The beginning of 2012

There has been three trips to Roldih, Jharkhand already this year. In the first week of January Siddharth and me, we took Ingrid Barcelos, the Brazilian volunteer with us to the project to settle her down there. For me it was hectic because all through the mornings I took English classes alternating between classIII and IV trying to finish their syllabus and also partly revise the old chapters. Ingrid took to the project like fish to water and settled down quickly. 26^th January, our Republic Day was celebrated by hoisting the flag and distributing sweets to the children. Saraswati Puja was celebrated also and children were given sweets and savouries. There was an idol this year and the village women came and prayed in front of the goddess with new rice in the Lokenath Baba temple. The goddess was immersed in the Haripur river with much enthusiasm by the children.

The next trip Siddharth, Sreyash, a budding lawyer and me went in the first week of February. This time also there was a flurry of activity as far as English classes went. Last time I had explained to Ingrid how to go about the preparation process for the final exam and she did a good job of it over the month she stayed. On Saturdays, Ingrid had a free hand and she played with the kids and played them music which she had brought with her. Some of our ex students came to visit us before giving their board exams. It is a strange thing but it seems they passed out of class IV from our school(Baba Gyan Mandir) and studied in private, taking tuitions for one year and were appearing for the Class X board exams this year. This shows the quality of education in our school is far above the standard of the surrounding areas. One day Ingrid,Sreyash,Bhola and me made a trip to the Cheo project up on the hills. We passed Paharpur also an old Dakshinayan centre. In Cheo the kids there were having their class outdoors as it was very cold and the sun was quite welcome. The sad news is that Dakshinayan is closing Cheo due to financial restraints but the good news is that, they(Ramnath and Chandrama) are managing to keep the school running from village contribution.

The third trip was in the last week of February and it was mainly for the final exams. The whole week was taken up by the exams and correcting the papers afterwards. On 2^nd February we gave out the results. Some passed and some failed which is the rule of life. There was a lot of clapping for the 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd students. It was a happy day as, in those areas, there is not much of a stigma attached to failure in class and most of the failed students repeat another year and come out on top the next year.

Poila Baishakh and Foundation Day

The good tidings for Dakshinayan started from 14th April itself, a day before the Bengali New Years Day. Right in the morning Mr.Tarun Saha came over with solar fittings for Roldih. There were ten solar lamps and the charger and also a solar panel for charging the laptops there. The Panel was put up on the roof of one of the classrooms and the charger was fitted in the main bedroom. It turned out that all these were gifts from Mr.Vijay Mahajan who had recently visited Roldih. We are very thankful to him and the fact that he has zeroed in on the exact need for the project in this moment even in his very short visit. Those solar lamps and the solar panel will come in very useful on the project.

The 15th of April is the Bengali New Year Day and also the day foundation stone was laid for the first time in Roldih in the year 2005. It is celebrated with the children and the villagers every year. The kids offered to bring in the rice and the pulses to which a little more was added and khichdi was made to feed an army. All the children came from early in the morning and an offering of sweets and fruits was done at the Baba Lokenath Temple on the project, which was later on distributed amongst the children and the villagers who came. Then everybody sat down to eat under the old banyan tree and ate off plates made from leaves. Around 250 people ate on that day. Everybody had a good time.

5TH APRIL

On 5^th April evening the Austrian volunteer, Philip Auinger and me, we left for the project on the night bus from Kolkata and was picked up by Bhola in a private taxi from Porayahat early next morning. The weather was balmy on the way. In Roldih the weather was hot and dry but it cooled down in the evenings so there was some respite. Also, the funny thing about the weather there is that when it becomes too hot it is a sure sign of the rains or at least a storm cooling everything down.

We had the Bihar famous litti one evening for dinner. Bhola is an expert at it and brought all the things needed to make it. It is supposed to be made in cowdung cakes fire and the litties were put in the fire to dry roast for some time. Then they were taken out and dunked in ghee(clarified butter) and a spicy chutney was made on the side and also, mashed potatoes with spices. The whole affair was quite enjoyable and we ate under the stars outside the kitchen. Bhola’s father was our guest as he brought in the much needed ghee in the last moment as the previously bought ghee could not be found.

During the day, Philip and I both taught English in classIII and classIV as those two classes were missing their English lessons so far. We took turns in alternating both the classes so that the kids don’t get bored and the classes were kept interactive. In fact, after I came away also, Philip was using the same technique and bhola is guarding the alternate class where Philip is leaving the kids to do some work and going to the other class to teach. I have told the children that intensive English classes will go on if I or the volunteers are on the project so, as not to be absent during those days. The satisfaction of teaching the kids was high as usual and I returned to Kolkata on the night bus from Godda.

THE ADMISSIONS 24th MARCH

I went back to Roldih within a short period for two reasons, one was that the admissions were due, another was that Tomoyo was going to end her one month stint and given the recent situation in Japan I wanted to give her some companionship.

Bhola had already spread the word about the admission date through the children of the school and village visits. On the D day children with their parents started to trickle in from early in the morning. By the time it was 9 o clock- the designated time to start the admission process- the crowd was so big that we had to send Bansi and Shanku to organize by numbers. So they started to send them one by one to where Bhola and me were sitting. The process of interviewing the parents and kids went on till late morning. The kids who wanted to join class I or higher were asked to read a passage from the English and Hindi Readers. They were taken in those classes if their reading was found satisfactory. Even after we closed the admissions, there were people coming in throughout the day and the next few days.

From the money that was collected, we could pay off the dues which had accumulated over the last few months both in the salaries and the provisions department and miscellaneous expenses. After it was all over, Tomoyo and me, we came back by the night bus to Kolkata. Tomoyo learnt a lot of Indian cooking on the project and she was carrying all kinds of spices to Japan.

FINAL RESULTS 14th MARCH

This year we decided to hold the final exams in the month of March instead of in December as all the other schools in the surrounding areas have their exam during this time. This change was made so that the outgoing students don’t have to wait to join the other schools and can directly take admission. The exams went on without a hitch and the marksheets were ready within two days.

Lea, an old volunteer wanted to do some research on santhali language and she with her assistant Minu wanted to make Roldih as a base, so, they were traveling with me and Tomoyo Kaneko, a Japanese volunteer who was going to volunteer for a month. The four of us traveled by the Shantiniketan Express to Shantiniketan and stayed there overnight and visited the Saturday Haat there- a very colourful affair. The girls went crazy buying things.

The next morning, we left early for Roldih. We had breakfast in Massanjore and after that the road was a riot of orange and green as the palash trees were in full bloom all through the road. We reached Roldih before lunch and then it was a whirlwind of activity of getting the report cards ready. The next day was result day and the children started to come in early, some grinning and some grave faced, not knowing what the results were going to be. There was a lot of clapping for the first, second and third toppers. Some also failed. It was mostly in nursery class that students failed which was not much of their fault as the teaching has been erratic. But now, thankfully, it is in order and we are hoping for better results next year. We celebrated the end of session by making and having Alu Paratha(Potato stuffed Indian bread) for dinner.