So, on the morning of 2nd September we finally met Ankit. His family's one of the oldest in Kullu, its history stretching back for centuries. His family shares a huge mansion with his brother Panki and his family as well, their parients, and some causins. Family units are perceived differently in their culture. Majority f everyday decisions are made by the family quorum, including partners for their sons. It makes sense, because as long as all family lives together they undisputedly pick the best wife from a different family. Women rarely leave the domestic environment which consists of child care, cooking (God, they're good at it!) and crafts. Men bring money for the family.
Ankit, is a special kind of guy, who owns a tourism business (drafting, camping on the local mountains), works in his own tourism college, runs several charity projects. It seems as if he can barely find enough time to sleep!
Back to our business, ankit offered us some Chai with a splash of milk of course! And explained that the first priority now - finding a shelter over our heads. So all three of us went around the clumsy, colorful and jammed streets of Kullu and bargained with sever "room owners". One of the possiilities was to accomodate in a beautiful but tiny hotel room for 9,000 rupees a month. However, we had another option which turned out to be cheaper, 5,500, yet slightly mouldy and dusty.
Our master, that's how we call him now, rented us a room with 2 windows on the first floor of his house. He has a big family, and a big belly which makes him look rather comic. We would see him and his wife every evening instructing us how to lock the doors properly and use as little electricity aspossible :)
Preparing for living.
First thing we did with our room - removing a huge and mouldy dust carpet. We could immideately feel the difference. Then, me and Anine unscrewed the bed and separated it into two pieces and placed them each in the corners. Hard cleaning timesfollowed, althuogh basic tools for that were scarse ;D Finally we managed to mop it properly, wind the bed covers and the place was ready to live in.
Bashing orphanage.
It is the poorest orphanage in Kullu, in orderto get there you shuld take a bus ride for 20 minutes towards Manali (people say itsthe most beautiful place on Earth). there are 12 boys and only 1 girl residing there. They're housed in a two-room, two-floor house. On the first one, there is a blackboard, on the second one they should be sleeping.
As we have leared by now, their ages range from 7 to 15. I will never forget, when we first met them, and they started touching our feet in a respectful way and saying "namaste" and "Hello, my name is.." Right from the beginning we felt that this place should be our priority, as so they knew so little English and the orphanage was run by two local volunteers. One of them, Sarla, 21, has been working there for 5 years for free. She's an amazing woman. Bashing orphanage is the last resort of freedom, pure feelings and human dedication in this planet. In fact, every smile of those beautiful children warm your heart to heavens.
We talked with Sarla andother lady about the time schedule, and agreed to come to Bashing at least times a week for two ours each day and a few more on Sundays.
Cleaning the bathroom.
Our bathroom looked like a sad place to live in. Dark, mouldy, dusty and chocking with stains of all kinds. So, me and Anine went to the "western kind of shopping mall" and got some "chemistry". It took us as long as 2 hours to wipe off all this dirt. The other day our master's wife paid us a visit and was warmly surprisded to see our bathroom renewed.
It was certainly a happy evening to us, as we went to eat in one of three recommended places. We had chapatis with Do (beans) and lady fingers which Hindi name I'm not aware of. Most importantly, I was adviced not to try any meat for at least 2 weeks, or even better - no meat at all. It may sound strange, but this country is basically vegetarian. They have enough protein from beans, asparagus, soya and many others which I'm yet to taste. Now we have a water boiler, so hard boiled eggs will spice up the menu.
Just before midninght we started planning our first classin Bashing. Frm th eprevious volunteers we knew that managing 13 children who've limited social experinces will be difficult. We agreed to take up strict roles in the beginning, and continue with rewards if necessary. We'd start with an ABC and some numbers. We predicted that younger kids might not be able to master the alphabet or write their name and age.
Afterwards, when the lights went off, and it was our first night, we talked about our beloved ones. tears would follow. It was difficult to accept the separation and loneliness. I have missed Alex down to my bone marrow. After knowing her so well I feel "hounted" by our experiences all the time. Even more, it seems that as I am experiencing challenges and happy moments in India, my beloved one feels them as well. When I find myself surrounded by beautul, altruistic and spiritual people, I want her to feel my positive emotions. I know how much she would love it here! These six months will fly as fast as a mountain falcon. We'll be THERE again, FOREVER.
