Sujata’s Dream

Winter greetings, everyone, hope you are all keeping warm, wherever you are.

It was back in December 2007 that we received a letter from Sanjay Kumar at the Tathagat School that included the following paragraph:

now at Bodhgaya monglam puja [holiday] is going on from 7th december for a week. but here it is very cold and the winter has arrived and this year local forecast is this year colder than others past year. and the children are facing problem due to cold, because of our school is almost open as you know, and the students don’t have sweaters (woollen cloth).

I have one suggestion if it possible and easy for you than you may put a special winter Appeal on website.

Temperatures in Bodhgaya in January were in the 40’s at night and probably mid 50’s during the day. I remember in January 2007, seeing those skinny children running around with nothing but flip-flops and light clothes worn thin, showing signs of discomfort as the chilly winds blew. I remember thinking they all could use sweaters and blankets.

Well, it was too late now to post an appeal on the website and wait for donations to arrive, with the children experiencing the cold temperatures every passing day. So, this January, in response to Sanjay’s specific request and specifications, we sent money to purchase shoes, sweaters, scarves and hats for 125 children.

Unfortunately, the pictures we received from the school, showing a sea of children clad in red sweaters, scarves and hats, holding a “THANKS 2008″ sign, were in a format I could not upload onto this blog. So please, use your imagination, and feel the warmth in your heart.

School was closed this week for the celebration of Durga Puja, the largest Hindu festival in several Indian states including Bihar. It is a nine-day celebration of worship of the supreme goddess Durga. During Durga Puja, life comes to a complete standstill in many places. In playgrounds, traffic circles, ponds — wherever space may be available — elaborate structures called pandals are set up, many with nearly a year’s worth of planning behind them.

The word pandal means a temporary structure, made of bamboo and cloth, which is used as a temporary temple for the purpose of the puja. While some of the pandals are simple structures, others are often elaborate works of art with themes that rely heavily on history, current affairs and sometimes pure imagination. Inside the pandal is a stage on which Durga reigns, standing on her lion mount, wielding ten weapons in her ten hands. This is the religious center of the festivities, and people gather to worship and offer flowers in the mornings and visit throughout all hours of the day and night. Ritual drummers, carrying large leather-strung dhaakis, perform ritual dance worships called aarati.

 At the end of the week-long celebration, the idol is taken in a procession, amid chants and drumbeats, to the river or other water body and is cast in the waters, symbolizing the departure of the deity to her home, with her husband Shiva, in the Himalayas.

After this, families visit each other and sweetmeats are offered to visitors.
Over the years, Durga Puja festival has become as much a socio-cultural event, while maintaining its religious Sanctity. Durga Puja, like most other festivals in India, reinforces the concept of the triumph of Good over Evil.

To read an article with additional photographs from the Patna Daily about Durga Puja celebration in Bihar click here: www.patnadaily.com/news2007/oct/101807/durga_puja.html

The Monsoons have arrived in India, bringing relief from the dusty oven-like heat, but creating new challenges. A couple of weeks ago we received the following email from the Tathagat Welfare Trust:

Dear ornajee
Namaste!
How are you and Ellis. We are fine here. and all children are fine and sending their love to you. and now it has arrived the monsoon here. The weather is normal here. and school is running well here.

With Regards
Boards of Trustees

“Normal weather” means a break from the high humidity and the heat of up to 47 degrees Celsius, which is 117 degrees Fahrenheit!!! With no air conditioning nor fans, can you imagine the challenge of survival?… And the joyous relief at the arrival of the rains with it lower temperatures!…

Here’s a quote from an article published June 11th in the NewKerala.com, an Indian news website:

Monsoon enters Bihar, farmers celebrate
Patna, June 11 : The eagerly awaited monsoon has arrived in Bihar with rainfall reported from several parts of the state, meteorological officials said Monday. …The showers brought relief from the scorching heat to millions of people.

Farmers, meanwhile, are a joyous lot and are celebrating the timely arrival of the monsoon. “A delayed monsoon creates trouble and misery for us,” said Narendra Singh, a farmer.

Patna and neighbouring districts experienced pleasant weather since Sunday due to pre-monsoon showers.

More about the Monsoon, from the Wikipedia:

A monsoon is a rainy season which lasts for several months and has lasting climatic effects. The southwestern summer monsoons occur from June through September.

The monsoon accounts for 80% of the rainfall in the country. Indian agriculture, which accounts for 25% of the GDP and employs 70% of the population, is heavily dependent on the rains. A delay of a few days in the arrival of the monsoon can, and does, badly affect the economy [and the availability of food], as evidenced in the numerous droughts in India in the 90s.

Last week we received this letter from Sanjay:

Dear ornajee and Ellisjee
Namaste!
How are you and your families. We are fine here. and school is running well here. and all children are sending their love to you. and it has arrived monsoon fully. it is continue raining. both river are full of water. there are many village flood of water.

With Regards
sanjay

It’s hard to imagine what living conditions must be like in the village, with days and weeks of non-stop rain, with unpaved paths and the nearby river overflowing. It’s even harder to imagine school continuing to function, with all the mud, water, bare feet, and no furniture to sit or put your books on. We will try to get more information on the conditions in the village form the Trust soon.

You can find more interesting information about the Monsoon at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monsoon

or at this PBS Online’s Nature site: www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/monsoon/html/intro.html

Greetings dear readers:
As you may know, this project came out of Ellis and Orna’s trip to India in Jan.-Feb. of this year. During the 6 week visit, I wrote extensive reflections on my experiences and observations, in an attempt to make sense of the reality around me. Here is a section of my reflections, written January 31, 2007 in Bodhgaya, describing the needs of the villagers as we observed them and our feelings associated with that. This is the poverty we hope to alleviate by providing access to education to the children:

“Every morning I lie in bed frustrated, thinking of the many ways in which the people we encounter need help. The need is endless. In order not to be driven crazy by the constant demands and by our own conscience tormenting us, last week we decided that by defining who we decide to help narrowly, i.e., we support the school and the “chai family”, that we would feel less pulled to give to each and every other person on the street, regardless of the fact that they all need a lot of help. We cannot be everyone’s angels. …So for a couple of days it was easier for us to walk around ignoring the swarms of bedraggled children tugging at us and following us along with incessant asking, and the lines of beggars holding out their bowls or their aprons. But this strategy is failing me now. Even just with our selected beneficiaries, the school (and the village community) and the chai family, there is so much that needs to be done, it is overwhelming.

The school, as discussed before, is in dire need of space, supplies, a lunch program, new uniforms, and a means to allow graduates to continue on to high school. The village people all complain, when asked, about their bad housing. Their homes, where the family shares living space with its cows and goats, are much too small (many family members sleep in one room), have straw and tile roofs that leak during the rainy season, have little or no electricity, no toilet facilities (people have to go into fields, even in cold nights and in the rain), and suffer badly from mosquitoes. They have no mattresses to sleep on, only a handful of thin blankets to share, very little clothes which are extremely worn out, and barely enough food to feed the family every day. They work very hard in the fields for very little money (the going pay rate for a day of field work is 50 rupees = $1.25) and in addition have to cook meals and take care of the children and the animals. The vast majority of them are illiterate and thus better jobs are not available to them. They can use blankets, they can use composting toilets, they can use better roofing, they can use skills-training and a small investment or micro loans so they can diversify from their risky dependence on agriculture (80%) and earn a slightly better living. They can use education so they can become more empowered”.

Please write to us (use the “no comments” link below) and let us know your thoughts. Thanks!