This post comes to you from Kolkata. I arrived here yesterday very early in the morning -- 2:30 a.m in fact! That wasn't part of the plan. The plan was to leave the project at 8:00 p.m and arrive in Kolkata at 4:30 so that Rahul to catch the early morning flight to Bangalore. But everyone on the project felt that we should cross the border into West Bengal by 10:00 p.m.

You see, the stretch of road from Dumka in Jharkhand to Siuri in W. Bengal is forested and lonely. There have been some highway holdups in the recent past and so unless one is travelling in a bus (which travels in a convoy and has police escort), this stretch could be unsafe. We decided not to take a risk and leave early. We had planned to stop at some nice restaurant and spend some time having a good dinner and rest.

Unfortunately, once we crossed the border, our driver was in a tearing hurry to get Kolkata! That's probably because he was feeling sleepy and at one point I noticed that Rahul was observing him very carefully and even suggested to him to pull over and get some rest. But the young fellow was hell-bent of racing to Kolkata!

That's how we reached the airport at 2:30 a.m. Rahul decided to go in and I woke up poor Mitali in the middle of night to inform her that I was coming over! I reached her place at 3:30 a.m. It should have taken me only 15 minutes to get there. But the driver was first reluctant to take me there (Take a local taxi, he said) and then when I managed to persuade him to drop me, he couldn't find his way!

Anyway, I'm here now. It's nice to be here and enjoy Raj and Mitali's hospitality. But it is very hard dealing with a very, very hot and humid city that is dealing with 6 hours of continuous power-cuts! There was no electricity from 10:00 a.m till 1:00 p.m and then again from 2:00 p.m till 7:00 p.m! It was sheer torture. Well, I'm not used to electricity. I don't have a fan on the project. But then we get a lot of natural breeze and believe me, it can be quite pleasant under the banyan tree, unless very hot winds are blowing in the afternoon. Somehow, the heat, though uncomfortable, is still bearable. Here, in Kolkata, it is not!

I'm glad I am leaving this weekend to get back to the project. I'll carry back the carton of toys that Jayotsana, Rahul's wife, sent for the project. I will also take back shirting material that Mrs Jayati Goswami, has donated for the children of the project. She lost her husband recently and instead of spending money on religious ceremonies and rituals, decided to use the money more positively by buying something for the project. I'll probably go across this evening and collect the material from her. But I intend to distribute the shirt pieces at the end of the year and only to those children who seek admission for next year. I am sure the Santhal children would like this because their parents are somewhat reluctant to spend money on uniforms.

Well, the ball has already started rolling as far as computer literacy is concerned. We will probably get the 10 laptops that Sonia Shirvastava promised us, by the end of this month. They will not have any Hard Disks, so Rahul will have to find the funds to have them re-furbished. I've already written to Sharad to ask if he would like to contribute. And any of you wish to contribute, you would be most welcome to.

All is well on the project, or at least it was till I left. Bansi is ill. But was recovering. Nilambar, is suddenly more active around the project. Khagen's evening PT class is growing day by day! I counted 30 kids on the evening that we left. He was putting them through a drill and they seemed to love it! Of course, he plays with them too. They line up outside the gate from 3:00 pm to get in at 4:00. Telling them not to come out in the sun seems to have no effect. They love to be in school and I suspect that if they are allowed, they'd like to spend all day in school!

That's all from me for now. I'll keep you posted if there are any new developments while I'm here. Or else, the next post will be from Roldih.