‘Excursion' — the very mention of the word brings a rush of excitement and a feeling of exhilaration to us. Suppose it's with our friends and classmates at school, then the joy is even more, right?
Unique experience
Interestingly, there are some schools which always look for novel ways to add vibrancy to the enjoyment of excursions by moving off the beaten track.
The Higher Secondary School Thiruvangoor at Koyilandi, Kozhikode, is one such. The students of the school flew together in an Air India flight. For all 86 of them it was their first flight.
The three-day tour was planned with the assistance of a private tour operator, who arranged the air-journey from Kozhikode to Thiruvananthapuram. It was in the second week of October the team of school students and teachers took off from the Karipur International Airport in Kozhikode to make their “dream journey.”
Along with several other co-passengers, bound to the Gulf countries, the trip was an “unforgettable” experience for all. “We completely enjoyed the 50-minute flight — cracking jokes, chatting with the airhostesses and the co-passengers, losing ourselves completely to the moments,” said Akshay Dev, a Std X student who went on the excursion.
After reaching Thiruvananthapuram they made use of other means of transport including road, water and rail to different destinations. The three-day trip included visits to the historic Vivekanantha Rock museum, Kovalam and other places.
“But it's the flying experience that lingered the most over others,” feels R.S. Arya, who said that she never “even dreamt” she would fly while still in school.
Fun on the go
According to Ashwin Prem, another student who went on the excursion, the co-passengers in the flight looked at them as if they were “aliens.” Because they were not used to “seeing school children in huge numbers aboard flights,” he reasons.
Ashwin says that he took turns with his friends to sit in “the window seat” to glance down and see the earth “from a different plane.” For them, the moving train appeared like a “snake” and the huge ‘Bharath River' like a “narrow stream of spring,” from the plane.
“Most of our students are from interior villages and economically backward families in the district for whom an air journey at this age is a far cry,” said Mr. K. Deepu, a teacher at the school. The expense of Rs. 2500 per head was funded by the ‘Sanchayka' savings of the students at the school.
According to Aneesh Anjali, another teacher in the school, the school management was behind the novel idea of the trip. After the “flying excursion” the students are now getting ready to publish their colourful account of the travel in their school magazine, said Mr. Deepu.
