Other trips

Now that the Niagara trip was successful, I wanted to do more. This time, it was to the local CBC station. They just introduced a show called 'The Sunday' (I hope I remember the name correctly). I called the CBC and got the tickets. Atleast twenty people signed up. For a person like me who never even saw a TV while in India, watching the making of a show was very exciting. It was a variety show and we applauded whenever the 'applauds' sign blinked. (I thought that it was silly to prompt for applauds!!). My group returned to the international center happily.

Again, I received lots of compliments for my enthusiasm. This triggered an idea in the staff. I was chosen to receive a small travel grant to visit The Maritime provinces of Canada. They are New Brunswick, Newfound land, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island. I was thrilled when they asked me. They would give me $100.00 (it was in 1968, that was a lot of money) and supply me with the names and addresses of the Deans of the local universities. Being young and confident, I accepted it. In return, I was supposed to write a feature article about my trip.(I am really ashamed to say that I never wrote that article).

Out of the blue came a student Tom (I guess that was his first name) Gionet who was from Shippagan, NB and offered his family's help. He even suggested that I could stay with his parents for a week as a paying guest and explore other places. But Shippagan was a small village. Mostly French Canadians and fisheries was the main (perhaps, the only) industry there. I had to study the map very thorouhly. When I click on the links, I am amazed to see how different and grown and famous that small town is now. I will continue in my next post about what happened next.