Chris George

The three months here have gone reasonably quickly, largely thanks to the fantastic people I've been working with. As I'm sure I've mentioned I don't enjoy teaching but one of the reasons I wanted to do this project was to find out if it was a possibility for the future. There are many options; teaching ain't one of them! Next week Nina and I are having three days out of Chennai to teach kids at a school in Ooty, a mountainous area towards the centre of south India (an overnight train journey to get there), and try and give their teachers some new ideas. The region survives thanks to the many tea plantations; being high up it's much cooler. Never thought I would say it but I can't wait to be cold!! We get back to Chennai ridiculously early on Thursday morning, then I teach until 8.30 on Thursday evening! After that we're into our final week, with a 'Skool Nite' concert when Nina's promised to wear a sari, and we and our students will perform.  Speaking of performing, at the beginning of September we played at a festival organised by the school, with me on keyboards and backing vocals and Nina on flute. The man in the first photo is Saroop, my boss and guitarist extraordinaire. He's a man of many talents, including being a recording engineer. Tomorrow Nina and I are going to the other centre where there's a little studio to record a CD of the things we played at the festival (Jethro Tull!) and maybe some other bits and pieces - a nice souvenir.

So I bid you farewell from Chennai! I've really loved every minute, it's been a fantastic experience and I've learned so much. Now it's time to fulfil a life-long (well, nearly!) ambition to see tigers in the wild, or as wild as they get, in the knowledge that it could be the first and last time (there are only 1600 left in India) and travel round this amazing country in the process. It's bewildering to think that this time last year I had no idea any of this would be happening, and it only started coming together in February - to those who helped me get here, 'thanks' doesn't even come close.