A Relaxed Day

This morning Sharad, Nilambar and Bhola were to go to Cheo. But the weather was cloudy and it seemed that it would pour. I called Ramnath and asked him how the weather was in Cheo and he said that it wouldn't be wise to visit today as it may start pouring any minute. But it didn't. The trip, however, was cancelled.

In a way it was good the trip was cancelled. Bansi had been wanting to go for a haircut for a while. So he went off to Devdand. Bhola and Nilambar got busy repairing the handpump near the toilet. And I got busy replying to pending mail.

Soon Sachin and his friend, Sunil dropped in for a visit. Sachin supplies us with provisions from Godda. He likes the Ashram and never misses and opportunity to visit the place. On Sundays his shop is closed and so he likes to come here to get away from the crowd. He and his friend stayed for lunch and we chatted abour politics, Rajasthan, Rajasthani food, Sachin's marriage proposals, politics and plantations. Time just flew by!

Sharad decided to read and I saw him sitting on his veranda reading. Then after lunch I suppose he decided to take a nap. There's nothing much to do anyway. Bansi has gone home. Bhola and Nilambar have gone to Agiya Mor market. No village visit today.

We've decided not to have village visits on Sundays and Thursdays. These are days on which most people like to go to market. So now they will be visiting 5 villages in a week. And since there are only 5 villages to visit for a start, every village will get visited once a week. Of course, they will go visit a new home each time. Once they've covered all the villages from where the kids come, maybe they will have gathered enough experience to venture further and cover villages from where we have no students.

Everyone, except one person, seems enthusiastic. Nilambar is writing a daily report. He's also worked out a weekly routine. Bhola goes whenever he has time to come and Sharad, of course, is very keen to visit as many villages and houses as he can. Since he speaks Hindi, he is able to interact with some of the villagers.

The well-diggers did not come today. They called to say that since it's market day, no one wants to work. Why? I wonder. The market starts in the late afternoon. They could start early and finish early and still go to market. At least they'll have earned a day's wages! But people don't think that way here. It's quite frunstrating really. They complain about lack of this and lack of that, but aren't willing to do something to improve things. Sharad is shocked by the general apathy towards self-improvement and development. Like me, he thinks, the generation that is now getting an education, may think differently.

Till noon it seemed as if it would rain. But it hasn't rained. The sun has come out and it is quite humid at the moment. Wonder if there will be a sudden storm today too. Yesterday, around this time there was a huge dust storm followed by rain. Fortunately, the well diggers had finished their work. And people had returned from their village visit. It suddenly became so cold that Sharad chose to stay in the kitchen near the fire all evening! Right now it's hard to believe that it could have become that cold!

A lot of the cashew flowers got blown off in the storm last evening. So we may not get as many cashew apples as we had hoped for. The tiny mangoes are still clinging on to the branches. We may get to eat a few mangoes this summer. I'm waiting for the mango season to start. The unripe mangoes cooked with dal taste yummy to suck on! It also makes the dal tasty. Today, for a change, we had sambar and rice for lunch. The guests loved it. Wish Suman had added a wee bit more tamrind water and also roasted a few more papads.

Sachin has promised to bring some "dal bati" (a Rajasthani speciality) next time he comes. So naturally, I'm waiting for his next visit.