Happy Birthday, Gandhiji!

Today, October 2nd, is a major Indian holiday. It's Gandhi Jayanti, or the Birthday of Gandhiji! Some of you may know that "ji" is a term attached to names or greetings to express respect and fondness for the person you're referring to. In India, it is rare that anyone would talk about Gandhi without adding the "ji" to the end.

Gandhiji was a freedom fighter in the battle for Indian independence in the early 20th century. Originally a lawyer, Mohandas Gandhi advocated for non-violent protest an resistance, and was a preeminent Indian nationalist before the country's independence. He has inspired countless civil rights and freedom movements around the world.

October 2nd marks a national holiday in India, and Woodstock had a day off school as a result! The timing of this holiday was perfect, as we hadn't had a break for at least a month, and we're all gearing up to go on our Activity Week trips. I'm going on a trek to Changsheel Pass with a group of 10th graders, so today was the day for checking out packs and other supplies, learning how to set up tents, pack properly, keep ourselves clean on the five-day trek, and generally preparing for the coming week. (You can find an account of the same trek from Activity Week 2010 here:
 http://nanonkka.blogspot.in/2010/10/activity-week-2010-changsheel-trek.html)

I'm really excited, but some of the students are less than enthused, especially since they apparently have an English assignment to complete while on the trek. From what I understand, it's a lot of journaling and it shouldn't be hard, but any mention of homework sends the students into the depths of depression. I haven't seen the snowcaps of the Himalaya yet, although they're supposedly visible from where we live, so I'm excited to get to a higher vantage point (around 12,000 feet), see some mountains and have a snowball fight! Many of the students have never seen snow, so this is going to be great!

This will probably be my final blog post until late October, so let me lay out my schedule:

October 6-12: Activity Week trek to Changsheel Pass
October 13-19: Quarter Break! I'm taking a short trip to Varanasi, staying at the Old Yogi Lodge (apparently you have to be neither old nor a yogi to take up residence there). I'll be traveling by train both ways and spending time soaking up the history and the spirituality of one of the oldest cities in India.

See you on the far side of October! Happy Gandhi Jayanti!