India, Part 7

We've done a virtual tour of the school and hostel facilities; now I'd like to take you slightly further afield to the surroundings outside the school.  Above is the farm just outside the school wall, between the school and the river.  Without rains for a while, even the banana trees look like they're giving up.  There are times of the year when this area is really lush.

Thatch, banana leaves shredded by the wind, colorful wash hung out on poles to dry--it's the kind of thing you think of when you picture a farm somewhere in the tropics.

Just past the farm is a rather broad beach, broad only because the water is low at this time of year.  At other times, the water covers it.  And there is the bridge across the river.  Day students come in via paved road on the other side of the houses you see above, and get dropped off by a variety of vehicles.  Then they make their way down the hill and by foot across this bridge, which they must cross coming and going each day.

Here's the view from the paved road side, looking toward the school property.

You want to cross the bridge carefully, stepping cautiously at the points where two spans meet.  This bridge washes out every rainy season, causing the day students to use a little boat to cross over to their school.  Not such a safe feeling when the river is higher, I imagine.

The principal explained to us that some government-hired engineers had come along awhile back, and looked at the bridge and took measurements.  But there was no word as to whether they would actually provide a bridge to serve the school and the small group of huts beside it.  While we were there, an engineer showed up again, and our dean of Engineering (on the right side of this picture) was able to have a talk with him about the design of a footbridge to serve the school.  It's still not clear to me who will provide the bridge.  It would be nice if the Indian government is planning to do it.

The young scholars who cross this bridge to school every day would no doubt be grateful for a safer structure for their crossings.  Husband told me he saw a little boy fall on the bridge.  The lad didn't hurt himself, but he was crying afterwards.