Hello, all!  We had a wonderful time on January 26, India’s Republic Day.  We began the day in Gaya.  We visited an elementary school for their celebration.  They seated us as guests of honor.  We helped raise the flag, listened to many emotional speeches about the occasion, and even got to inspect the students who were standing at attention.  It was humbling to be part of a celebration for a holiday in which Indians take such pride. 

After our school visit, we got in the car for a long drive to Patna, the capital city of the state of Bihar.  As soon as we arrived, our rotarian friends picked us up and whisked us off to the governor’s mansion.  At first we thought they were talking about the District Governor for this rotary district, but no.  They took us the to the governor of Bihar!  I haven’t even met an American governor.  They took us into a nice conference room, where the governor joined us and asked us some questions about our trip.  He then invited us to a tea where several Bihar VIPs were attending in honor of Republic Day.  It was very nice to meet and mingle with so many established, influential people. 

The rotarians in Patna have been very good to us.  We’ve seen a lot of rotary projects, a school, a hospital, and many other fascinating sites.  Dr. Kandelwhal (I hope I spelled that right!), the DG, and his wife, Dr. Poonam, have taken excellent care of us.  With our trip almost at the end, we have been doing a lot of reflecting on our experiences so far.  Though there have been a few rough moments, we have many many fond memories, and we are leaving India much richer in friendships than we were when we arrived.  I know that we will keep in touch with many of the wonderful people we have met, and I want to take the opportunity to say thank you to all who have helped us along the way.

 I especially want to thank my host famlies – The Kalsi family in Ranchi (Navjeet, I told the DG that you should have a very important position in rotary someday soon, because you’ve taken such good care of us this whole trip!), Ronny & Marian D’Costa in Jamshedpur, Rajdeep and Amardeep Kumar (and family) in Bokaro, Gagan and Vinita Dhudani in Dhanbad, the Sahay family in Giridhi, all the rotarians in Rajgir, the Prakash family in Gaya, and the (other) Prakash family in Patna.  I hope I spelled all of your names right, and I know you will forgive me if I have made a mistake.  (I’m writing this from memory, and though I have grown a little more accustomed to Indian names, I still struggle with spellings and pronunciations at times.) 

 Thanks to you all, and I will see my US friends in a couple of days!

 Love,

Rebecca