At some point I wished Anine good night, Sov God, and fell asleep myself. I fell asleep, Alex fell asleep and Kullu fell asleep, all three in my heart at the same time. "Beautiful" I thought.
September 3rd
We woke up slowly that day. I was the first one, at around 10. I turned on the water boiler for Anine, as she takes showers in the morning and I do it with a cld water in the evening ;D We hadn't had a kettle by then, so for breakfast we ate an infamous Lithuanian blood chocolate bars. Fr the same reason we had been buying water from the shops, as we couldnt boil it. Inadvertedly we used up too much of it the previous day, so the morning felt like hangover. After breakfast, we went to ankit's place whereas his brother Panki would take us to Kaljeli where a drug addiction centre was.
We met a few of them, and they seemed really happy people. Drug addiction is quite unusual in India, as so many people are spiritual and avoid spoiling their lives. And as the head of the center explained, addicts are treated with traditional medicine and meditation and lots of patience. As for us, he adviced to focus on quality and mental games, which we could do for 2 hours each Thursday. This is going to be a serious task and hard preparation should follow.
Afterwards we went to Kayeli orpahange. It has a way more resources compared to Bashing, and children were moderately fluent in English. The head of orphanage, a happy middle aged Indian woman with a red spot on her head, asked us to concentrate on a skit comedy act. The theme - Female children equality. And the stakes are really high, as she emphasized that last year the previous volunteers helped the children to win a second place prize. Apparently we are expected to do even more! ;)
So, after these two institutions I was overwhelmed by the vast range of activities we shall take up in the following months. And yet, there were only 3 visited and at least 2 more remaining, including a blind school.
Panki drove us home, and being late for 2 hours we rushed towards the Bashing orphanage. it would be our first class with those 13 little angels.
So we took a local colorful Tata bus (these buses are cultural phenomena themselves and I will have a separate post for them). there were more than enough people inside, and I could barely breathe. Next to us there was a lady with a young baby, brestfeeding it. The bus was inexorelably crowed and I pondered how could she cope with the baby. In less than 20 minutes our bus stopped but we were slightly unsure where to leave so we opted for anther stop. It was only then when we saw the orphanage being passed by our bus! So, we had to walk for 10 minutes in an extraordinary green mountain valley until we reached Bashing.
Children saw us from a distance and accumulate by the age of a fence marking orphanage territory. They were smiling humainly and waving hands at us. A few more "Namaste" and "Bring us to your teacher" and we met Sarla. She was surprised to see us that late, but still gathered all kids into the classroom.
And here we were, two greenhorns, standing in front of 14 people hoping to fulfill their expectations. We startedwith a general introduction and alphabet folowed. The difference in their knowledge was staggering, usually the elders knowing the basic aEnglish and youngsters could barely write their names. After an hour or so, we let them loose outside to play Mingle Mingle. Unfortunately they hurt each other often, and tears were common. honest and unselfish tears.
After 15 mins or so we got them back into the class, asked them each to write their names and ages, and draw auto-portrait, so we could remember theirnames easily. Beforehand we'd bought sketch pens, and this really attracted their interest, unfortunately, by the end of the session we had take them back with our selves, otherwise it would get consumed in no time ;D
finally, we asked each kid to stand with its name and portrait, so we could take apicture. Picture taking made them extremely happy. We concluded our visit by a polite "namaste" and my heart was happy. I hope their hearts were as happy as ours. I gave Anine the biggest hug ever and stepped into the night (by 19.00 its absolutely dark) to catch a bus. We were sweaty, exhausted and satisfied. I wanted to hold Your hand and let You feel that beauty.
Kettle
Later atnight we set off to getch a kettle as gas stove seemed too complicated and unecessary. We found a nice one for 800 rupees, of course not without Panki's help. LAter that evening we boiled noodles, water and Chai.
It was one of the best days of my life.
Falling asleep
For the second night in a row I have relinguished myself of tears and feelings. We talked about the College and love and what makes us so happy here in Kullu. So, today we got to know new orphanage and an addicition center, got a kettle, fresh water resources and most importantly got inspired by Bashing.
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