Our day started with a great surprise today as we got sumptuous ‘dosas’ for breakfast which was really delightful. After a fresh start we moved to the conference hall for an introduction for the GIS (geographic information system) module by a professional in the field, Mr. Ajit Chandran who travelled all the way from Kerala to give us a sneak peek into the upcoming world of GIS and how GIS along with Nanotechnology and Biotechnology will be the future in terms of applications and career choices, and how ‘Big Data’will be managed in the near future. GIS can be used in various fields like Defense, Geography, Business, Astronomy, Law and Order enforcement, Disease tracking, Disaster Management, to just name a few!
This interactive session ended by 12 noon and we were delighted to be given an hour to relax and have fun with friends and enjoy the beautiful nature around Salvation Army (the place we are staying). After a typical South Indian lunch of Rasam, Sambaar, Koot, Thoran, Rice and Papadams, we reluctantly boarded the bus at 2 p.m.
We now started the exploration part of the day. Our task assigned to us in the morning, was to enlist top 11 places of Tourist interest in Coonoor. Next we had to visit all the places and collect relevant data [basic data box + relevant photos] which would help us to form a GIS form of the places. The information to be collected was based on a Booking Sheet designed by common consensus of all the teams. The GIS data was superimposed on a map which was later beamed from Google Earth!
After collecting all the data we reached Surrenden, our guest house by 6 p.m. After a good 2 hour rest we sat down in the conference hall for the de-briefing where we began with a pulsating quiz based on Astronomy, in order to match the points between the two teams, Tiger and Bison. The Bison’s won the quiz but not the race, which happened the previous day. Right after that we had an extremely interesting session on astronomy where we came to know about many mind blowing facts. One of them being that most of our Zodiac signs which we think are ours is not!
We are waiting for tomorrow, when we visit the TATA INSTITUTE OF FUNDAMENTAL RESEARCH for a session of Radio Astronomy. Following this, we will be visiting Ooty and will return back by the evening onboard the UNESCO world heritage railway, Nilgiri Mountain Railway. And on the eve of X’mas, we are excited about being part of the Midnight Mass tomorrow in the church of St Anthony’s this year.
This interactive session ended by 12 noon and we were delighted to be given an hour to relax and have fun with friends and enjoy the beautiful nature around Salvation Army (the place we are staying). After a typical South Indian lunch of Rasam, Sambaar, Koot, Thoran, Rice and Papadams, we reluctantly boarded the bus at 2 p.m.
We now started the exploration part of the day. Our task assigned to us in the morning, was to enlist top 11 places of Tourist interest in Coonoor. Next we had to visit all the places and collect relevant data [basic data box + relevant photos] which would help us to form a GIS form of the places. The information to be collected was based on a Booking Sheet designed by common consensus of all the teams. The GIS data was superimposed on a map which was later beamed from Google Earth!
After collecting all the data we reached Surrenden, our guest house by 6 p.m. After a good 2 hour rest we sat down in the conference hall for the de-briefing where we began with a pulsating quiz based on Astronomy, in order to match the points between the two teams, Tiger and Bison. The Bison’s won the quiz but not the race, which happened the previous day. Right after that we had an extremely interesting session on astronomy where we came to know about many mind blowing facts. One of them being that most of our Zodiac signs which we think are ours is not!
We are waiting for tomorrow, when we visit the TATA INSTITUTE OF FUNDAMENTAL RESEARCH for a session of Radio Astronomy. Following this, we will be visiting Ooty and will return back by the evening onboard the UNESCO world heritage railway, Nilgiri Mountain Railway. And on the eve of X’mas, we are excited about being part of the Midnight Mass tomorrow in the church of St Anthony’s this year.