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Hoshiarpur and Hamirpur

November 9, 2008

This was the day of the District 3070 Foundation Seminar in Hoshiarpur where I had been invited by District Governor Dr. Vinod Sharma to be the Guest of Honor. This meeting was the main reason for my trip to India. About 200 people were in attendance. We were about 1 hour late driving from Ludhiana, but the meeting only just started when we arrived. I guess this is the way it works in India. It took another 30 minutes to announce all the VIPs, garland them, light the lantern, sing the National Anthem, etc. Since I arrived at the last minute, I had no idea which microphone I was going to use, where I could set my computer, had no time to check the wireless internet connection, and was not really sure how long they wanted me to speak, so I was quite anxious.

I spoke for about 45 minutes (nobody complained, so this must have been the correct length), first giving some basic information about Matching Grants, then doing a live demonstration of the Matching Grants Website. The power went off in the middle of my demonstration, and they had to start the backup generator. My laptop was fine because it was on batteries, but the microphone and the projector were off for a couple of minutes. Nevertheless the meeting went on, and it was about 3 or 4 pm. when we could have the buffet "luncheon" that was planned after the Seminar. I did not mind having lunch that late because I still had some jetlag anyway. I saw many friends at this meeting that I had met during my first 2 trips to India.

November 10, 2008

After the Foundation Seminar, I went to Hamirpur to spend a few days with District Governor Dr. Vinod Sharma. I would stay until the 12th, when he would have to leave to attend his Zone Institute in Agra.

On the first morning in Hamirpur, I went with Vinod's son and a couple of Rotarians to visit the Tira Sujampur Fort. This is similar to the Kangra fort I had visited on a previous trip (see photo with Rotarian VJ Sharma on page 12). The fort was built in 1750 by Maharaja Abhay Chandra. In the reign of Maharaja Sansar Chandra (golden age of the Kangra Kingdom), this fort was renowned throughout India, and was considered one of the most beautiful palaces in the Himalayas. The fort was heavily damaged by an earthquake in 1905.

There was a great view from there, so I took with me my special device to take panoramas. This is the GigaPan machine. It takes a series of photos in lines and columns, and the photos can be assembled later on the computer to get one huge high resolution photo. These panoramas can be uploaded to the www.gigapan.org website where anybody can look at them and "explore them". Give it a try, there are tons of interesting panoramas from all over the world on this website. It is also possible to place and explore the panoramas in Google Earth. I am planning to take more panoramas when I am in Dharamsala in a few days. Check out the list of all my panoramas on the GigaPan website.

After the fort, we went to a school function to celebrate a donation of kindergarten books by the Hamirpur Rotary Club. This school is run by the family (mother, sister, and wife) of the District Secretary Pankaj Lakhanpal. I said a few words about Rotary to the kids, and especially the members of the Interact club.

In the evening, we had the official meeting of the Hamirpur Rotary Club. I was the guest speaker. DG Vinod Sharma asked me to show some of the Rotary videos I had on my laptop, so I played the trailer of my District Conference, another clip about Promoting Peace through Rotary in District 5340, and some extract from our own District 5340 Foundation Seminar (parts of my presentation on Matching Grants in 2004). I also did a quick live demonstration of the Matching Grants Website.

November 11, 2008

The next day we went to visit a couple of rural hospitals that are supported by the Hamirpur Rotary Club. Vinod Sharma donated some incubators to the first hospital we visited. I got intrigued by a pricing chart I saw on the wall of the dental unit of the hospital. It costs 10 rupees to have a "minor temporary filling" (whatever this means), which is about 20 cents, and it costs 100 rupees to have a "total extraction", which is about 2 dollars. I wonder if "total" means all of one tooth, or all the teeth... I should bring this chart back to my dentist in San Diego!

Then we went to the Sir Ganga Ram Medical Center in the village of Dasmal. We have a matching grant in progress to buy some dialysis medical equipment. This is needed for the diabetes patients, and diabetes is very high in India.

In the evening, I met with the Rotaract Club of Hamirpur. They have been doing for many years a great project to give extra tutoring in the evening to the kids of poor migrant workers in the area.