Snakes Don't Follow Calendars

I wish I could start this blog entry on a cheerful note. But I just had a visit from Ramnath. He had come by to hand in the monthly report for Cheo Centre. We talked about Cheo and life in general. We are the only two “originals” left in Dakshinayan. Unfortunately, however, our conversation left both of us feeling despondent at the end of it. He’s gone now.

Ramnath was feeling a bit low to begin with because he has recently lost three buffaloes which he had left with someone in Roldih for safekeeping. This is standard practice with people living in the hills. They leave their cattle with villagers living in the plains. In return the caretaker either gets to keep a calf or gets paid a fee.

Unfortunately, the man who was taking care of Ramnath’s buffaloes lost five animals – three of them belong to Ramnath and the other two belong to someone else in the village. He’s been trying to locate them for the past two months without much success. In such cases, the caretaker will have to pay Ramnath for the lost cattle. But since he is a very poor man, Ramnath has lost hope of recovering anything. Each buffalo would be worth at least 10,000 rupees. It would take the caretaker a life time to repay the amount. It took Ramnath, a lifetime's saving to acquire the three buffaloes!

To cheer him up, I asked him how his daughter and son were doing in college. He said they were doing fine. But he regrets sending them to college. He says that he is observing that instead of becoming better people, the children who get an education are becoming corrupt. Ramnath’s village, Garhsingla, has the maximum number of educated Paharias in this region. In fact, Ramnath’s eldest son, his brothers and cousins are all teachers. He’s very upset that his own son and his own brothers are not doing what they are being paid to do. They are just drawing fat salaries and not teaching. He is disgusted because these people are supposed to be teaching children from their own community -- the Paharias, considered a primitive and diminishing tribe!

Ramnath says I can understand a non-tribal teacher not wishing to come and live in the hills and teach our children. But when educated people (whoget pass marks by paying a bribe anyway) from within our own community don’t bother to teach our own children; how can we expect any progress or development? He is extremely disappointed with his own son and Suryanarain, his cousin.

Suryanarain used to be a teacher at the Cheo centre. He was a very good teacher. Unfortunately, we could not afford him at one point. So he left the organization but continued to teach in Garhgama, a village further into the interior. The village would collect money to pay him an honorarium. Because of his good work, he was later appointed as a teacher for the government-run literacy centre that was started in Garhgama. And that was the end of Suryanarain’s enthusiasm to teach! He now stays at home and goes to the block office to draw his salary every month. Ramnath and he get into frequent arguments over this.

I was telling Ramnath that the situation in and around Roldih is not different. The teachers in the government schools are from the community that they are supposed to teach. But don’t do their job. But does the community appreciate it if someone does their job? I said, the local folks don’t seem to notice that Dakshinayan is providing their children with world-class education. But what do they notice? That we have stopped giving the kids the weekly shampoo sachets! As if that’s the only reason why the kids come to school!

Fortunately, the children are a lot more sensible than their parents. Today was Teacher’s Day. I was quite pleasantly surprised when the kids came and touched my feet and gave me presents! I was about to tell them it’s not my birthday, when I realized why. It’s nice that they remembered. Later, at assembly, when I asked if they wished me to declare it a holiday (that’s what happens in other schools), with one voice they said no! So we had regular classes today.

School is doing fine. The Class 4 kids are doing a great job. Khagen, who was a bit wary initially, also grudgingly admits that the students are very good teachers. That makes me feel so proud. They are "my products”! They teach the way I do. But they are “nicer”. I’m the nasty guy who is called by the new teachers to hand out threats like – Obey your teachers! If you don’t bring your homework tomorrow, you’re out!

As a reward for being such good and cooperative students, I am showing them movies during breaks and sometimes after school. So far I’ve shown them the Ramayana (cartoon) and Tare Zameen Par… Next week I’ll show them Hanuman and a few Satyajit Ray movies made especially for children – the Feluda series of detective stories and the Goopi Gayeen trilogy. Most of the kids understand Bengali. I’m sure they’ll enjoy the movies. Unfortunately, most of the moives are black and white. I’ve asked all my friends to send me CDs or DVDs of good English movies – Born Free, Sound of Music… etc, etc… It will help the kids learn their English. I only wish I had a wider display screen.

Bhola told me that after Naag Panchami, the snakes disappear. I believed him. But I should have known better. Yesterday, we killed yet another snake – a viper this time. As usual, it was Bruni who pointed it out to us. It was trying to climb onto my veranda. I guess this snake did not know Naag Panchami was over! Usually it gets fairly chilly at nights by this time. But this year has been different. In fact, in September we are experiencing the kind of weather that we get in July. The snakes don’t obviously follow man-made calendars. Neither do the mosquitoes here. They should be disappearing now. But instead they seem to have proliferated and also developed a mean bite!

Another sad news is that Suman had to go back to his village because of some family issues. He owns a bit of land in his native village and he needs to be there to protect his property. Someone tried to sell it off behind his back. Also, it seems his wife may be divorcing him. He came to this area because of his marriage. Now since his marriage is not working out, he has probably decided to go back for a while and figure out what he wants to do next. The poor guy must be in terrible mental agony and turmoil. I do wish I could do something to solve his problems. I can help him protect his property if necessary. But I can’t mend his broken heart. That is something he has to sort out for himself. So I had to let him go. I’ve asked him to come back. He has promised to do so once he has sorted out his family issues. I am missing him terribly.

Bhola just brought in someone new – Bijoy. Another lad from a poor family who struggled hard and got himself some basic education. He’ll be good company for Khagen, who has been looking rather lost since Suman left. He just arrived a little while ago. I hope he will work out. So as you see, things are always in a state of constant flux here.

The weather is strange. At times it is really very hot and dry. Then it turns hot and humid. And right now, instead of autumn weather, it seems like July! It’s raining off and on and quite copiously too. Everything gets damp and cold when it does. At the moment it is blowing hard. It looks like lots of rain. And it is somewhat chilly! I may have to sleep indoors tonight. I’m not looking forward to that.