Thursday, August 07, 2003 :::
Greetings,
Well, Wednesday 6th was a very eventful and productive day. Poorni had arrived at 5 in the morning. She had got the train down and been sharing the carriage with one government minister, 30 police men and 2 sniffer dogs. She hadn’t slept at all, therefore rising a little later than the rest of us. There was an AREDS staff meeting going on, I had initially thought that it would be happening up at the training centre, which is where such events usually happen, but over breakfast I was informed that my assumption was wrong. The meeting was to be held at ACTS, the first gathering in the theatre, seeing as how it has pretty much been finished.
AT about 10 myself, Samy and Christi headed up to the site where many had already began to congregate. The meeting was going to be 120 strong. I wasn’t entirely sure that we were going to fit that many into the theatre but they fitted in easily, chairs and all. The theatre had had a few modifications, lights had been installed, polished black granite windowsills added. I got to work. Poorni turned up at about 11:30, I showed her around and we spent time just walking round the site and hanging around. She had come down to say her farewells to all the staff many of whom she had known since she was a little kid. She was called upon at about 12:45 to say fare thee well, which was pretty emotional from what I hear. Lots of people said stuff; they had written her a poem, given her presents, all very nice. The meeting took a break at about 1. Everyone wandered round looking at the progress, most of which hadn’t been seen b the staff since the GB meeting several months back. Everyone seemed very impressed, all good. They all headed back in to finish before lunch, me and Poorni headed into the farm house to eat.
One of the last things to talk about in the meeting was ACTS. Everyone pretty much, from what I gathered from Samy, had the same things to say. They were very excited and grateful that their children would have the opportunity to use such facilities hoping, as initially planned, that it would show them that the life they perceive for themselves aint necessarily the life they need to take up, they are in control and can achieve things that they never thought possible, being Dalit. Most of the staff had never seen a swimming pool before, ever, unless it was on the TV (which I found quite hard to take in). They all said that if they had never seen swimming pool, they can’t imagine what the kids are going to think. Everyone was very happy with the project, a few, voicing common opinion, mine and Samy’s especially, said that the project had grown out of anyone’s expectations. We started off with the idea of a space for theatre, a place to sleep and “pond” (as it was first put) that kids could mess around in. We ended up with a 200,000 feet³, 9 foot deep swimming pool, a theatre that can easily sit over 100 people, 4 dorms that sleep several people in each with on-suite toilet and shower facilities and a bunch of other stuff. It is, quite frankly, madness. Anyway, the bottom line everyone was very happy with the project, most are very excited and it’s all good.
At about 2 the whole theatre emptied and everyone ate. Poorni headed off home and I started work again. When lunch was over the meeting resumed and carried on until about 3:45 where apon everyone came out and were set to work shifting huge piles up mud to fill in the walled off flower beds. Even Samy and Christ8i joined in. The whole task would have taken us (the workers) days and days but with 120 people it was easy. Several circles were formed with diggers filling pans and then passing them round the circle, dumping them in a specific place and then passing the empty pans back to the beginning in a constant ring or activity. Everyone really seemed to enjoy themselves, everyone was laughing and cracking up when someone dropped a pan of mud, there were people filling up sacks and dumping them, people laying bricks in and then filling up holes that had been dug for the electrical cables to pass, lots of things going on. It was quite a Kodak moment I tell you. 120 people, a lot of women, dressed up in brightly coloured sari’s throwing mud around, fan-bloody-tastic. We worked until about 5:45. In 2 hours (minus tea breaks) we had filled 4 large sections of walled garden, with mud that came from the hole in which the pool now sits. It would have taken us days and days of mind numbingly boring trips back and forth and back and forth between mud and site to finish that, just shows you what people can do when they work as a team. After clearing up a bit we headed back to the house. I was bright pink, I looked like a bloody lobster, I had a splitting headache, was very dehydrated and covered in mud and cement but was very happy and pleased at the fact it had been such a productive and fun day.
säfê
jậїmẽ
::: posted by j(e t')aime at 4:29 AM
Monday, August 04, 2003 :::
Greetings everyone, hope your all ok and stuff.
Well not much to report at the moment. The main thing at the mo is work. It’s all going very well. The pool is nearly finished although some of the tile have to be taken up and re-laid cause someone made a bit of a cock-up with their calculations. The roof on the theatre has been finished, the window sills are being added, the floor has been put down and the walls have been white washed. The boundary wall foundations have all been dug and most of them laid and one built half high (about 5 foot). The paths are going to be laid soon now that the foundations have been put down. They will be laid with large, heavy thick paving slabs which are great. The pool just has to be touched up. Most of the tiling has been done and “ACTS” laid in 2 foot letter in the deep end with dark blue tiles on a light blue background, it looks great. Have been doing all sorts of things on the site from making concrete to weeding, a big pile of stones, of all the grass, sounds stupid I know.
