Day 22 – Monday, March 24
A new day starts after a relatively
quiet night – at least I didn't wake to any barking dogs. I
actually awoke one time and didn't even hear any horns; I just
assumed I was dreaming. Up around 8:30 and off to the ricksha stop
to catch up with Nora. Of my last two weeks at Naroda, this is my
first Monday. On Mondays, Rahul, a former slum kid and now a regular
worker with Manav Sadhna, comes along to work on art projects with
the kids. He speaks good English, much better than my non-existent
Gujarati. But on days like today, he can translate things for us
with the teachers. Especially today, with all of our new things.
A pedal ricksha had been arranged to
get the bookshelf and a lot of the supplies there. It arrived a few
hours and 320 rupees later. Actually, the head guy of the school was
around and made the guy only take 220. He wasn't too happy, but the
head guy is kind of rough around the edges and the little ricksha
driver went away kind of like a dog with his head between his legs.
The bookshelf was in a little rough condition by the time it got to
us. Imagine a little Indian man pedaling a 3 wheel bike with a
larger cart attached to it. Then imagine a heavy, solid wooden
bookcase, packed with school supplies. He had to pedal it around
35km across bridges and throngs of people, riding quite a few traffic
circles, passing cows and beeping horns, and the inhalation of the
ever present dust and exhaust fumes. And he only got 220 rupees,
about $3.52 US.
Anyhow, our bookshelf arrived, a little
banged around, one of the legs off, and a chipped top board. In a
way, the chipped top board was a good thing because it led us to
discover some old termite damage. No sign of any termites, living or
dead – good thing. We are getting some termite spray to spray all
over it prior to the monsoon season when everything gets damp and
humid. We had sandpaper today, and all the kids wanted to get
involved, so we tore some pieces down so they could all get sanding.
Girls, boys, they all were fighting over who got sandpaper. Then a
good wet rag washdown. I got the termite damaged piece off and now
we need some plywood to replace it, but it's good enough for now.
During the transit, we lost a short
2x4 leg piece . . . no problem, some kid ran out and got two nice
sized stones from out in the mud. Voila, problem solved. Childhood
ingenuity.
We got out the big maps we had bought –
world, Gujarat, and India – and placed them temporarily on the
walls. They were so eager to find Ahmedabad. Some were better at it
than others; but that is normal anywhere. So we took our time with
them; showing them where a lot of things were. Today we had
Standards 5 and 6. The interest level is there. They are aware of
surrounding Indian states such as Rajasthan, and surrounding
countries like Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, and China. We seem to be
on the right track. After they had eaten, we took out the globe,
plugged it in to light it up, and their little eyes just beamed. A
map is one thing, a globe puts things in perspective. When I can
show them Texas on one side of then earth and India almost exactly
180 degrees on the other side, their eyes just light up. A few days
back, we had taught them continents – now they can see closer where
Nora is from in Germany. They are so curious about everything.
Later we got them in rows and I went
around taking their individual photos for the upcoming picture board
idea. It's hard to tell if you have everyone when they are trying to
move around so much, but I think I was successful today; these kids
are mostly older than the previous sets.
Had to take a break and consume vast
quantities of water; so hot, and the kids get all over you almost
smothering you. I took a few photos with Nora and some of her
favorite kids. My idea from before I came was to find who could take
photos. This is risky. Little hands can drop things, so I make a
point of holding the strap loosely while I teach a few individually
how to take photos. One after another, I let them take turns; first
looking through the viewfinder with one eye, second adjusting the
focal depth, and thirdly, clicking the shot. I was pleasantly
surprised watching little fingers focusing in, and making the click,
then seeing the result on the touch screen. They were so happy.
This is definitely something I can work with. As with everything
else, we shall see.
During the day, I talked to Nora about
what else was around the area that she wanted to see, seeing how all
of us had a pretty good time yesterday. She mentioned some place
around 3 hours away by bus that her parents had gone to years back.
A series of temples up on a mountain? Not sure. None of us have
been there, just like everything else. Jose, Nora and myself are
three of a kind – we dislike the tourist thing and tend to venture
off on our own. Remember now, Nora is 19, Jose is 34, and I'm 60 –
not exactly what you might expect to find with similar brains.
Anyway, we would have to leave Friday night and come back Sunday
evening to make the trip worthwhile. So tomorrow after we get back
from Naroda, Nora and I will head over to Manav Sadhna to talk with
Shirish or Ajay to see what we have to do to get a bus and place to
stay. Sounds like another fun weekend coming up.
As always, once we get back to the
ashram, we stop off at either the ice cream shop, or the juice shop.
Today was the ice cream shop, with a mango milkshake. All the fruit
here are locally grown and deeeelicious. It's the perfect end to any
day.
I went over to Manav Sadhna for a bit
after that to get a good wifi connection for little while. Ran into
Shirish who gave me my Indian PAN card, which is basically an Indian
identification/tax card. You have to get one if you are here for
over 180 days. Plus, I got the big news . . . I got the thumbs up to
go on the Himalayan community service trip. For fifteen days,
sometime after April 15, a small group goes up to the Himalayan
foothills based in Rishikeish to do community service work in the
local villages. This could be anything. Rishikeish is the village
the Beatles went to back in the 60s to spend time with the Maharishi.
Once the 15 days are up, I will use the rest of the off time to
visit a bunch of places – hopefully Kolkata (to work for a week at
Mother Teresa's House for the Dying), Darjeeling (to see the tea
plantations and the tiger reserve), Varanasi (a spiritual center, to
see the people bathing in the Ganges, and all their temples) and
Simla (back up to the Himalayas to cool down again before heading
back to Ahmedabad). This would cover the northern east-west sides of
India; from Ahmedabad in the far west to Kolkata in the far east.
Bus, plane and train travel – should be a blast. Four weeks of
traveling on my own will be less expensive than traveling on my money
for six weeks. As I figured from before I came here, this will be
the biggest expense of my entire trip; but you only live once and
this is a good way to spend it.
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