News Item: Apoorva Center goes to picnic

Children of Apoorva Center for Autism went for a picnic with thier teachers, parents and siblings on April 10, 2005. The picnic covered the "Big Banyan Tree", "T.G.Halli Reservoir" and "Savanadurga". Following is a report on the event by Jahnavi, sibling of a student of Apoorva.

"The excursion we had from Apoorva centre for autism was a memorable experience. We were a group of 53 members which included the students, their parents, siblings and cousins. A couple of staff members and their children also accompanied us.

We started our journey at about 9:15am on the morning of 10th of April. We traveled by bus provided by Syscon instruments private limited for whom we are all very grateful for providing us the company bus free of cost. We had a great journey. We passed our time by chatting, singing and listening to our favorite music. At last we reached our first destination the big banyan tree which is situated in Ramohalli. The big banyan tree was bigger than any of our trees in our imagination. A wonderful park with a small temple was built around the tree. The tree was so huge that we could not locate the main trunk of the tree.

After seeing the banyan tree we started our journey to the second destination which was T.G Halli (tippegundanhalli). As usual the bus journey was enjoyable. We ate snacks and chatted all the way.

The bus journey took us about 30 minutes from rammohalli to T.G halli. There is a big reservoir in T.G halli which was the sole source of water supply to Bangalore many years ago. An arch dam is built across the river Arkavati and is 10 years older than krishnarajsagar dam. The T.G Halli dam now belongs to BWSSB. We got special permission to go for sightseeing to the dam from Mr. Ramakrishna who is a assistant engineer in BWSSB. We refreshed ourselves with a cup of tea provided by BWSSB in their inspection bungalow which was built during the British rule in India.

After our refreshment we walked on the dam. The dam was very beautiful and there is an old temple buried under the water of the reservoir. After sight seeing the dam, we returned to the inspection bungalow where food was prepared for us. We ate in the magnificent dining table which was so huge that 40 people could sit and have lunch on it.

The food was prepared by BWSSB and the cost was bared by Mr. Ramakrishna father of pramod who is a student in Apoorva. We are very thankful to Mr. Ramakrishna for providing us delicious food. After lunch we played games and debated whether we should go to Savandurga or not. As majority of us wanted to go we decided to go to Savandurga.

The journey to Savandurga quite sleepy because of us was half asleep after the heavy lunch. Savandurga as the name indicates is a small hill on which there is a fort built by Tipu Sultan who used to push of the criminals to perish from the tip of the hill as punishment.

At about tea time we reached Savandurga. Savandurga is a excellent place for trekking. Though it is a small hill it is very steep and difficult to climb. Some of them who could not climb the hill sat at the foot of the hill enjoyed the cool breeze and the country side. Most of us climbed the hill up to certain extent and returned back as it was about to rain. As we started our journey back to Bangalore it started to rain very heavily. The journey was great fun. We spent our time munching snacks, teasing, singing and also dancing.

As we reached Bangalore we went to the hotel Shanti Sagar which is situated near south end circle. After having our dinner we returned to the school and this was the end of the end of our excursion."
- by Jahnavi. K