Other News:
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Anne;
Anne is here in India visiting at the mo. She came over on Sunday 3rd. Will be really odd seeing her over here. For those of you who don’t know its Anne’s family who I am staying with. She will be basing herself in Chennai and will be here till the 13th. Poorni is coming down to say fare thee well to all the AREDS staff on the 6th and then leaving on the 8th. I will, hopefully, go back up to Chennai with her and spend some time with Anne and that lot.
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The rat
The rat that has been terrorizing the kitchen has finally been caught having been on the loose for about 2 months odd. Augustine set a trap and we had it within an hour. Although it’s nice not to worry about being attacked every time you go into the kitchen I felt really bad seeing the poor thing, who was just going to pick up the piece of burned coconut to eat, with its neck snapped. Maybe that week in Sri Lanka kindled some Buddhist belief in me.
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Home of poi donation
Have some great news about the project. When purchasing all my poi equipment I use a web site called Home of poi which is based in New Zealand. I have been using the shop for many years and have posed on the message board since I started poi. I am on good terms with Malcolm the owner and we talk if we mail each other about events or orders etc. Anyway. He mailed me about an order and asked how I was getting on and a little bit about the project I was working on. I told him and he mailed me back saying that it sounded like a great project. I had told him that I had been teaching poi to village kids. He mailed me saying that he had a load of discontinued product lines, some poi, electro poi etc around and would I like him to donate them to ACTS. Can you believe it? So I’d like to say a HUGE thank you to the guys at Home of poi and especially to Malcolm for this very generous offer on which we have taken him up on. It’s really brilliant and further proof that Home of poi is the best online community and poi resource in the world.
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“A fork stuck in the road”
A very odd thing happened to me the other day. I was working up at the site and I ripped a big piece of skin off my finger. When I got back to have lunch I decided that it would probably be a good idea if I ate with a fork not my hands, for obvious reasons, i.e. it bloody hurt. That proved to be a little more difficult that first anticipated. I found it very awkward using the dam thing, seriously man, it felt weird using a fork, what am I saying, am I going mad? Well no, I’m not. Having used my hands to eat for the past 7 months I am beginning to wonder, “What is the point in using cutlery.”
If you look at it there are many disadvantages.
• The washing up is increased by three extra items per person (imagine how much you would save a year on fairy liquid. And how many times have you finished the washing up, dried you hands, emptied the water and then realised there is a single, solitary tea spoon or some other piece of cutlery at the bottom of the sink, come on, it happens, it happens EVERY BLOODY TIME, I should know, I spent 2 years being employed to wash. This annoying occurrence would cease all together.
• They take up space in your top drawer. When anyone ever asks where the cutlery is it ALWAYS, without fail, “in the top drawer,” how many people here keep their cutlery in the top drawer? Imagine what that extra space could be used for, the possibilities are limited only by your imaginations (and the size of your top drawer obviously.)
• They can spread germs. Think about it. Cutlery just sits there for days, weeks even months without getting used. Then, you simply pick it up and use it. Some people may argue that using your hands in just as unhygienic. THAT’S WHY YOU WASH THEM BEFOREHAND. How many people wash their cutlery just before they use it? When was the last time you cleaned that plastic, cutlery tray thingy or, if you don’t own one of those, your cutlery drawer? Just imagine the crap that your eating implements are lying in/
• They’re dangerous. Now, it’s happened to all of us, come on guys, how many people can HONESTLY say that they have NEVER accidentally stabbed themselves with a fork or a knife?
There aint really many advantages, from what I can gather having used both methods the only major advantage with using cutlery is that its easier to eat with if the food it seriously piping hot, but then again, if the food is really that hot you won’t be able to eat anyway without running the risk of scalding your mouth, meaning your going to have to let the stuff cool down anyway. Some would say that we need it for some things. I must say I have tried and eating curd (yoghurt) with my hands and it aint an easy task but it is, believe it or not, doable. The guys here eat shit loads of the stuff and I have never ever seen any of them use a spoon. Things like steaks, ok, you may have a point there, but still, I have seen guys go through much tougher things than your average steak without the need for anything save your hands and your teeth.
Some might argue that without the humble tea spoon how could we stir our tea, coffee, hot chocolate, horlicks etc? It is very annoying finding a mass of un-dissolved sludge at the bottom of ones beverage, but I drink coffee three times a day over here and I have never, ever, ever seen anyone stir a hot drink. How, then, do they overcome the sludge issue, they pour the liquid from a great height, between two cups (over a meter apart) several times. Not only does this work a lot better, look a lot more impressive but it also cools the drink down, meaning that it is ready to drink when handed to you, clever huh.
