Visiting a School in Samode

Insider’s Take

We’ve had a lovely visit to the Samode Palace just outside Jaipur, and we’re on our way to visit elephants and enjoy an al fresco dinner at a private estate, but first we’ll stop by a Micato-supported school in the neighborhood.

We’re greeted as friends of dear friends, and thanked for sharing in Micato’s support of this beautifully kempt school. We point to our hometowns on the school’s world maps, maybe show the kids a picture of our families, or give them a postcard of our hometowns, which they happily pin to the wall.

Every culture prides itself on its love for its children, India very much included. The country feels itself on a grand upswing, and knows that its children will live in a new world—and, this being India, that world will combine the wisdom and ways of India’s ancient civilization with the latest in world technology.

That’s an inspiring, but slightly dry thought here at the Samode school. It’s the bubbly, bright-eyed kids who enchant us, who provide us with a true adventure of the heart. Roget’s Thesaurus (the invaluable 4th edition) lists more than 150 synonyms for cheerfulness, and more than that for intelligence, but we don’t need the great British lexicographer and his many successors to tell us that these kids of Samode are bursting with both.