The solar panel was not charging. I suspected that it was the wire. So Bhola went all the way to Godda to fetch some good wire and was gone all day. And since he was not here, nothing much happened on the project. The well-diggers still haven't shown their faces. Bhola did manage to catch one of them and they promised to come "tomorrow" -- which is today. I guess their "tommorow" never comes!

Today is market day in Chandna. Bhola has gone to the market. And I have been very busy re-wiring the solar panel and assesories.

School on both days was a usual except that attendance was very poor in my class yesterday. Kartik is down with chicken pox and Radha and Prahlad had taken leave to attend a wedding.

Nilambar came back last evening. Today I gave him his honorarium minus the days he's taken off. It's probably the first time in Dakshinayan history that I've "docked" anyone's salary. But considering the fact that he's been absent so often in the few months that he has been here, I thought it was necessary. I also told him that he should perhaps look for a job closer to home if he needs to go home so often. What upset me most is that even though he did not come back on the appointed day, he did not bother to call me up and say he was going to be delayed.

Contrast that with Suman. Whenever he goes home, it's usually after lunch. But before he leaves, he ensures that dinner is cooked too. And comes back early in the morning to cook breakfast. This time when he went home he was late. But he did call me at 5 am to inform me that he would be back on the project by 7:30. And he was back by 7:00 -- once again, in time to make breakfast. He was late because he had cycled all the way back from Godda, where he had gone to drop his wife at a relative's place.

Rahul and a colleague from Intel arrive on the project tomorrow. He's in Bihar and has been in touch over the phone. There was a 8 hour delay on a 4 hour train journey! So now he's taking a car up to Bhagalpur and we will fetch them from there. He'll be here over the weekend and I will most likely go to Kolkata with him.

The weather is lousy. Hot and humid. Though night before last, all off a sudden we had a squall close to midnight followed by heavy rains. I had to rush indoors with my bamboo and string cot. The nights are pleasant here anyway. But though we are getting periodic rain, we could do with some more of it. The wind is picking up again. It's cool. It must have rained nearby. Is it coming our way?