Day 15 - 200 Engineering students, a call for solidarity and Temple serenity.
Friends, I must humbly ask you, as I near the end of the walk, to generously donate to the cause. All the money is going directly to help set up fair trade initiatives in India and any monetary contribution, however small, will be greatly appreciated.
Another day, waking up, with a sombre feeling in my heart hearing the news of the suffering back home in Chennai ( #ChennaiFloods). However, my faith in humanity is consistently renewed upon hearing episodes of heroism and social empathy. In addition, news from my dear friend Vijay Mahadevan who, by this time, had managed to reach home and resupply my wife Uma and her elderly parents with water and milk gave me the strength to go on. My strength and resolve grew stronger, with the day’s events to come.
Another exciting opportunity to meet students and staff from the KTVR engineering college in Mathampalayam presented itself on this day.
One of the interesting statistics, which is quite uncommon in India, is the prevalence of more female students over their male counterparts, studying hard sciences. The college itself boasts one of the best water harvesting systems and the principal and CEO, Dr. Livingstone and Professor Krishnamurthy humbly welcomed to a fine, astute institution.
I am thankful to them for giving me the opportunity to talk and connect with the highly enthusiastic students. In summary, there was almost no student that was aware of COP21 and by the end of my talk, majority of them were interested in knowing more. I also found out that there is a lot of potential for fair trade initiatives also to continue to grow in places like this.
Later in the evening, a discussion with the people from yesterday from Bharatiyar University about the possibility of arranging a big march before the 10th of December went smoothly.
To round of the day, a visit to an ancient Muruga temple , "Maruthamali" with my trusty walking companion, Natesa Iyer and the ever supportive Mr. Alwaye and key organiser, Mr.Shanmungam left us all a bit emotional, reflective and with a sense of serene calm. We ended the day with a nice vegetarian meal, courtesy of none other than Mr. Alwaye. Honestly, I don’t know what we would have done after Day 3 without him.
