It turned out to be more difficult than I'd thought, to get a SIM card. At the airport (where my flight arrived at 12:15 AM) I focused only on getting through the throng (tail-end of international arrivals) at Immigration; after a half-night at an airport hotel, I asked my driver, who recognized the phrase "SIM card" but not the rest of the sentence: "Please, may we stop to buy one before leaving Bengaluru environs?" It turned out that he spoke Telugu only, so we didn't chat on the 2.5 hour drive (where I'd have hated to distract him from the road, in any case).
Rishi Valley (named for a wise man, or rishi, who lived here, in legend) is entirely remote: there is no school store where SIM cards are stocked, because, in fact, cellphones are not allowed. Only faculty and visitors may have them, and use them at home, not in front of the children. I've seen only one laptop (a visitor's), no tv, and the computer I'm using is clearly middle-aged, if not elderly. It would be interesting for our students to see how a school functions with old, but still appropriate, technology: pencils and paper. One morning, however, the entire upper school watched a TED talk on a big screen, and there is a computer-teacher, and a lab.
Yesterday it finally occurred to me that I could at least take photos with my charged but not connected BlackBerry: first, though, I must ask about the etiquette. Visiting the rural school this morning, for instance, I wouldn't have been certain that photography would be welcome ...
Rishi Valley (named for a wise man, or rishi, who lived here, in legend) is entirely remote: there is no school store where SIM cards are stocked, because, in fact, cellphones are not allowed. Only faculty and visitors may have them, and use them at home, not in front of the children. I've seen only one laptop (a visitor's), no tv, and the computer I'm using is clearly middle-aged, if not elderly. It would be interesting for our students to see how a school functions with old, but still appropriate, technology: pencils and paper. One morning, however, the entire upper school watched a TED talk on a big screen, and there is a computer-teacher, and a lab.
Yesterday it finally occurred to me that I could at least take photos with my charged but not connected BlackBerry: first, though, I must ask about the etiquette. Visiting the rural school this morning, for instance, I wouldn't have been certain that photography would be welcome ...
Patricia:
ReplyDeleteThe technology use over there sure puts things in perspective. Do you feel out of place using technology and do many of the natives question you? Great posts!
pencil & papers are the best, especially for studying. But I have to admit that I am addicted to technology as I find myself (in China) really on the edge without a computer (or more like internet access) for a fewdays.
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