Prestigious Guests

On December 16th, we had the privilege of an official visit from Mister Ambassador of France in India Jérôme Bonnafont.

All afternoon before the visit, we were training the children to greet an Ambassador in French. Vishnu our Cook was acting the diplomat and was ceremoniously shaking hands of the children, who had to answer back «Bonjour, Monsieur l’Ambassadeur». Of course, when the real Ambassador arrived, nobody could remember their line. Instead, a few interesting variations:
«Good afternoon, Mister Ladder» (Afrez)
«Heyya» (Javed, who definitely does not handle the different levels of politeness in French)
«Are you the Present of the Re../public?» (Shyamu)

The children also delighted his Excellency with their deep knowledge on France:
«Europe, vast and beautiful territory located in Asia» (Thank you Sunil)
«The Eiffel Tower is 1,500 tons high» (Diljoo)
«What is the use of politics? People should simply agree on everything right from the beginning» (Suraj)

And last but not least, the children discovered the beautiful LCD screen offered by the Embassy, which we will try to use for educational purpose only...

A few weeks later, on Feb 11th, Mister Martin Hirsch, Former Minister and High-Commisioner for Solidarity, wished to visit Tara during his short stay in Delhi. He expressed his encouragement and sang with us around the birthday cake of Jaan, who was on that day celebrating his 17 years. Having remained a grassroot professional, Mr. Hirsch bravely ingested the flashy cake brought from the market. Congrats and thank you Mister Hirsch!