March 16, 2008

Udaipur, Rajasthan

So we've been touring around the state of Rajasthan in the west part of India. It's kahaki desert landscape is offset by the fantastic colors of women’s’ saris. We splurged andhired a car with driver. Our driver’s name is Beer. We’ve made it to near the border of Pakistan far out in the Thar desert. The weather is starting to get hot and it is really dry. Camel carts are common on the main roads, and peoples main business seems to be tending goats. There is a lot of army in this area and fighter jets are common overhead. Tourism is pretty big here too. We’ve seen some big old forts and walled cities left over from the times of the Maharajas. We went for a camel ride and spent the night out in the desert under the stars. It was quite romantic trudging through the desert at night with the only sound being the bell on the camel’s neck and the soft “hut hut” of the driver.

People are friendly. All the time we are asked our names and which country we’re from. We must strike an odd couple because young girls have a little laugh whenever we walk by. Our health is OK (knock on wood) and the shock of the everyday chaos is wearing off. Like after 50 or so suicide passes on the road you kind of get used to it. We plan on heading to Bodhgaya and the school soon. We’re schlepping around a desk top computer and some books, etc. so it will be nice to get there. Were looking forward to seeing the school and the teachers and children.

Cheers Sheri & Curtis

March 20, 2008

Photo: Curtis, Sheri and Beer Singh in Jaipur, Rajasthan, India

Hey Y'all

We're ending our tour of Rajasthan and catching a night train from Dehli to Gaya tonight. Tomorrow is "Holi", a Hindu festival where people go crazy and throw colored water and powder on everyone. I've been through one of these before and I'm bracing myself. Sheri and I rode an elephant up to a big fort in Jaipur. It was highly touristy but good fun. Our drive from Udaipur to Pushkar was probably one of the most stressful drives I've experienced. The road is a truck route so was heavily trafficked and maybe it was better to just read a book rather than look out the wind screen and see what was going on. Passing and being passed, passing right, passing left, three way passing, and the occasional lunitic, straight up, driving on the wrong side. On a particularly curvie narrow section a man was pushing a bicycle rigshaw loaded with little elephant statues up hill, taking the lane.

Well the next entry will be from Bodhgaya and we'll have something more relevant to say about the school, the teachers, and the children.

Cheers to all.

Delhi Night Train

Photo: Elephant Festival Jaipur

We visited the starting of the elephant festival in Jaipur. We had some time to kill before we saw any elephants. We walked down a side street, all commotion and noise. As we walked a chanting procession passed by bearing a litter for a dead man. He looked quite young.

We caught a night train from Dehli. We entered the station and had a Pepsi in the refreshment room until they kicked us out. Apparently no waiting in the refreshment room. We waited below a reader board until our train platform number was displayed. Train 2802, the Purshott Express. A man with a badly injured right eye squatted before us, put his hands in prayer position and asked for some rupees. The hall was filled with people. The two dozen lower class booking windows had lines thirty deep. Dozens of people were spiraled around on the floor. Hard to say if they were waiting there or living there.

At the platform, Platform 4, it was full of people and luggage. We picked a dusty spot on the concrete and sat on our luggage, waiting. Scurrying around the train wheels and all along the tracks were scores of rats, some running up on the platform. A friendly dog followed me around as I went to find our names on a posted list. I must look like an easy mark. A blind man came taping his stick and holding a can in his hand and repeating something bizarre. He bumped into our luggage and then went around and bumped into something else. The loud speakers were continuously making announcements, none of which I could understand.

The train arrived. Sheri was worried because there was a 100-yard long line in front of our coach, but they were getting on the general seating coach next to ours. Our 2 tier AC class coach was fine. People in our couch were chatting on cell phones and texting. By the time we pulled out of the station the people in general seating were hanging out of the doors. Overlooking the grime and the cockroaches and the occasional mouse our 17-hour train ride from Delhi to Gaya was comfortable.

