It's non-stop here at the orphanage--India is non-stop. As soon as you step out the door, where ever you are, you are assaulted by the concentration of people, animals, and vehicles moving at a quick clip with seemingly directionless purpose. Constant road work without machinery, men and women breaking rocks with hammers, crews mixing cement in wheelbarrows.....shopkeepers baghwans (stores/buildings)smacked side by side, all competing with each other to sell the same laundry soap, prayer beads, bottled water, and Cadbury chocolate.
But today is Sunday, and at least inside the ashram things are quiet at 7:45 am. Though the kids have been up since the bell rang at 6:30 am, and they've said their prayers and are doing their laundry. Today is the one day of the week they don't have school. Time to chill out----relax and read, play cricket, do homework, pass around the newborn, capture a chess queen.....
Yesterday, I walked around the village outside of the ashram to take some photos. The "tween-agers" showed me their Henna tatoos, high school girls in school uniforms read the Hindi Times--taking a break before arriving to their first class, and truant boys shot arrows from homemade bows at me. Shoeless and school-less were many of them.
Meanwhile, the orphan kids were all in school. Their curriculum is demanding, Environmental Science--the nitrogen cycle, in 6th grade, taught in English. It would be very impressive if the delivery were effective, but the teaching methods are rote, and for the learning challenged, no modification...As an educator, this is frustrating to see---despite the economic and IT boom, I'm learning that it will take lifetimes for much of India to modernize.
Each day, despite the distance in the orphans' attitude toward me, I feel I make a little headway. "Batman" (age 8--eating dal in my previous post)gave me a rose off of the December birthday party cake yesterday. Arpita, age 6, told me "Vee are gud frenz now.", and Soniya,(age 14) the toughest of them all, sat next to me at dinner and continuously elbowed me to show me how many hot chiles she was able to withstand-(following each elbow in the rib, her right hand quickly grabbed her steel cup of water). On my way to bed, Kavita,(age 15)invited me to watch a Bollywood video....
...and Shin-bone's leg is covering with protective muscle-y growth.
It will be harder to leave than I thought, but tomorrow, I return to Rishikesh-homebase-----one more time--to study more with the ayurvedic doctor, and Friday, I head to Varanasi---India's holiest city. From the land of Shiva, Vishnu, and Ram, I wish you all a very happy Christmas.
