Dedication Ceremony at Attur
On Monday we attended a water filter dedication ceremony at the village of Attur. The filters for this village have been sponsored by Peter French in honor of his parents. Pete is a fellow Peace Corps volunteer who lived in India when Mike did and he has been wonderful in his support of our project. He has plans to visit India sometime within the next year.
The dedication ceremony at Attur was the most extravagant “program” we have attended to date. When our caravan of SUVs arrived after dark there was a band playing music as we walked down a road lined with colored lights and a crowd of villagers marched with us and showered us with flower petals and lit off fireworks. We learned later that this is usually done at weddings. Very cool. The ceremony took place on an outdoor stage at the school and Mike and I had to sit in elaborate chairs like a king and queen. We felt silly but went along with the program. Speeches galore, most of which we could not understand, but the wonderful thing was that there was a huge crowd of interested people at the event. A professional photographer and video-grapher were there to capture the proceedings. After a late dinner at our host’s home we traveled about an hour home and collapsed into bed close to midnight. It was a long but gratifying day.