By N. Niranjan Nikam
They were an exuberant lot of ladies, all from the United Kingdom (UK) and a few other countries waiting in the reception area of The Green Hotel on Hunsur Road. Just that morning a few of them had visited the Government Urdu Higher Primary School at Nachanahalli Palya on Manandavadi Road and soon after lunch, nearly ten of them led by Dame Hilary Blume (Director, The Green Hotel and Founder, Charities Advisory Trust in UK) were ready to hop into the mini bus and visit a few more schools run by the Government of Karnataka. As the bus drove towards the congested Kyathamaranahalli and entered a small lane, the women, who alighted from the bus, were surprised to see a clean, well-maintained Government Higher Primary School. There was a welcome committee with the Head Master of the School V. Ramaswamy, a disciplined, dedicated teacher and H. Saraswathi, the Director of RLHP (Rural Literacy and Health Programme) who is coordinating with Charities Advisory Trust, greeting the group of lively women. Walking up a flight of stairs that led to the library of the school at the far end, the students, both boys and girls, all dressed neatly in green uniforms got up shyly but most of them immediately recognised the familiar of face of Dame Hilary Blume, who is no stranger to Mysuru. “Do you recognise Madam Hilary?” asked the Head Master and most of the students immediately recalled her earlier visit to the school. The library is well- equipped with books, desks and benches (all funded by the Charities Advisory Trust) and the visitors were keen to see how many students were really into reading the books. A few of the students got up to demonstrate how helpful the reading habits they had been inculcated with had worked. A girl from eighth standard picked up a book in English and read without any mistakes in clear diction while a few others read from books in Kannada related to freedom fighters and scientists. Then they sang a few patriotic songs. Now, it was the turn of the motley group of exuberant women, mostly in their sixties and seventies, to become children. They started singing the nursery rhyme for kids, ‘Head, Shoulder, Knees and Toes.’ Led by ‘Good Giver’ Annie Taylor, who had taught little children in Ethiopia, they began on a slow pitch and accelerated. The children who joined them sang with gusto and joy. Impressed by the kind of work done by the school and RLHP, Hilary Blume asked the Head Master, what else they required for their school. He said that they needed a water filter and a LCD screen projector. She promised to install both through the profits earned in The Green Hotel. “The profit of every meal eaten in The Green Hotel helps buy an egg for a child or for the books of children,” she told SOM. The children then wanted to know more about the visitors and they introduced themselves. There were two Elizabeths, one from Canada and another from England, both of whom were doctors. There was Ann Kingston, who was the knitting teacher for the “Knit for Peace” group and Danielle Liebech, who had visited The Green Hotel five times and there was also the young L. Marie, originally from France, who is working with Hilary Blume.
