Tuesday March 6 was the last day of our project to document the heritage buildings in Bhimunipatnam.
In the morning we went to Samuel’s place and took some photographs in his garden. When we would come in the mornings, he sometimes plied us with bananas direct from his garden.
Then at 10:00 we went to the DIET Institute to give a presentation. On Monday, Samuel, Anja and Ilse had faced the same obstacle to photograph the old photographs that they had, but they negotiated with the director an arrangement whereby we could photograph everything in exchange for giving a presentation about our project. We arrived in time for their morning assembly and then while I spoke about early Buddhist sites and Ilse spoke about modern architecture, Anja took the photographs, many of which were taken in 2006. Samuel, as a former student and faculty, also said a few words.
The DIET auditorium
Samuel was a DIET student in its early years in the 1950s when the Institute followed Gandhian principals, meaning that the students had to spend countless hours spinning cloth on hand looms. Last year we had noticed a storeroom in a DIET building across the street that was filled with old stacked up hand looms. Now we understood what that was all about.
After our presentations we needed to hurry to get to St Ann’s for our farewell lunch with the sisters. At 2:30 Samuel joined us for the afternoon and we went back to the oddly-shaped, narrow building of previous days for a final set of photographs.
Then we went to the Canadian Baptist Church, now the Andhra Baptist Church, founded in 1876.
Then we went to St Peter’s Church on the outskirts of the town, which was established in 1864. The church has lovely stained glass windows.
In the morning we went to Samuel’s place and took some photographs in his garden. When we would come in the mornings, he sometimes plied us with bananas direct from his garden.
Samuel and his wife and grandchild with us in his garden
Then at 10:00 we went to the DIET Institute to give a presentation. On Monday, Samuel, Anja and Ilse had faced the same obstacle to photograph the old photographs that they had, but they negotiated with the director an arrangement whereby we could photograph everything in exchange for giving a presentation about our project. We arrived in time for their morning assembly and then while I spoke about early Buddhist sites and Ilse spoke about modern architecture, Anja took the photographs, many of which were taken in 2006. Samuel, as a former student and faculty, also said a few words.
Morning assembly
The DIET auditorium
Samuel speaking
The DIET photograph of the statues of the Pandava brothers on the beach when new (See my blog entry for February 25)
Samuel was a DIET student in its early years in the 1950s when the Institute followed Gandhian principals, meaning that the students had to spend countless hours spinning cloth on hand looms. Last year we had noticed a storeroom in a DIET building across the street that was filled with old stacked up hand looms. Now we understood what that was all about.
After our presentations we needed to hurry to get to St Ann’s for our farewell lunch with the sisters. At 2:30 Samuel joined us for the afternoon and we went back to the oddly-shaped, narrow building of previous days for a final set of photographs.
The façade of the narrow building
Then we went to the Canadian Baptist Church, now the Andhra Baptist Church, founded in 1876.
The Andhra Baptist Church
The church interior
Then we went to St Peter’s Church on the outskirts of the town, which was established in 1864. The church has lovely stained glass windows.
St Peter’s Church
The church interior
The principal stained glass window
We lingered there in the pews and chatted for a long while, ending our project on a relaxed note, before we headed back to the school and said our goodbyes to Samuel. That evening once again I showed photographs to some of the students.
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