News Paucity

There's not much news coming out of the project. I spoke to Bhola yesterday and he was complaining about the heat. There seems to be no let up at all! Godda apparently received some rain a couple of days ago around the same time that a storm destroyed over 6000 homes and claimed over 50 lives in north Bengal. But somehow Roldih did not experience any weather changes. Nor did Kolkata. We're being promised thundershowers for the past two days. But it eludes this city. North Bengal is still experiencing some showers every now and then. People there are homeless and I'm sure are not welcoming nature's largess.

All goes well in Roldih. They celebrated Foundation Day by having a puja at Baba's temple during assembly and distributing sweets. It was also Poila Boishakh (the first day of Baisakh -- start of the Indian calendar) so I'm glad they celebrated it in some small way. I wish I had been present.

School is quite regular. It starts at 6 am and ends at 10 am. Apparently it's quite hot even at that time and I know how hot the tin roofs can get. I'm glad the kids are leaving early. The project team spends most of their time under the banyan tree. But it's so hot and humid that the shade provides hardly any relief.

Once the sun sets, it becomes more bearable and that's the time they water the plants and do whatever they need to do. The trees are bearing fruit and the vegetables are helping to cut down on food-related expenses.

So that's all the news I have to share. I'm off to Delhi tomorrow to meet Sukanya, my daughter, and I also, hopefully, be able to put Dakshinayan's accounts in order after a meeting with my accountant and auditor. Though I'm looking forward to going to Delhi. I am dreading the heat!

Back to Furnace Days

It was hot in Kolkata before I left for Agartala. It was hot in Agartala. It's hot here in Kolkata now that I am back. I wonder how I'm going to deal with the heat when I go to Delhi end of this week.

This heat wave is unprecedented. Kolkata rarely crosses the 40 degrees mark. This year it's already hovering above 40 and that too in April -- a month when it should be warming up and not getting hot. Wonder what will happen in May and June.

It's relatively cooler on the project at 36 degrees. But Bhola was already complaining about the heat when I called up this afternoon. School starts early and is over by 10 am. It's already quite hot by then, it seems. Everyone has lunch at 12 and then sit under the shade of the banyan tree -- including Bruni and her son Lalu. According to Bhola, all is well. The only problem they are having is the heat.

Yesterday there was a big fire in Devdand. The villagers managed to bring the fire under control before it spread. In fact, if the fire had spread to the next house whose owner stocks petrol and diesel, Bhola estimates that at least 15 houses would have been razed to the ground. Fortunately, that did not happen. The villagers managed to empty out most of the houses in the vicinity.

Well, that's all the news I have from the project at the moment. More news when I get some.

Is Anyone Reading This Blog?

Seriously, I would like to know if people are actually reading this blog because I am wondering if I should continue to write for it.

It was easy to write when I was on the project because I could talk about daily events. I could also upload pictures of the children and the project's activities. But now, when I am in Kolkata, I have to rely on news I receive from Bhola -- which isn't much. The phone conversations go something like this:

"How are you, Bhola?"

"I am fine. How is your health?"

"I am ok. How are Suman and Shanku?"

"They are fine."

"How's Bruni?"

"Fine."

"Did you have school today?"

"Yes."

"Are Kartik and Radha teaching ok?"

"Yes."

"Yoga?"

"Yes."

"Anything interesting happening?"

"We are watering the plants"

"Ok."

"Are there any volunteers coming?"

"Not this month."

"The udhari (money owed to people) is now 42,000!"

"What?!!!"

"Yes, we owe A...B....C....D..."

"Ok. I'll see what I can do. I don't have no personal funds to dip into."

"But people have to be paid."

"I know. Should I call them up?"

"No. But see what you can do."

"Ok. Is it hot?"

"Yes. Very hot."

"Anything else -- aur kuch?"

"Nothing. All is well."

"Ok. Bye."

So, you see? It's difficult to talk about the project here. And my own life is rather boring. Exciting bits I'd rather not share with you! :)

Hence, it's important I know if anyone is reading the blog. If no one is reading, then I might as well stop writing!

Right To Education Act

The Right To Education (RTE) Act has come into force since yesterday -- 1st April (all fool's day) and I am wondering if this is yet another joke. The Act specifies that all children between the ages of 6 to 14 have a right to receive free education from a neighbourhood school. Well, that sounds wonderful. But will this ever translate into reality?

