh (US) on Graduation Day

Neil receives his Graduation Certificate and MSc Dgree

It's all over

Our final day at college

But before we knew it, the house was all packed up, our luggage was ready, all the ceremonies were over and it was time to bid a very tearful goodbye to Fathima, Vassa, Angel and Grace.  They were all really upset to see us go, but especially to say goodbye to Daisy and Ava – Ava was the youngest child they’d ever looked after and they had all become really close to her and Daisy over the past few months.  Anandh drove us down the hill to Coimbatore where we stayed in a hotel overnight, along with half of the course it seemed!  So we had dinner with more friends and said more goodbyes, and the next day it was time to fly out of Coimbatore one last time, after another sad goodbye with Anandh.  As we write, Mark, Cathie and their boys are now living in Spitfire House on Gorkha Hill and Fathima and Anandh are busy looking after a new family.

Staying in Delhi and Goa before our return to the UK gave us the chance to ‘decompress’ and to reflect on our amazing year in India, and to have a few more last suppers with some of the good friends that we’ve met over the last 11 months.  It really has been a fantastic year which has exceeded our expectations in so many ways.  We were a bit worried about bringing a 9-month old baby here, but the girls have thrived and have loved having the extended family of Fathima, Anandh, Vassa, Angel and Grace around.  The opportunities to travel, learn new things and, most importantly, to spend time together as a family have been superb.  Now we’ve just got to work on Neil getting promoted and getting the Air Attaché job in Delhi so that we can come back again!

Neil finally got his next posting and is off to work on the Project Team responsible for introducing the Voyager tanker into the RAF, based at Abbeywood in Bristol.  We will be living in Emerson’s Green for the foreseeable future (ie the next 6-12 months!) and Louise will be off to the UAE for 6 months in July, leaving Neil to look after the girls on his own – they’d better learn to like pizza and football!  And we’ve already got a few visits to look forward to from our new Indian friends in 2013 and 2014!

So now we’re at home in the UK and enjoying catching up with all our family and friends and sorting out our new house – hopefully the weather will keep improving too!  We hope you’ve enjoyed reading our blog as much as we’ve enjoyed writing it.  We also included a link to the Gangnam Style Video that Neil made; we hope you like it!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ch_cvAA_9MI

 

This has been an iconic tour for the both of us and we’ve got some unforgettable memories of our year in India and of the new friends from all over the world that we’ve made here – we’ll definitely be back! 

The sun sets on our Indian Adventure

Delhi, Agra and the Wellington Cat Nappers!

After what seemed like a lifetime, even though it was only 3 ½ weeks, Ex KURUKSHETRA finally came to an end.  Neil enjoyed certain parts of the exercise, but felt that it was a 2 weeks exercise crammed into the 3 ½ weeks allocated!  As with all the other exercises at DSSC, no side really won the wargame, but valuable lessons were learned.  The main lesson Neil took away from the exercise was how to look busy when the Directing Staff were around. 



With the end of the exercise, the main assessment phase of the course is now complete.  Neil presented his Dissertation thesis, along with 17 other officers in his syndicate, and so the course is really on the wind down toward completion.  There are still a few minor assessment exercises remaining, but in comparison to the rest of the, course they pose no hardship. 

As we write this blog, we still have no idea where we are heading back to in the UK, but are hopeful of hearing something within the next 14 days!!  It is making things a little difficult to plan things domestically, such as housing in the UK, removals from India, removals from our UK storage, nurseries for the girls and the setting up of childcare.  Added to this, Louise only has 7 weeks after her return to get ready to deploy to the UAE.  So hopefully we’ll get a posting soon.

Since we lost Wellington the Cat and Hannah the dog, to poison, at Christmas, we have taken on 2 new cats, Lilly and Billy, to keep the rats away. We also have a dog called Bobbie, it was Bob but we recently found out that he was a she, so Bob became Bobbie!  Bobbie keeps the monkeys out of the back garden; that’s the primates not the cool sixties rock band. 

