Back in Kolkata

I'm sorry that I have not been posting to the blog. The problem is not lack of news. In fact, there's so much happening that my mind is full of plans and I just couldn't bring myself to write anything for the blog.

Anyway, I'm in Kolkata at the moment. I am waiting for the city to wake up (I've been up since 5 am as usual). I checked mail and tried to work on the concept paper regarding the new ashram -- Amrit Aangan. And since I couldn't make much headway, I decided to write a few lines to fill you in on what's been happening since the last entry.

Jon arrived on the project on the 5th -- the same day that I got back to Roldih from Kolkata. He took to the project like a duck takes to water. Probably because he had already visited a couple of projects in the south and had done a bit of teaching. It was great to have him becaue he's also good company. And of course, that meant I didn't have to do much teaching. Which suits me fine at this point because my head of full of plans regarding Amrit Aangan. Also, I've had to make calls, contact friends and well-wishers and supporters. I'm thinking BIG about the new ashram and it will require huge amounts of funding. So while planning the new project I also have to ensure that there will be adequate support. In fact, I've been on the phone most of the time that I was on the project -- except for moments when I just sat and thought and thought.

Roldih was fine while I was away the last time. And thanks to Suman, the kids and Bhola, it continued to be fine while I was there. Then Jemma arrived on the 16th so that she could be on the project for Diwali which was on the 17th. Mitali arrived on the 17th and so suddenly the project became quite lively.

Diwali was fun but somewhat subdued because we could not buy too many crackers this time -- the price of firewords has risen and we were short of funds. But we did have a little "puja". Had some sweets as "prasad" and the children lit up the lamps and played around with the few sparklers and rockets and flowerpots that we could afford to buy. They had fun but I felt a bit sad at not being able to provide them with more. I felt particularly bad for the village kids -- I couldn't give them more than 2 sparklers each this time. Last year I had given them each a boxful of sparklers and rockets. If they were disappointed, they did not tell me.

Jon and Jemma had a nice time with the kids though and Jemma liked the fact that she was able to get to know some of the kids before she started teaching them. There's a new routine in place and so Jon, Jemma and the Class 4 kids are teaching and when I spoke to Jon yesterday he informed me that it's all going well.

Attendance has dropped. This is partly due to the fact that there have been a string of festivals -- Dussehra, Diwali, Bahiya Dooj, Chaat -- and also the government schools are holding some sort of exams. Since most of the children from Burhikura are enrolled in the government school, they were busy sitting for the exams. The kids from the tribal villages have been coming regularly.

Bhola is now officially in-charge of the project. He's back on Dakshinayan's payroll. He starts school and then goes home to attend to his business and comes back in the evening for village visits with Jemma and Jon. When he can, he also spends the night on the project. These days he's very busy with his "van" which is functioning as a taxi and from what I gather, he's making a neat income from it. I'm glad to have him taking care of the project while I am "distracted" and channelizing my energies elsewhere.

We have new plans for Roldih school. From next year, we are switching back to Hindi medium. The fact is that all the schools in the region are Hindi medium and after kids leave our school, they go and join Hindi medium schools anyway. So why not prepare them accordingly? We will follow the government prescribed books and syllabus. This will mean that we should be able to find teachers for all subjects except English. That will be a subject taught by the volunteers and by me when I am on the project. I would love to have some feedback from you regarding this.

I left the project on the 21st -- the day following my birthday. Mitali and Bhola sprung a surprise by bringing a cake! We had it in the evening with Darjeeling tea. It was great. Mitali presented me with some good tea, a track pant and pearl buttons for my kurtas. Bhola game me a set of pajama kurta and Jemma gave me a Maori good luck charm. Wow!!! I felt like a kid all over again!

We drove from the project to Bolpur in Bhola's car. It was a lovely drive except that we encountered too many "strikes" and had to take a long, long detour and made it to the train station just a few minutes before the train's departure. The journey was very comfortable even though the 4-hour journey from Roldih to Bolpur took 6 hours because of the detour. The train took only 2 and a half hours. Bhola discovered a shorter route and his return journey took only 3 hours and a few minutes!

Well, that's all for now. All's well in Roldih. Kolkata sucks. And I'd better get down to writing that concept paper now.

Back in Rodih

Jon (Jonathan) and I arrived on the project on Monday. I arrived at dawn and he at dusk. It started raining just as I stepped off the bus in Poreya Haat and continued to rain till a short while before he arrived on the project. So he had a little time to settle down before it started raining again.

In fact, it has been raining almost all week. I can’t remember getting so much rain in October. At times it seemed like we were in the middle of July when we get most of the torrential rains. There was a storm one night and Jon found that exciting till I told him that this place records the maximum numbers of lightning strikes in Jharkhand! In fact it is not unusual to hear that a few people have died from lightning strikes during these storms. That made him a bit thoughtful. He’s already seen too snakes so far. Both were poisonous tree snakes. So much for local belief that you can’t see snakes after Naag Panchami!

A day before I left Kolkata I was feeling feverish and tired. The bus journey did not help. And as soon as I got back to the project, I fell ill. I had fever and a constant headache. Bhola wanted to conduct a malaria check. I found it quite intimidating. I am not afraid of needles, but I didn’t want Bhola poking around. I decided to take my herbal medicine for malaria anyway. And it worked wonders. I’m feeling fine now. Till yesterday I was feeling feverish and fatigued.

We haven’t had rain for two days. Maybe the rains are over finally. About time too. It’s been bright and sunny. But also a bit hot and humid. The mornings are getting cooler and the evenings too. I am wondering if we are going to have winter as per schedule or whether winter too will be delayed this year.

The school functioned well while I was away. There were no complaints. No problems to sort out. In fact, life is quite relaxed on the project these days. Suman is doing whatever needs to be done. The children are studying and also taking care of the project. They have kept it clean and tidy and have planted marigold plants everywhere. There’ll be profusion of yellow soon. Winter is a great time to be here.

Since i have been ill, Jon has been filling in for me. He’s been teaching Class 3 and taking maths in Class 4. And of course the Class 4 children are continuing to teach Nursery and Classes 1 and 2. Well, just a few weeks more till we conduct the final exams. So I’d better get down to teaching Class 4! I’m looking forward to be back behind the desk from Monday.

There’s much to look for ward to next week. Jemma, another volunteer, arrives on Friday and Mitali arrives on the 17^th, which is Diwali Day. There is suppressed excitement. It’s a big day for all of us. It’s a sort of Foundation Day because we moved to Roldih from Paharpur on Diwali day in 2005. How time flies. We are all looking forward to lighting lamps and bursting crackers and eating sweets.

Going away from the project was good. It helped me to do a lot of thinking. I’ve come back with some new ideas regarding the future of this project and also my own future. I’ve decided to move away. Where? I haven’t decided yet. I’ll definitely set up a base in Delhi and perhaps one more in Kolkata. And I am now working towards setting up an old-age-home-cum-orphanage across the border in West Bengal, close to Shantiniketan – where Rabindranath Tagore started the Vishwa Bharati University. But more about that later. It’s all in the planning stage. I’m preparing the blue-print. It isn’t going to happen any day soon.

For the moment. I will be concentrating all my energies on trying to make Roldih a self-governing centre like Cheo. Bhola will be at the helm of affairs and I will continue to find support for the project and will visit it regularly to teach, to guide, to “set things right” if needed.

Jon and Bhola have gone to the village. It’s quiet here. I’ll sit on the veranda and enjoy listening to the birds coming home. It get’s dark very early these days. Winter is not far away.