Super Bowl?

America's biggest sporting spectacle reduced to ungrammatical coverage on page 15 of the newspaper in India.






Minnesota Vikings fans will be glad to know that nary a soul in Kerala either understands or cares that the Green Bay Packers just won the Super Bowl. Rather India has its sporting eyes set on the upcoming ICC Cricket World Cup, which is being hosted by India and Sri Lanka this year. The mega-event is set to begin in just under two weeks and will be played over the course of nearly 50 days at several sites around the Subcontinent. Teams representing 14 countries--all of which except the Netherlands are former colonial holdings of the British Empire--are chasing the cup. I imagine results from the ICC World Cup will warrant as much coverage in American newspapers as the Super Bowl got in India.

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Meanwhile, Tuesday was my final day teaching at JM's 'upper campus', the school for high school students on the verge of graduation. Though Jenna and I do not leave Tirur for almost two more weeks, the 'upper campus' students begin their final exams next week. Therefore, my services will not be needed, and I say 'goodbye' early.

Since I only spent two half-days a week at the 'upper campus', I did not anticipate feeling as nostalgic as I did. I bought the staff a small cake in celebration, hopefully letting them know how much I appreciated their hospitiable attitudes during my stay. The staff at the 'upper campus' is an extremly cohesive bunch, bright and energetic. The students proved a challenge, but I feel that I am leaving at just the time when I was beginning to witness noticeable progress in class. For that, a part of me wishes I could stick around to see how these kids grow in the future.

Me with Vinod and Santhosh, my two best friends at the upper campus.

The celebratory cake, inscribed with the message, "Thanks, J.M.H.S.S."

Upper campus staff digging in.