Elephant pick-up at the Hyatt
Today was the last day of school at AES for the kids, a surprisingly sad day for all of them. Saying goodbye is never easy, and it seems to get more difficult as time passes and they get older and develop deeper and more meaningful friendships. However, we started the day off bright and early with a memorable last ride to school - on Elephant back. We met Raja, our hathi, outside the Hyatt this morning at 6:15 am and began the ride to school which lasted about 1 hour and 15 minutes. Dave walked alongside the elephant with the camera the whole time capturing this last adventure, while I drove along behind in the car with Devender and their backpacks. Almost halfway there, I got a text from A: "my shoe is falling off. D's legs are itchy. Are we halfway there yet?" This warranted an actual phone call response: "I'll pick up your shoe if it falls, tell D to sit criss-cross, and I hope you are appreciating every moment of this." Arrival at the school was less than climactic, but very fitting as the school security guard almost had an aynurism that we didn't have a 'permit' to have the elephant near the gate, and that we were taking photos. So, we 'parked' further down the street to have the kids disembark. It was an awesome last day arrival aboard the school-hathi.
Hathi on Ring Road
Are we there yet?
The End... of a great two years