Bobbie the Dog

Anyway, recently, Billy went missing, which is quite unlike him.  We thought he may have wandered off for the day, but after he didn’t return for his evening feed and favorite place to sleep we grew concerned that something had happened to him.  Having watched many films and TV shows about how to deal with kidnappings, Neil put the word out ‘on the street’ through Anandh that anyone providing information that would lead to the safe return of Billy would be heftily rewarded….well 1000 Rupees at least.  Within 2 hours of the word getting out there, one of the contract builders came and spoke to Anandh to let him know that the day before he had seen one of the soldiers on Gorkha Hill take a white cat, matching Billy’s description, and place him in a box and take him off the hill.  Luckily, Neil knew one of the Officers from the Regiment of the soldier and went and asked for his help.  He was told not to worry and a call was placed to ‘…return the cat within 1 hour’.  And within an hour Billy was returned to us!!  The contractor was duly rewarded, and we now keep a much closer watch on all the animals.  Neil was particularly pleased, as he feels his ‘street knowledge’ has paid dividends; Louise wasn’t as impressed as she felt that paying money potentially alerts future cat-nappers that we’re a soft touch financially!!

Billy the Cat back safe and sound!

Our final End-of-Tutorial break saw us head up to Delhi, so we could see the sights of the old town, as well as head out to Agra to visit one of the Seven Wonders of the World; the Taj Mahal.  As soon as lectures had finished on the Thursday, we raced to Coimbatore and caught a flight to Delhi, landing at 2230 hrs.  Louise had planned a whistle-stop itinerary, with Neil and the girls hardly given a minutes rest.  An early start on the Friday morning saw us head out on a Rickshaw Tour of Old Delhi.  Where we were taken through winding streets, amazing spice markets, dodged hectic traffic and saw masses of people out on the streets. 

Out on the Rickshaw Tour of Old Delhi

The site of the first Indian Flag to be raised after Independence

In fact, if you pictured a vision of India, Old Delhi would be the scenery that would pop into the minds of many!  Some of the streets we were taken down were so small you wouldn’t have ventured into them on a normal bicycle, let alone a rickshaw. Thankfully the riders were well trained and highly skilled and we safely navigated all the small streets and hectic junctions.  Louise and Neil wore radio headsets that allowed them to listen to the commentary from the tour guide, whist Daisy and Ava enjoyed the sights and sounds.  We all enjoyed it and we saw a lot of the Old city.  Daisy and Ava had a great time and still found time to have a little snooze as we were cycled around. 

Sacks of chilis in the Old Delhi Spice Market

Ava and Neil on their Rickshaw

Ava takes it all in!

The cycle tour came to an end with a light lunch of Indian delicacies, but there was no time for us to hang around as we headed off to the Delhi Main Railway Station to catch a train up to Agra.  They say that if you want to see life in India, then spend an hour on the platform of the Delhi railway station.  Unfortunately, due to a late train we got to spend 2 ½ hours waiting on the platform.  There was no information available, but thankfully the girls kept themselves amused, with Daisy teaching an imaginary class in school and Ava munching her way through 2 packets of crisps.  Daisy than started singing a song that Louise and Neil hadn’t heard before.  We soon realised that the she was singing in Hindi, and a few of the local people around us started to take notice and were smiling.  As the song finished, Daisy raised her left arm and shouted ‘Jai Hind’ 3 times; we then realised that she had been singing the Indian National Anthem that she had learned in school.  Everyone around us was very impressed and Louise and Neil were very proud.  She just needs to learn the English and Welsh National Anthems now.  Neil did start to teach her the Welsh National Anthem on the train, but as he’s not too sure of the words himself, she soon lost interest; Bampa Jones will have to rectify that when we return home.

Daisy - Cheeky Grin!

Louise in Delhi

We finally got on the train and settled into a comfortable sleeper cabin that would allow the girls to stretch out and relax.  In the cabin were 2 Indian gentleman; one turned out to be the 1-star Commandant of the Indian Border Security Force Academy and the other the 2-star Head of India’s Railway Security.  It therefore meant that our cabin had an Armed Guard for the whole journey and when we stopped at various stations along the way, the security forces would come on board and serve us all tea and biscuits!! 

