The Dirty Weekend for this month had been held at CSI Primary School at Pasumalai. And we painted the black boards over there. The idea came from our previous volunteer who did her placement at the same school before. Since because there are many boards she was unable to do by herself.

We painted about 22 black boards both are of small and big size. And most of the staff and the volunteers turned their hands black.. Also on that day one of the boy from nearby orphanage celebrated his 12^th birthday with our volunteers. The day was really cool and fantastic.

Contributed by Nadia – the Social Manager

Last weekend,Projects Abroad India organised the weekend trip at Kanniyakumari. The journey started by Friday Evening around 2’o clock in the afternoon. For adding special trip to this trip, two of the staff members joined us for the trip.

All the volunteers and the staff members had a meeting while at the Dinner and arranged everything for next day’s events.

By Saturday, we had a sight-seeing trip to the famous Padmanabhapuram palace which is meant for the Keralite architecture. And the earlier used greeting cards which is kept in the palace was the main point of attraction over there. The second place we visited is Thiruparappu Waterfalls where our volunteers got wet by playing in the waterfalls.Then we had a long walk over the Matthoor Hanging Bridge which is one of the highest bridge in south-east Asia.

While in the afternoon we spent few hours in the Kanyakumari Beach and turned for shopping after seeing the sun-set in the beach.

The day was really good and some of the volunteers enjoyed the other day also in the beach and we turned back to the placement by Sunday Evening.The trip was wonderful and memorable.

Contributed by Nadia – the Social Manager

On 9th November 2010, Projects Abroad India celebrated its First Anniversary after moving to Madurai. All the staff enjoyed the day with sweets and chocolates, Also in our Canteen, we prepared the delicious tasty south-indian dessert named Payasam.

Also all the staff members had a group Dinner in a famous hotel in Madurai. The day was really good and we enjoyed the day..

Contributed by Nadia - the Social Manager

Diwali is one of the biggest and interesting festival of Hindus, celebrated with great enthusiasm and happiness in India. The festival is celebrated for five continuous days, where the third days is celebrated as the main Diwali festival or 'Festival of lights'. Different colorful varieties of fireworks are always associated with this festival. On this auspicious day, people light up diyas and candles all around their house. They perform Laxmi Puja in the evening and seek divine blessings of Goddess of Wealth. People present diwali gifts to all near and dear ones.

The exact day of the festival is decided by the position of the moon. According to the Hindu calendar, Amavasya or 'no moon day' is considered as the perfect day to celebrate Diwali. This dark night comes after every fortnight and in the month of Kartik, it marks this festival of lights and diyas. As per the English calendar, the festival generally comes in the month of November and December. For all Hindu people, the festival holds an imperative meaning since the festival is reckoned with Lord Rama's victory as the King of Ayodhya after his return to the kingdom from 14 years of exile along with his wife Sita & brother Laxman after killing the demon, King Ravana. The festival is celebrated by lighting diyas and candles to drive away the darkness of Amavasya.

Contributed by Nadia – the Social Manager

On 27^th October, our Care team Program Manager – Mr Anantha Subramanian got married. His wedding ceremony was conducted in a Hindu religion manner with many cultural procedures. He invited our volunteers too for his marriage function and about 12 volunteers from Care, Business, Journalism projects attended the function.

It was a complete traditional Brahmin hindu wedding. Our volunteers felt so happy to attend the marriage and our volunteers also came in a traditional Indian dressings. That was really cool and enjoyable

Contributed by Nadia – the Social Manager