Yesterday, during class, Renee got fever. I asked her to go to bed and rest and take paracetamol, which she did and by evening, she was feeling a lot better. We don't know what brought it on. She hadn't slept well the night before because of a headache and so was tired when she woke up. I too had slept badly because of a headache and was feeling feverish in the morning. Must have been something in the air -- a virus perhaps. I was feeling perfectly ok by nightfall.
After a night's rest, Renee was feeling fine today. No fever all day. But I asked her to stay in her room and rest as much as possible. She's been doing that. In fact, she's in her room right now, resting. Shanku has gone to the market. And I'm sitting on the veranda writing the blog. Bhola came in the morning. Some of his distant relatives are still in his house. So he said he wouldn't be able to stay on the project. Hopefully, he will be able to come to "work" from tomorrow. There's a lot of stuff I need to discuss with him -- especially accounts.
In the afternoon, just as I was about to take a nap, Suman dropped in. I tried to have a coversation with him, but it seemed he was not interested in talking at all. All he wanted was his salary. We owe him that because he left the project when neither I nor Bhola had any money to give him. Unfortunately, I still don't have any money as I haven't been able to withdraw any from the bank because Bhola's been busy. He left. But I was quite saddened by his attitude. He used to be so respectful and deferential while he was working here. And now suddenly he's become a stranger -- no hello, no goodbye. Sad.
It's been a good day otherwise. Today was the PTA meeting. Usually there's a Parent-Teacher on the 20th of every month. Bur since Bhola was busy with his grandmother's death duties, the meeting was held today. Unfortunately, since most of the parents had stayed up for two nights consecutively because of the Chandna fair, attendance was very poor. Still, about 20 of them showed up and I was able to have an informal chat with them. I also asked them if the meeting could take place on a Sunday since the meeting, if held on a weekday disrupts school. They agreed and I think that from now on, the meeting will be held on every 3rd Sunday of the month. But it was nice to meet some of the parents and what's nicer is that I was able to encourage Radha, Raiman and Kartik to speak to the parents about their wards. This was good.
I also did a bit of teaching in class 4. I taught them Social Science and English. Their English seems to be better than their Hindi! At least they seem to read English a lot better than they read Hindi. But whether it's English or Hindi, their retention powers seem very low. Also, they have stopped "thinking". Apparently Bhola has been dictating the answers to questions to them and they are simply memorizing those.
I also discovered a major mistake in the Social Science book. It mentions that Punjab and Haryana is in the East! Amazing. I wonder who writes these text books and who edits them. In fact, the Hindi books are so full of mistakes that one needs very alert teachers to rectify them while teaching. I remember that it was also the reason why I had switched to English books. At least they are better produced and have fewer mistakes.
Well, that's been the day so far. I did manage to read a bit. Take a few photos. Talk on the phone with my JNLI colleague Suman and now at dusk, I'm waiting for Shanku to come back from the market to give me a cup of tea -- my 10 today! He seems to be managing the project work well. I was under the impression that he's lazy and others have told me the same. But I notice that he is slow, but is doing all that is necessary. I suppose my presence here helps.
The weather is changing. The days are warm but the nights are getting progressively cooler. Towards dawn, I needed a quilt! This despite having shut the door and windows of my room. But apparently Kolkata is still quite warm. No winter there this year, I suppose. Thank God, it's cooler on the project and I am hoping it will be cool in Bolpur too. I may be tempted drive to the project more often over the next few months. Also, I may feel more inclined to take more photos of countryside during my long drives here.
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