We arrived at the dusty train station in Gaya, Bihar in the heat of the afternoon. The tuk- tuk stand was unusually quiet because of the ‘Holi” holiday. We were quoted ten times the normal rate for a ride to Bodhgaya by grimy men covered in the colors of Holi. We attempted negotiations and waited around. Nearby a boy with a crippled leg was having a wrestling match with a boy with one arm. They rolled in the dust. The crippled boy got the upper hand by smacking down hard with his crutches. Cripple boy got up and ran by us and then savagely hit a lame dog. Cripple boy came up behind us and started to say something, and then something more in a very course way. His face had so much color from Holi that it had blended to a muddy dusty black. The crowd laughed. Sheri closed the negotiations for two and a half times the normal rate and we slipped away.

The tuk-tuk went on one back road to another odd lane to a bumpy track and back again. Bodhgaya? I asked. Yeah the driver said. He was avoiding the main road because he thought his tuk-tuk might be damaged by out of control Holi revelry. We arrived at our guesthouse in Bodhgaya just in time for Curtis to run to the toilet.

Touch Down Bodhgaya

Photo: Downtown Gaya, Bihar. The nicest part. Watch your step.

We visited Sheri’s School in Bakrour (Sajata) Village. Promid was at the guesthouse early in the morning. We walled over together. It’s a wide stretch of sandy flood plain and dry riverbed from Bodhgaya to Bakrour. As we approached we could see the school. It’s clean beige lines sitting above the riverbank. A good sight. They welcomed us with broad smiles all around. School was out because of the ‘Holi’ holiday. The nine boy orphans who live there were ecstatic to see Sheri. They were made to stand at attention and recited their names and answered questions in English. At the first down time they swarmed Sheri. They were bright and well kept and adorable. They live in one room with a caretaker and the school guard. One poor boy suffers the affects of polio. We all shared breakfast and a cup of chai on the roof top kitchen area.

We met with Promid andMahmod and talked and decided a few things one of them being setting up a computer with internet access. So no time like now. Promid and another man and us hopped into a tuk-tuk and went to Gaya. We arrived in the main shopping area which was really dirty and fully Indian. We bought a monitor, a universal power supply, a blue tooth antennae, 150 school uniforms, a cell phone, and looked at a generator. We visited the dingy office of the school’s accountant and went over a stack of receipts and a salary book. After we had a crazy tuk-tuk ride in the dark back to Bakrour. We were all dirty and exhausted. They greeted us at the school with smiles and a roof top dinner and a peaceful cup of chai. Looking over the river towards Bodhgaya we were very happy that the school is located in this peaceful village.

March 26, 2008

Photo: Promid intoduces Sheri to a first grade student.

This morning we walked across the river to the school with two Americans we met in the street (Cat and Dan from Idaho). We were greeted by the commotion of a school full of children. We visited each class and talked to each teacher. After, we walked to the Sujata temple and visited the two classes that were taking place there. We returned and had lunch at the main school. We wasted a lot of time setting up the computer and attempting to connect to the internet.

The following day was something similar except we visited Busari village where the third branch of the school exists.

Well the news is good. After eight years the school has progressed.

The school foundation owns free and clear a plot of land and a one story building.

At the school building six teaches hold class for 60 students aged 6 to 15, grades 1 to 5. Nine boy orphans live at the school and are provided a safe and clean place to live. They receive food and medical care. They seem happy.

At Sujata temple two teachers provide kindergarten like classes to 80 young children in two donated rooms.

At Busari village we found 130 children aged 6 to 12 being given late after noon “coaching” (2 to 3 hours per day) in English, math, science by 4 female teachers in a house donated by one of the teachers.

As far as we can tell most all the money donated has gone towards the education of the children or the purchase of land and construction of the school. We have asked around and all reports are that the school is reputable and is providing a reasonable level of education.

In Bend Oregon the above would be considered normal or even unacceptable. In the state of Bihar, India all of the above is literally a miracle!

Thanks to all, we are very lucky.

First grade student

Introduction to Computer headache