I do believe we have reached “the fork stuck in the road”. I think its time we started to question our over using of cutlery, ok, we need it for some things but not everything. Have a think about it, and believe me, eating with your hands is great fun and the food is alot more enjoyable.
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Indian soaps.
The other day myself, Samy, Christi and Ambiga were watching some crappy Indian soap opera which, believe me, there are hundreds of the dam things and they are all pretty much the same. No one is ever happy, everyone is always miserable and everyone fights and argues not like our lovely, happy Aussie soaps.
Anyway, we were watching this and something really horrible happened. This woman bending over this dude who was lying down, that was it, no contact or anything like that, just talking. Her husband turns up and goes nuts, kicks the living crap out of the guy and then sits down infront of TV. The woman, who knows nothing was going on, comes up to him and talks to him saying what happened etc. He just ignores her insinuating that she has brought shame on the family blah blah blah. Anyway, she doesn’t like this one bit so she runs into the larder, locks the doors, douses herself with Kerosene and sets fire to herself. Her family watches in horror through a barred window and she burns to death and runs around screaming in agony. This may sound slightly amusing in a way simply because you can never ever imagine something so horrible happening in real life, and all because there was a slight misunderstand which ends with some dude telling his wife he is ashamed of her, but believe me, this shit has happened. Such are family ethics that some people, mostly women, feel that this is necessary. I questioned Christi about this. I asked if the man would ever be charged cause in the UK he would probably get charged with involuntary manslaughter, and she said the police never ever ever get involved, they say it should be kept in the family. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. This used to be known as “sati” and was abolished a few years ago, it, apparently hasn’t happened in a few years but this used to go on. I couldn’t believe it. How could a guy insinuate that this kind of action is what he wants his wife to do? And how could anybody honestly justify committing suicide my setting fire to yourself (cause come on, there are less excruciatingly painful therefore better ways of topping yourself) simply because they have shamed their family, usually in some stupidly minor and unbelievable insignificant way. It’s unbelievable, it made me feel sick. I have actually read reports in the paper of this happening.
In actual fact there are other practices in very traditional Indian Muslim families which make about as much sense. I have heard about practices involving choosing a bride (very rarely done on whether you love them, that would be way too easy, 9 times out of 10 the bride is considerably younger than the dude) and how a man can tell if the woman is suitable, also about what should happen on their first night together. It terrible and totally and utterly pointless, it doesn’t make any sense.
Also, if, in a Muslim family, the husband ever gets angry with one of his many wives (they are allowed to have 5) all he has to do is bang his hand on the table 3 times whilst saying “Talak” three times and they are officially divorced, I kid you not. How ridiculous is that. I(n actual fact there was a report in the newspaper today about this Muslim couple who got married, the brother-in-law was taking photos which is, apparently considered in Islam unacceptable on the wedding day or something like that. The groom asked him to stop and he refused. The guy divorced her right there and then, on their weeding day, by saying “Talak” three times. I mean come on, what’s the point in that. Needless to say there aint many divorce lawyers in this country.
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Rain
Its been raining quite a bit recently, the site has been suffering a little in the way that its just been a big mud bath, like Glastonbury, makes work a little difficult especially when you have to lug large heavy thing around when it that slippy underfoot.
On Sunday (being the 18th of the monthly in the Tamil calendar) there is usually a festival to mark the beginning of planting season. Everyone celebrates the fact that there is lots of water in the rivers, they all go down and bathe and play in the rivers. Unfortunately even though it has been raining there is absolutely no water in any of the rivers. That kind of put an end to the usual festivities. The monsoon hasn’t started yet but will soon, they can’t plant during the monsoons cause all the seeds would just wash away. Even so, the rains have kinda failed the last few years and people are beginning to wonder whether this year will be the same as so far it hasn’t rained as much as it should have done, global warming maybe, me thinks so.
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Well that’s about it. On Thursday Christi headed off to Chennai to organize the family get together/fare well to Poorni gathering. She took Ambiga (the cook and house keeper) with her. Samy is heading up on Saturday. Panic time, no food, no one to make breakfast, what about morning coffee, afternoon coffee, evening coffee and general amusing conversations, one side in Tamil the other in English, that occur when it’s just the two off us and everyone else has done a runner. Not to worry. Augustine took control and is dealing with all Ambiga’s tasks, and, I might say, doing a very very good job of it. They all returned on Sunday night.
Hope your ok.
Safe
jaime
::: posted by j(e t')aime at 6:36 AM
