Blog 006 - Incident at the Ashramshala

Day 16 – Tuesday, March 18

Well, it's back to work. Mary, the 69 year old French lady will be joining us today. This is her second year here. Last year she was here for 3 months, and this year she is here for 3 months. The French are a peculiar bunch; I honestly think they take that as a compliment, and they don't particularly care what you think.

Out in the middle of nowhere, we have to walk to get bottled water that we westerners can drink. The Indians drink right out of the tap, but that is very risky for us to even attempt. It's easy to bring bottle water with us, but it's almost as bad as trying to drink hot tea – not exactly what you want to drink when its in the heat. Then again, a small cup of chai in the afternoon is not exactly something I would turn down. But some bottle water after that is always good to have too.

It was a strange day today. A lot of the kids had gone home for Holi. Some weren't back yet. The kid's schedules had been rearranged. We had some quality time with Standard 7 kids, the oldest ones there, maybe around 10-12 years old. We had only about 9 kids today that were there. Last Friday, I had met with Becky at the Tekro Library and checked out some flash cards, and memory game cards. Attention span seems limited. Repetition of words with pictures works after a little while, but the length of time they remember remains to be seen, seeing how we only work with them one day a week for each standard.

When leaving the school today, we encountered a man who kept entering the school grounds. He was obviously drunk. He kept approaching Nora and was trying to kiss her. I was nearby, close enough to let Nora handle herself yet be there if she needed me. This is a nineteen year old girl that continues to amaze me. We found out in a bit that this guy was the father of two of the little girls there. That being said, we had had enough when he attempted to slap one of the little boys that was trying to get him out. I went over and grabbed him by the arm and made an effort to intimidate him – this was a rather little man and I was towering over him, yanking him out of the gate. Some locals saw this and started to come over until there were quite a number walking around. They seemed to understand the situation and started to confront the drunk guy. Finally, the male teacher came around and let us know he had things under control, and we could leave; probably getting us out of the picture in case the police had been called by any locals.

Each day seems hotter. I keep saying that, but it does. The 20 minute walk to the bus station in itself is rather draining. After that previously mentioned fiasco, we missed our normal bus and found we could take another one that would leave us about a 10 minute walk from Gandhi Ashram. You find out pretty quickly how 10 minutes in Indian time is around 30 minutes in “western” time. This is India – life is good. However, there are always good things that happen . . . this bus stops just a short way from an ice cream shop – the other bus stops just steps away from a juice/lassi shop. Both are cold drink life savers. I can say no two lassis are the same, much like chais. Similar to yogurt and ice cream blended. There is a rose flavored lassi I could never describe, but it's the best I have ever tasted. All the others, add almost any flavoring or fruit you could imagine. To me, they are much better than ice cream or yogurt alone.

Tuesday nights a few of the volunteers usually volunteer at Seva Cafe. I have been going since my first week here. Tonight I am exhausted. When I get back to the house, Jose says he isn't going either. I just want to lay down and take a nap. Jose wakes me up around 7 and says he is going to Seva just to eat and not work. I can manage that. Good food, good friends. Another good day passes away.