Rebublic Day in India

1/26/09

I didn’t feel like I got much rest felt like I was going to over sleep. I got up at 4:30 to a Hindu mantra echoing over an intercom system at a nearby temple. Today is Republic Day in India. So it is a national holiday. We started the day at 7:30 by heading to the farm for breakfast. On our way in there was a good size group of monkeys sitting on the side of the road couldn’t get a picture as I was on the wrong side of the bus and the roads are miserably bumpy. We arrived to the village by about 9:30AM for a ceremony at the technical center that was created by last year’s Dream Team. Upon crossing the school yard I noticed a casket. We found out later that a child of 1 1/2 years of age had passed away from dehidration. What a travisty for the family and village.

At the start of the ceremony Elias was asked to do the India flag then the students all sang the Indian national anthem. Upon entering the computer lab each male student was asked to stand up state their name and their father’s name, how much school they had completed, age and what they had learned over the past 6 months. When asked about girls attending class I was told that girls are allowed to go to school through grade 5-6 they then are taken out of school and are taught how to keep a home and are married off by the ages of 12-14 years. The girls are having babies as young as 12. What a life to aspire to. The women here appear to do all the work. It is the women’s job to get the water for the family from the town well then carry it back to their homes on their heads. Some even stack two cantinas on their heads. It is just amazing! Then they are responsible for getting wood so the scavenge these bushes that have thorns on them up to 3” long and bundle them up and carry again on their heads. In many circumstances they travel great distances to get the bush and then carry the bundle back to their homes. Then they are responsible for rounding up the cow dung, patting them into patties and then letting them bake and dry in the sun. Every patty maker has her own design. They also use the patties for building houses and houses that store the dried dung as well as for fuel. After the ceremony we went to work. We did cement again and laid bricks. It was very warm in the sun. It definitely felt warmer then yesterday. It probably seems warmer because we (the women) are expected to wear long sleeve shirts, pants and a head covering at all times. I was able to hold a couple babies today. One was relatively young maybe a month or so. He relieved himself on me so when I handed him to Crissie I told her his back and bottom were wet. Not 10 min. later he proceeded to relieve himself again getting Crissie soaked. The boys are quite enamored with Crissie. She is the youngest of the group and her blonde hair and fair skin just captivates them. So while doing cement today Crissie was at the beginning of the assembly line and every time she bent over her tattoo on her lower back would show. She had quite an audience of children all pointing and staring at it. We left the village at about 2PM so we could attend a celebration in another village. We arrived in the village and were welcomed with garlands of marigolds again. The women place the garlands on the women in our group. I had 3 put on me one women even kissed my feet. We then all sat down with the village council and they pulled out this tall long bong. The council all had a pull on it then Elias was asked to join in. Then Sean and Chris smoked from the large one I was then asked so I was given a small bong. Wasn’t sure what it would taste like but it tasted like regular tobacco. I don’t think the guys bong was tobacco though! After that we looked at a building that they would like renovated and also got a chance to look at their 7 classrooms and the building of their new Mosque. We all then jumped into a steel wagon pulled by a tractor and headed off for the wrestling match which was already underway. Upon arriving to the games the games were stopped and all eyes were on us. There were probably 2000 men no women at the event. The sea of men parted as we entered the arena. It felt really weird. We were given front row seats to the event. We were then asked to go out in the middle of the dirt field and meet the two final teams in the running shake their hands and then have our pictures taken with each team. It was hard to follow the rules of the game as it was kind of complicated to know what counted points wise and what didn’t. There were 2 teams of 5. 4 of them stayed on the field at all times with their hands joined making like a wall the one member of the apposing team would try and break the wall and pick one of the 4 to try and take down in a wrestle. They were safe if they managed to get back to the middle of the field to where there was a white line. They also had a running race where 2 of the oldest men there had a running race twice around the field. There appeared to be some sort of a prince present sitting up on this structure behind us. He was heavily guarded and looked to be a young teenager. After the match we headed back to the hotel. I decided to bow out of dinner so I could catch up on this and try and get some rest but I have just encountered my first very large spider! Small tarantula is what it looked like. The size of a large mouse. Help me god. I thought I was going to have a breakdown! I was sitting on my bed typing when some movement out of the corner of my eye caught my attention. So I leaned over the bed to look into the bathroom where I saw the movement go. As soon as I leaned over the huge spider scurried across the floor and back under my curtains that goes out to the balcony. I totally freaked standing on my bed shrieking. I ran down to the front desk and they came down but could not find the spider. I am so nervous now don’t know if I’ll be able to sleep knowing that is in my room. They came to my room and plugged something in one of the outlets that is supposed to keep mosquitoes and spiders away. I don’t hold much hope out for that. Better sleep with the lights on