What a long time since I’ve been here! It’s been a busy week, with little time for photography, for writing or even for thinking. I went to Mussoorie on Sunday to do a workshop for a group of principals from Catholic schools all over the state. Over fifty people came from Saharanpur, Roorkee, Vikas Nagar, Dehradun and other places I hadn’t heard of – mostly nuns, with a scattering of brothers and priests. It was a daunting experience. I love nuns. I grew up with them, went to Catholic schools all my life and have many friends in the convent. I also love priests! My first crush as a young girl was on a priest, several of my close friends are ordained and there is a priest in Delhi I meet regularly for advice and good counsel. So I am not prejudiced. But this group was like nothing I have ever experienced.

I had prepared carefully and hoped that what I had to say would be interesting and entertaining. I had a movie, plus some ideas to share, but the bulk of the session was meant to come from the participants. I asked questions, threw things out to them for responses, and in the end did everything but stand on my head to get some reaction, but it was all stony silence. One or two people made some half-hearted remarks, but mostly there was nothing. I guess it happens this way sometimes in everyone’s career. But I was not prepared for the total silence, the complete lack of interest. My topic was Learning Disabilities and I pitched to the Catholic sensibility. Y – A – W – N.

Luckily for me, I saw these two women standing at the window. Nobody gazes at a vista like those you see from any window in the Himalayas without souls yearning for answers and new ideas. The failure in the presentation was obviously mine. It’s there to be addressed. It’s up to all of us to find the way to reach out and do it.