It took me a
while to upload this blog as I was a bit under the weather after returning from
Roldih. This time Raj(my hubby), went with me as we were carrying two cartons
of goodies for the children, which our Japanese volunteer, Daisuke Ura, had
sent. After returning from India he has been working in the tsunami affected
areas and had sent two huge cartons and was eagerly awaiting photos.
The first
day after reaching in the morning and after breakfast the school started. I
went into the classes and taught a little, revised a little and checked how far
they have progressed after I had left them. They were quite up to date inspite
of our problems in finding good English teachers in the area. The children have
been told about the gifts from before and they were all agog with excitement
wondering what they will get. We gave off school a little early. The children
lined up as they line up for assembly in front of the temple. Then we
distributed the things which included, inflatable balls, whistles, caps, bubble
blowers, skipping ropes, exercise copies, erasers, lots of pens, pencils, sharpners,
scales, sketch pens, colourful notebooks etc. There were smiles all around as
they got their gifts. After it was over they started preparation for the next
day’s picnic.
Next day was
Sunday and the children were early at the gate in coloured clothes as they were
told to come as they wanted and need not wear school uniform. The previous day
a chulah(oven) was dug by the children in the field. Shanku, Bhola, Haladhar
and Premanand with the help of the elder children started the fire going with logs of woods
which are in abandon on the grounds. Cooking was done in huge utensils brought
from Bhola’s house. The menu was khichri(mixture of rice, pulses, vegetables
and spices), papad fry and tomato chutney. Even though the utensils were huge,
the cooking had to be done in batches. The children did all the cutting of the
vegetables very efficiently. Then, after food was ready they were called and
made to sit in a line with leaf plates in front of them. Shanku and Bhola did
the serving. No need to say, food was much appreciated. After the children had
finished we sat down for lunch. Some of the children stayed back and went on
playing and had a second helping after they had finished packing everything up
and before going home.
This trip
covered three things which were - checking to see the progress and fixing till
how much will be taught before the exams, distributing the gifts which Daisuke
had sent and the ever important January picnic.
