First day at the dam site .. January 31, 2017

After a good night's sleep, and a very filling breakfast, we departed our riverside resort onboard 15 passenger buses, which I refer to as "busettes" and headed to the village where we would be working on the construction of two water catchment dams. As I have tried to describe before, a water catchment dam simply "catches" or holds back the raging water caused by the monsoons each year.  After hundreds of years, monsoons carve riverbeds in the earth, and shortly after the end of the monsoon season, these same riverbeds dry up as they leave scars of their brief presence. By building of dams,  when the rains of the monsoons come, because of our efforts, the flood waters are caught and the villagers which live in the vicinity of the catchment dams, will benefit from the reservoirs created and will be able to create gravity-fed irrigation for growing up to three crops each year.

When we arrived at the village, and disembarked from our busettes, we were greeted by the most enthusiastic brass band of four players. Many of us were greeted not only by  the Panchayjat (5 member city or village council) but several hundred villagers who were so very grateful for us being there in their village. 

OVER THE RIVER AND THROUGH THE WOODS??? JANUARY 30, 2017

After a hearty breakfast and having our bags down in the lobby before 7:30, the porters from the hotel and our driver and Porter loaded all of our bags into the back of the bus. Each of us was to stand at the back of the bus and watch as our own bags were loaded and then we boarded the bus for at least an eight hour ride to our destination in the Punjab - ANANDPUR SAHIB. We had learned that this location is one of the holy sites for the Sikhs and we would come to learn more at our arrival at the river resort would call home for the next for days.
Most of us settled down to catch a bit more sleep along the way. Some of the group had stayed up into the wee hours, partying a bit too hardy so were under the weather. About three hours into the trip we stopped for a rest stop and toilet break. Sanjiv, who was driving in his car, went on ahead to scout out a roadside restaurant suitable for us to stop for lunch. When we finally reached the restaurant, I think most of us were surprised to see signs for SUBWAY and BASKIN-ROBBINS ICE CREAM. Most felt this had to be an error, but not at all. Following a delicious lunch, a few of us ventured down to the ground level and found the doors open and ready for business. BASKIN-ROBBINS was the big draw and when I saw they offered black currant ice cream, I knew I was home in India and gave into temptation. I was not disappointed.
We then boarded our bus for the last leg to ANANDPUR SAHIB. Little did we know we were in for an adventure.
As we got closer to our destination, we noted more and more colorfully turbaned Sikhs along the roadside, working at their craft of auto repair, home construction and roadside excavation. The roads kept getting narrower and narrower until finally some of us thought our bus would not make it through, at least without greasing the sides of the bus to help us slide through. Even our Porter, Bobby, had to get out a few times to hold electrical wires aside to allow safe passage.
At one spot, a heifer and a calf were running a race down the road toward us with no signs of stopping! Seriously, they were racing headlong at us. About five feet before collision, they stopped abruptly, turned and hurtled back from the way they came. They turned into a yard and we thought we were rid of this thirty seconds of animal circus entertainment. Nay, nay! In a few seconds, back out of the yard they came but turned away from the bus and ran forward. Little did we know there was a natural obstacle ahead... a flowing river. And you guessed it, no bridge!!!
Sanjiv in his white Mercedes eased his way down the embankment, quite tentatively, and some of us thought we might be wading across the river. Our bus driver was also guiding our coach down the embankment. Just then, a small black car screened by the left side of the bus, down the embankment and plunged into the river and maneuvered across. Undaunted now and not to be outdone, Sanjiv pushed forward and across. Now it was our turn and over the river we went! The next trick was for our driver to pull forward and then back and forth to turn the bus so we could travel along the riverside to another tight turn to the left and then a right as we reached out oasis - our own permanent "tent village" where our accommodations were small buildings constructed of smooth and rounded river rock and poplar wood, native to the area. We were greeted by some familiar faces of those who have worked at our previous dam site tent compounds, as well as several ROTARIANS from the Rotary Club of Delhi-Megapolis.
We had a social hour with snacks and scotch and wine, followed by a wonderful dinner and campfire. At about 9:30,  most of us turned in for the night.
(Please note that when I can figure out how to transfer photos, I will do so, but wanted to keep our readers informed)

National immunization Day - January 29, 2017

After only about two hours of sleep at Hotel,  we got up at 5 o'clock in the morning, with a wake up call, showered  and dressed for the day. We went down to the lobby and meet all of the other team members who had arrived into Delhi at various times on the 28th. JT and I sorted through the sizes of the team shirts and gathered them together and passed them out, along with the team badges. We then ate a very hearty breakfast and got ready to board the bus for a two hour ride to the Mewat district for working to distribute polio vaccine to children in the village of Punhana. Along the way, we met up with a number of Rotarians from the Delhi-Megapolis Club, who were joining us for the day.