Those who have been to Dakshinayan's project in Roldih are well aware of the fact that in rural Jharkhand, at least, there are school buildings in practically every village. But where are the teachers?

It's not enough to merely legislate. We had so many Acts (to protect women, human rights, animals, etc) but are they ever implemented? What is the grassroots reality? Do we really have trained teachers? And if we do have teachers, wouldn't it have made more sense to ensure that to qualify as one, they have to spend at least one year at a rural school? This should be the case with doctors too. Before they are granted their medical degrees, they need to spend at least one year in a rural hospital.

Dakshinayan has been providing basic education in one of the remotest areas of Jharkhand. And our experience tells us that the Act will have no impact at the grassroots level unless proper infrastructure is created for the implementation of RTE. This does not mean building of schools. One suspects that the local authorities and contractors are always keen to do this because it means money for them. I'm talking about Trained Teachers and Books and other Teaching Aids.

Had I been in charge of implementing RTE, these are few steps I would have taken to ensure that children did indeed receive education:

1. Select educated young men and women on the basis of a written test and an interview to ensure that they are psychologically suited to become teachers.

2. Provide them with training.

3. Ensure that they serve a one-year internship at a rural school before they receive their degrees.

4. Those who qualify need to set up their own rural schools. They will be provided with teaching material and assigned an area where they will teach.

5. If a school building exists in the area, they need to ensure that there are at least 100 children enrolled in the school and that there's at least 90% attendance before they get their salary.

6. If there are no buildings, then a school building will be constructed if the teacher and the community ensures that at least 100 children are attending school and there's 90% attendance.

7. Annual tests are to held to gauge the progress of the children. These tests are to be conducted by teachers from other schools.

These are but few of the suggestions I have. I wonder if the government will adopt some of them. Or if, like it is at present, we will have schools without teachers, and children without education and an yet another Act that is not implemented.

One More No-Show

Looks like the Roldih kids won't have an English teacher this month either. Nicholas Hodder, who seemed absolutely positive about joining the project, called last night to say that he is joining another programme.

Nicolas and I had been corresponding for a long time and when he called yesterday morning he sounded quite sanguine about going to Jharkhand. Only problem was, he couldn't get a ticket to arrive before my departure for Tripura on the the 4th. I asked him to try and get a ticket on the "foreigner's quota" and when he called in the evening I thought he had managed to get one. But he said he couldn't and that he had decided to join another project.

As you can imagine, I am extremely disappointed. But I shouldn't be. I've had similar situations before too. People wanting to come. Confirming their participation. And then at the last moment, opting not to show up. On the positive side, I knowhe is not coming. There have been times when people don't show up and don't even bother to inform us.

I'm sad that the children are missing out on their English lessons. Ever since Joanna (Asha) left in February, we've had no one to teach them English. I've been away all of March and it doesn't seem that I will be able to visit the project in April either.

In a few days I am leaving for Tripura. I'll be there till the 11th and after I come back from there, I'll be going to Delhi to sort out Dakshinayan's accounts and also meet my daughter who is leaving for a tour of Europe on the 19th. I haven't seen her for years!

Meanwhile, the news from the project is that "aal izz well". School goes on. Yoga classes too. But there's no cash on the project. Someone had borrowed a huge chunk of money from me and I had hoped that he's repay by now and that would take care of the project's expenses. But he hasn't paid back as yet and so there's a cash crush. Well, this should be a learning lesson for those on the project. All these years, I've begged, borrowed and stolen to ensure that people got their honorariums on time and that there was no lack of money for what the project needed. Perhaps it's time for them also to realize that money doesn't grow on trees!

Ever since I left the project, expenses have gone haywire! There's more money being spent on petrol, food and other non-essential items. Perhaps the cash crunch will help people to be more frugal and circumspect about spending money. It's time to grow vegetables to cut down costs! For those who are alarmed, please don't worry, the provisions can come on credit and I will clear the bills whenever I have some money! No one will starve. Salaries can be paid later too.

Well, even though the scenario seems bleak at the moment, I am sure it's all going to work out eventually. I am not expecting many volunteers to come during the summer months. So we might as well accept the situation as it is and learn to relax!