Cool Guru's Gurukul -- dream or reality?

It has been a routine day so far. School in the morning. Nothing unusual. The class 2 kids are getting used to me and I to them. Class 3 is more interactive and class 4 behave like grownups! They are teaching English in class 1 and I often have to drag them away from class -- they enjoy teaching that much. The class 1 kids are taking them seriously. I thought they might not considering that many of them are related to the "teachers".

At times it seems that there might be a cloud burst. The sky looks ominously dark. But suddenly the clouds dissipate and there's absolutely no rain. Not even a few drops left behind as a momento by the gathered clouds.

The weather is hot and humid. No change there either. The few clouds that dominated the skyline for a few days seem to have disappeared. We have sunshine and once in a while, a few drops of rain from some wayward cloud desperate to shed some weight.

The trees are growing. The ones that were planted earlier are mostly taller than us. The new ones are almost waist high. Had it rained, there may have been better growth. It's perhaps fortunate that we were not able to plant more trees this year. We have planted a few. But nothing exotic or expensive. Even if they don't survive it won't matter. The "arhar" (lentil) and maize we have planted near the new well are growing. Apparently less rain means a better maize crop. I had my first "bhutta" of the season yesterday. I'm sure the kids are going to be bringing us more. Today we got "gandhari saag" and "karela" from Kartik and Prahlad. Stella brought us some limes. There was a time when I'd say no to them. But not any more. If they wish to share, why not?

Besides, it looks as if that a time will come when I may have to survive on what contributions the villagers make! Traditionally, in a "gurukul" (traditional Indian school), the teacher (guru) owned a patch of land which was cultivated by the students who lived with him. He also lived off the "dakshina" (offering/fees) provided by the students and their families. This place is slowly turning into a "gurukul". There is essentially one guru, a small patch of land that is quite literally looked after by the students during "shram daan". The project survives on contributions made by friends and volunteers.

There's been some rain. But not enough for paddy. Some farmers have gone ahead and planted hoping that there'd be more rain. That, however, seems very unlikely now.

I have a friend who started an ashram in the Himalayas. He has a school too. And his entire ashram survives on volunary contribution. I wonder if that is possible here. In Uttaranchal there is a tradition of supporting ashrams and spiritual people. In Jharkhand people are more used to "receiving" than "giving". But it's something worth experimenting with.

The children have been busy cleaning up the project in preparation of Independence Day. I see some enthusiasm in them. But not as much as there used to be say a decade ago. In the cities I hardly see any enthusiasm at all! I sometimes wonder about those who gave their lives to get us freedom. I sometimes wonder what they would feel if they could come back and see India today.