On board our train to Agra

Any hope of the girls sleeping soon evaporated as they enjoyed the train journey and the attention of our cabin guests.  After 3 hours on board we bade our farewells and arrived at Agra Main Station where we were taken to our hotel, met by our guide for the next day and headed off for an early night, as Louise had us booked for an early start again, so we could see the Taj Mahal at sunrise!

Early the next morning we were queuing to enter the Taj Mahal by 7am to see the sun rise.  We had our own individual guide to take us around the site and he gave us all the advice we needed as we queued along with around 300 other western tourists.  As we entered the grounds of the Taj, the sun was starting to rise and as we set our eyes upon the iconic building, the sun was shining wonderfully to light up the Rajistan marble. 

The Taj Mahal

Family Jones at the Taj Mahal

Despite the crowds, we managed to get some good views and some great photos with Louise, Neil and Daisy even getting quite athletic to get a good shot.  Our guide did his best to recount the history and Neil and Louise did manage to listen to some of it whilst keeping an eye on a wondering Daisy and Ava.  The Taj was impressive, if a little tourist-ridden, but we both enjoyed our visit and headed back to the hotel for a hearty breakfast.

Neil feeling athletic!

Beautiful white against blue

The entrance to the Taj Mahal

Louise in perfect symmetry

After a swim for Daisy, we headed to Agra Fort, one of the finest Mughal forts in India.  The massive red sandstone construction was built in 1565 and was later turned into a palace.  Daisy slept for the whole tour, allowing Neil and Louise to listen to the guide in more detail.  They heard all about the Mughals, Emperor Akbar and his grandson, Shah Jahan, who was the richest man in the world at that time.  We saw the whole fort and were impressed by the harem – the Emperor had over 8,000 concubines for his pleasure, although in the most intimate of moments, they were all drugged with opium to reduce the risk of an assassination attempt. 

Ava and Daisy at the Agra Fort

With the tour of the Fort complete, we were driven back to Delhi after some lunch, on the new Delhi-Agra Highway, an impressive 6-lane highway that had hardly any other cars on it.  This was, without doubt, the best road we’d been on during our time in India!  A quiet meal in the hotel allowed Neil to settle down and enjoy the texts from home as his parents kept sending him regular updates on the Wales vs England rugby match; as you can imagine, he was very happy with the result!  So a hectic 3 ½ days allowed us to see more of Delhi than an initial visit last May, as well as finally get to see the Taj Mahal.

As we’d seen on the railway platform in Delhi, Daisy had been learning a number of Hindi songs for school Annual Day.  The Coonoor Club was decorated for the event and each class made their way onto the stage to sing and dance their way through the songs they had spent weeks learning and practicing. 

The Coomoor Club all decorated for Daisy's School Day

Singing the Indian National Song

Daisy’s turn came and she made her way onto stage; she appeared a little nervous until she caught sight of her Mummy and Daddy, after which she looked very confident.  She danced well to a rendition of “If You’re Happy and You Know It”, although she did get close to spinning off the stage at one point!  She also sang one the Indian national songs; a video of her fantastic performance is attached below, we hope you enjoy it.

Daisy's Annual Day Performance

Our final entry of this blog chapter was our attendance at the Purple Day Ball.  The Army Symphony Band performed a number of songs and musical numbers, before we headed to the bar for drinking, eating and dancing. 

Heading off to the Purple Day Ball

The Army Symphony Band in full swing

The Mess Decorations for the Purple Day

Neil also got to play his DSSC student film version of Gangnam Style, with the video going down a storm.  We wanted to put it on the blog, but security restrictions in India prevent us from doing so; we’ll just have to wait till we get home!

So, only one more blog entry to go as we have only 4 ½ weeks left in India now.  We’ll hopefully have a posting and a house soon, and will get to see you all soon too.  The number of invites we’re now getting to parties is around 4 or 5 a week, so our social life is off the scale!  We’ll let you know how all our socialising is going next time…




Daisy does a 'Rolf Harris'

The Taj Mahal

Daisy and Louise jumping for joy!

Louise and her girls taking a rest in Old Delhi

Daisy