A chance encounter in Tiruvannamalai
Our New Years are
spent in Tiruvannamalai, where the January 1st is ushered in through
meditation. There were two Danish ladies staying in our adjacent room. I was
making a jasmine flower garland sitting outside my room when they were also
sitting nearby. One of them was fascinated by the way I was stringing the flowers.
I showed her how it was done and made two small garlands for them too. We got
friendly and when we told that we will be visiting our daughter in Copenhagen, Denmark,
one of them told she lives in Denmark too and we must visit them. It was taken
as just a friendly remark.
It was followed up
We kept in touch and when the time was nearing for our visit
to Denmark, she was asking about our dates to visit her house in Farso. Now it
was clear she really meant what she told and we started planning a side trip
from Copenhagen to her place for a week.
We boarded the train from Copenhagen
by about 4 pm and when we arrived at 9.45 pm, our friend was waiting with her
daughter to drive us to her farm in Farso. After a long drive on reaching her
house, we were surprised to see that she had kept a lavish dinner ready for us.
It was almost 1 o'clock when we went to sleep after enjoying the delicious dinner.
Totally planned up
In the morning when I looked out of the window I saw the beautiful vast farm around. Our stay in Farso was so meticulously planned out by our
friend and her husband. Their daughters and grand children joined us for lunch
on the next day and we had a great time. For dessert she had made rhubarb
crumble which was so delicious!
On the third day after breakfast we all started for Jesperhus
park, which was reached after crossing the ferry. Amazing time was spent at the
park till the evening.
Jesperhus
Jesperhus, a 20-acre family-owned resort around Legind
Bjerge, south of Nykøbing Mors, Denmark, has a resort, a flower park, and an
indoor zoo. This largest flower park of Scandinavia is filled with perennials,
roses, various summer flowers of the world, succulents and giant flower
figurines.
The H.C. Andersen Fairytale Garden is based on 6 of the writer's
fairytales. The characters displayed in the garden are made from flowers,
houseleeks, and fiberglass. Walkways are lined with more than 100 perennial
herbs. The Oriental Garden is designed with an Asian theme, and features palms
and thousands of succulents.
There were bumpy boat ride, trampoline to jump, swings, car
rides and toy train to enjoy in the park.
Huge wind mills
Then we went to the beach side and saw huge wind mills.
Denmark is the leader in wind mill installation; it was a pioneer in developing
commercial wind power during the 1970s, and today a substantial share of the
wind turbines around the world are produced by Danish manufacturers such as
Vestas and Siemens Wind Power. Danish inventor Poul la Cour experimented,
taught and constructed wind power subjects around the year 1900. In Denmark's
electricity sector wind power produced the equivalent of 43.4% of Denmark's
total electricity consumption in 2017. It had the 6th best energy security in
the world in 2014.
In a few years, wind turbines will supply the equivalent of
60% of Denmark’s electricity consumption A significant part of the explanation
for this lies in the plans currently being executed by Vattenfall, both
offshore, nearshore, and onshore. Presently, the first four of 49 poles are
being constructed on the bottom of the North Sea. Once completed, Horns Reef 3
will be the largest offshore wind turbine park in Denmark to date.
Cooking in the garden, visit to the school
One day lunch was Indian dishes- vegetarian pulao, baingan
bharta and cucumber raita. It was fun roasting the brinjals for baingan bharta
in the garden and we all enjoyed lunch on the sunny afternoon.
After the lunch our visit to the school where our hosts’
daughter works was planned.
She trains dyslexic children. Since 1993, public
schools in Denmark, Folkeskolen, have been obliged to differentiate education
according to students’ needs in general and not by transferring students to
special needs education. The general objectives of supplementary and special
education state that children with special needs should be taught in mainstream
schools as far as possible. If differentiated teaching is not sufficient,
pupils can remain in a mainstream school class and receive special education in
one or more subjects as a supplement to ordinary teaching. All pupils are
offered vocational training. Young people with special educational needs are
offered a more comprehensive vocational training programme than others, and
they might also be offered a work-training programme of longer duration during
their last years of schooling.
It was very interesting to know their examination system. A
series of national tests were introduced in spring 2007 in order to provide
teachers with a tool for better overall assessment of pupils’ academic level.
The tests are individual and computer-based and take approximately 45 minutes. The
national tests are innovative as they are constantly adapted to the level of
the individual pupil. If the pupil answers the first question correctly, the
following question is automatically made slightly more difficult. If the answer
is incorrect, the next question is automatically made slightly easier.
Therefore, all tests will differ. When the test is completed, the computer will
print out a text describing the pupil’s academic level in the subject tested,
exempting teachers from correcting the test assignments. Denmark has
established several institutions and monitoring groups with the aim of
evaluating the quality of support systems for learners and the outcome of
schooling.
Fully automated cow farm
From the school we went to a fully automated cow farm. About
250 cows were managed by two people. The temperature inside was controlled.
When it became windy, the blinds would automatically come down. There were
rotating brushes onto which the cows can press their body where it needs to be
scratched. There were robots to do the milking, the quality of the milk is
assessed and the optimal quality milk would go to one chamber and the suboptimal to another
chamber. Once the milking is over the cow is given a sweet laddu and nudged to
leave the chamber. The milked cows are tagged so that if by chance they enter
the milking chamber again, they are not milked again.
The floor had a flat grill and continuously moving robots
were throwing the waste materials down from where they were pumped to the field
growing grass to feed the cows. In case of any system failure, the computer on
site dials the phone number of the care taker, who would then reach to tackle
it.
A morning for meditation
One day after the breakfast we all sat down for meditation and
it was a deep experience. Meditation when done in a group of likeminded people
always takes the vibration to a high level. They took us to the hospital where the
husband worked as a nurse and we took a round there, with all ultramodern facilities.
An Indian meal for the family and friends
One day’s dinner was cooked by us for our hosts, their
family and friends. We had very interesting conversation over the dinner table.
To the harbour and the boat
On the last day morning we went to the harbour and inside
the boat owned by one daughter of our friend. During school holidays of
children, the family sets sail and visit other places, which is highly
educative for the kids.
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