Day
7 - Rotary Meeting
Isaac and I headed off to Tiruchirapalli this morning for a meeting with the Rotary Assistant District Governor and then
to drop off Theresa. She is heading on to Bangalore
and
ultimately to
I wanted to pick up the camera for Isaac and also wanted to cash some travellers
cheques.
We headed off to the State Bank of India where we felt we could be out in 15 minutes. I thought the banks get the international
exchange rate at 10:30 so we arrived and Isaac headed over to the banker he normally uses. After 15 minutes we were told that
the rates don't come in until 11:00. Since our meeting was scheduled for 11:30 Isaac called the ADG to see if we could have a
meeting earlier but he said that he would be out and wanted to rearrange it for 12:30. We headed over to pick up Bosco
(one
of the people we met at the train station on arrival) and went for lunch.
I don't think that I will ever get the knack of eating with my hand (right one
only). Anyway, after lunch we headed back to the bank
and to the banker. By the way you don't go through a teller for this, the banker is in the office section. After much searching,
because this was Canadian money, they found the rate. He handed me a form to fill out (by the way what was my third cat's name?)
giving them my passport data, home address, Isaac's address (even customs didn't need his full address) phone numbers, and on and on.
He then took the passport and compared character by character what I had entered. Next he took the cheques and entered the numbers into a
ledger and then finally made a call for the official rate. This took about 10
minutes.
I proceeded to sign the cheques while we waited for someone else to return and
authorize the rate and verify the numbers against
the signed cheques. He then gave me a metal identifier and told me to go to teller number 1. I stood behind the 5th person in the line.
The time was 12:15. When I got to the front and handed him the identifier, he told me that the money authorization had not arrived.
He
went off to check and then returned and told me to have a seat, with the other
1253 patrons sitting there.
Isaac and Bosco went back to the banker to find out the problem. At 12:25 they
came back and the teller waved me over.
He asked me what denominations I wanted. I said 500 rupee notes because we were getting 25000 rupees. Of course he didn't have
any so off he went and returned a couple of minutes later. He removed some from the bundle and ran the rest through a counting machine.
He
tied it with a string and handed it to me saying that I got a good rate - I am
sure it wasn't the rate but the interest on the time I spent there.
We then proceeded to see the ADG. He had a small shop which did video stuff as well as passport pics et al. The discussion went well
and he suggested that we meet the Past District Governor. I wasn't fully prepared for that but, since we had come this distance I agreed.
He called and arranged a meeting for 5:00.
We had a drink and then we all headed over to a nearby camera stall. The ADG chatted with the fellow at the shop and we proceeded
to pick one out. Turns out we paid about half the price of one back
home. All were happy.
Since we had some time we went to a park where one river splits into two. The call it the three river junction. The river level can be
controlled by a dam for each river. It is rather spectacular with something for everyone, especially the monkeys. We stopped to look
at a snake pit - actual - and a couple were sitting chatting on a bench eating some snacks. We heard a scream and looked.
A monkey had snatched a newly opened bag of, something, and scampered up onto the wall to enjoy the contents.
Another one was sitting on a motorcycle like he owned it. Well, give a monkey a motorcycle and ..... . We toured the north dam and got
some
pics. It was warm and humid - about 30C.
We started back and Isaac suggested that he and I walk across the other dam. Sure I said and John and Theresa took off across in the car.
We started across. There were men in the water downstream netting the fish that were swept along in the current.
They had caught about 20 fish each. Isaac informed me that they were doing it illegally, without a permit. That didn't seem to bother them.
It was a long walk, about half a km. We got to the end and had some
pineapple. Refreshing!
It was getting on so we headed back. We stopped off at a seminary where we had some refreshments and chatted with a Father, a friend of Isaac's.
I had some warm milk and some 'sugar'. The 'sugar' is a mixture of
sugar, cornmeal and something moist. It tastes something like yams, quite good.
The Father knows Theresa and agreed to bring her to the train station. It was 4:55, time to take a final picture. We headed to the
meeting via stopping to pick up Bosco. We got there at 5:15. No one is in a rush here unless you are driving. It was an interesting meeting.
We decided to meet again.
6:45, time to head back. Isaac bumped into a friend in the parking lot and they had a great talk. Finally we headed out and, after a number of stops,
arrived home around 9:00. Isaac and I received an invitation to a dinner with the Manaparai Rotary Club on the 15th. It says that I will be the honoured guest.
Looking forward to it.