Once we had finally arrived, and disembarked from our bus, we walked through the streets to the schoolyard where we would gather and then meet up with the drummers, who would lead us through the streets to the various distribution sites. With drums beating and hands clapping, we snaked or way through streets and alleys and met some drivers who would try to get us to our appointed locations. PDG Magda Baggett and her husband PDG David Baggett from North Carolina were going to be working with J.T. and me. We crammed into a vehicle with JT sitting in the back seat on their laps as our driver tried following directions to the site. Along the way, we came face to face with a Land Rover coming toward us in a very narrow (does car mirrors scraping the walls or the merchandise displayed in the front of tiny shops create the picture?), because our vehicle was smaller and older than the one facing us, it was we who had to back down the alley to a point where we could turn around. At one point, or driver got out of the car and a young man jumped in and once he found reverse, he proceeded to back up, without another scratch!!!

We went round the other way and finally got out of the car and began to walk to our distribution site, near the entrance to a school. Three women from the village were already there, giving out the polio vaccine drops to the neighborhood children. 

At first, I believe these women misunderstood why we were there, but after a few words and gestures, we made it clear that all four of us were there to immunize the children. Although most of the kids had arrived and been immunized prior to our arrival, we were pleased to be able to be reassured that the children we DID immunize, would never suffer the paralysis, and possible death from polio.  Each of us was able to give the life saving drops, as well as to mark each child's left pinky finger with a permanent purple ink marker, to indicate they had been immunized. We had also been given some temporary tattoos of butterflies by another team member, Drexel Smith, from California. These were a big hit with the children, once JT instructed us as to how to apply them... He actually read the directions!!!

The biggest thrill of the day for me was to hear JT, nonchalantly evaluate his day to Rotary Foundation Trustee, Sushil Gupta, that he had made some new friends with the boys in the village, after SAVING A FEW LIVES!!! 

After finishing with the NID, we crammed back into one of the vehicles and eventually returned to the bus to head back to lunch in Sohna at the Suryanch Hotel. Most of us were actually pretty jet-lagged and really wanted to return to our hotel for sleep and maybe dinner and an early evening.

Made it Part Way, January 27,2017

I met my grandson this morning before 7 o'clock.  We loaded up the car and drove to Portland. On the way in we saw a spectacular Sunrise, which indicated to me that we were going to have a fantastic experience with Rotary Dream Team India 2017.
When we arrive to the airport we offloaded all of the bags and I parked the car. We then checked in at the United Airlines desk and found that not only did we have to pay for two extra bags which we understood we were going to have to do. We also had to pay for excess weight of his bag which weighed 69.5 pounds. So the day started out amazingly exciting. Never a dull moment when you travel with a Rotary Dream Team.
Yesterday at the office, due to a fraudulent transaction on my credit card, I received a new replacement credit card. When I went to use that new credit card this morning at the United Airlines desk, the card was rejected. We were finally able to straighten out that mess and cleared through immigration and security and then settle down to have a nice breakfast and wait for the flight to leave.
When we finally got off the ground our flight was relatively uneventful. We arrived at Newark Liberty Airport and had lunch. Sometime about 1 o'clock this afternoon, I received a text message and a phone call from one of my team members, Pete Miller, and he and Amy, the incoming president of his Rotary Club had arrived and decided that they wanted to get together in the United Club Lounge.
We have been enjoying the quiet and the civility of the club Lounge for a couple of hours now. I'm now sitting in the business Center and decided I wanted to post something to the blog. The only problem is that I'm not able to connect to the internet with my laptop and so I am actually dictating this blog entry into my phone. I hope that it is understandable and won't cause any trouble.
We have had a few snacks and JT has worked on his homework assignments. We will now grab something to eat for dinner and then head down towards the gate C 102 where we will board our plane which basically will serve as our home for the next 18 or 19 hours.
Once we have had dinner on board the plane that I hope that I'll be able to sleep for six or eight hours out of the 15 and a half hour flight. We are so looking forward to meeting up with are Rotarian  friends in India and setting out on Sunday morning to participate in the National Immunization day against polio.