Life in a magic world

On 5 th September, I did a small presentation on how teachers are treated in India and the tradition of Guru Shishya as per our culture. I wrote the sloka “Guru Brahma......Guruve Namah” in Hindi and explained the meaning to the participants and those teachers present. Then I requested Prof. Danismo, Prof. Cantoni and Dr. Silvia to come in front. Then as per Indian traditions I touched the feet of our teachers in Summer School and sought blessings. This was a real surprise for the whole participants and teachers as they had never heard of it before. The professors were really shaken by the greatness of Indian custom of respecting the teachers. Prof. Danismo hugged me by saying our country is really great and that moment even I had tears of happiness in my eyes. (Photo: Mengo) My morning walk: As my body clock didn’t work with Italian time, I used to wake up early in the morning some time at 4 or 4.30 am.  My patience level broke as the day starts, then I moved ou...

My entry Pass for the function The big day came. I got ready at 2.30 am and waited for the father to go Vatican. He came with his personal car, in which I boarded with Mr. Shine, a Senior Manager of a Swedish Firm in Bangalore, with his son. In few minutes we reached Vatican. 3 am  6.30 am We expected a huge crowd, but there were very less number of people at St. Peters square. There would be less than 25-30 people. We also sat near to the barriers, where the guards told us that the gates will open at 7 am only. Slowly people started arriving and the noise around also were going up. By 5 am the entire area was crowded with people. The barricades were slowly moved inside along with that the entire crowd were also moving. I found people sitting next to me were from Ecuador, Spain, and a Christian priest from USA. The wait continued till 7 am and slowly the entry was allowed.  There after a run towards the security gate for screening of bags. Slowly I f...

                                                                                                                      Rome....the eternal city tempted me before starting my trip to Italy. The occasion came on 3 rd of September (Saturday). Peter dropped me at Arona station at early morning 6.20 am. The station was not even having a single passenger at that time. Since I had booked the ticket in advance, there was no need to tickets. I had to travel from Arona to Milano Centralle by regional train then Milano to Roma Termini station by a high speed train. The LCD display indicated that the train arrives at platform no. 3. Peter came along with me till the plat form and he advised me to take a m...

On 31st August, our host Elisa arranged a local farm tour with dinner. The farm house was around 30 minutes walk from Armeno on the hill side. It was a wonderful opportunity to see the rural life of Italy and enjoy the traditional cuisine. Find the pictures of our visit herewith The team on the walk  leading with a smile.  Picture from the uphill A truck with logs  A beautiful place for a treat Our host with Elisa Oh.. my favourite animal Farm fresh cheese Red sweet wine to sweeten our moments The palette of food busy to taste..  A wonderful person and a perfect professional 

Schedule : 7-8 Breakfast, Ist Session 8.30 to 10, break, next session 10.15 to 11.45  break for coffee, re-cap by the group, lunch break 1 pm -2.30 pm sessions 2.30 to 4 pm, 4.30 pm to 6 pm  Dinner at 8 Later dinner time changed to 7.30 as some of the participants wanted to have a walk after the dinner.  Groups were created to have in-depth look in to the topics and also to do a project work. My group included Mr. Wojciech (Poland), Dr. Rafel (Mexico), Dr. Catalin (Hungary) and Dr. Aysegul (Turkey). Prof. Cantoni very well synthesised the concept of etourism communication in ABCDE i.e. Access, Better, Connect, Dis-intermediate and Educate, and rightly we got the title of the group as connect---connect the world…. The sessions were focused on the role of ICT in intercultural communications. For me, all the sessions were really useful as the topics discussed provided insight to the new dimension of tourism industry. All deliberations were followed by discus...

Wojciech Lesniewski (Poland) hired a car from the airport to Armeno and he kept it with him till the course completed. When the classes ended on 31 August he informed us that he is going to a nearby lake the car is have space for 4 persons. Shree, Zeya, Pushpita joined Wojciech  to Lake Stressa. He adjusted the GPS and we started at around 6 pm. The drive to Lake Stressa gave us a real panorama of the Europe. There were very less number of traffic in the road. Completely green all around. Small hills and valleys. Beautiful farm houses appears at some distance with tile roofs. Complete silence everywhere.  The car (Ford-compact) with a 1600 cc engine, which is not available in India right now. We could get the driving skill of Wojciech as he smoothly passaged the curves and turns at a speed of around 70 km/h, which I would have driven at a speed of 40 km/h. Some beautiful town appeared ahead. There are clearly marked space for car parking. Cameras are kept by police t...

The invitation Programme details Scanned copy translation in English: A musical composition, where five musicians perform (Google Translator) of W A Mozart and L van Beethoven The musicians and the instruments  This music programme was a complement to our experience at Casa dei Padri. The programme started with a slight delay, but it mesmerised the audience. It was unique experience for me as I just studied in school days about Beethoven and Mozart, but listening to their compositions, is an ever memorable. I couldnot videograph it as it would be a gesture of disrespect while every one is fully immersed in the music. But the last bit I recorded and you can listen it if you are interested (Check the link below)  Prof. M.Danisi (himself is a musician) briefed us in English about the performers and compositions.  The church where we had the concert (it is a 17th century church if my memory is right) Interior of the church (we can se...