Tag: uttarakhand
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Batwadi Bhajans
After a full day of carrying sand and stones up the hill to the village pipal tree, our Japanese students postponed their bath and dinner to climb the hill once more for bhajans with our local ladies. The only word to describe the Batwadi Bhajan Band is “ecstatic”. They love any excuse to sing and welcome anyone to join in. I will devote a separate post to them in the future, tonight was all about the Japanese. To my surprise, the students came prepared to lead several bhajans, probably practiced on the long bus ride here. The sang Amma Amma…
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Child’s Play
Today is Sunday. On Sunday children around the world usually like to enjoy their day off from school and relax…but not the children of Batwadi Sonar. As soon as the Japanese students showed up to do seva this morning, all the village kids were waiting for them. Most of the kids got to help a bit yesterday after school, but today they wanted to be there right from the start. The kids jumped right in and began carrying sacks of sand, running and laughing up the hill to their village. Those too little to carry a sack on their own…
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The chain gang
Today was the Japanese students’ first full day of seva in Uttarakhand and the task of the day was getting rocks and sand from the riverbed up to the village of Batwadi Sonar in preparation for building them a community hall. Sand and rocks are some of the main raw materials used for building new houses and fortunately they are readily available in the riverbed. The only hard part is that they needed to be delivered about 500 meters up a very steep switchback trail to the construction site. When the work began in the morning, each person…
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Everyone loves a parade
The single road in Chandrapuri is crowded on a normal day. Add three bus loads of Japanese students, every school age child, banners, drums, trumpets, garlands, and you have true chaos. Soon the local children started to slip through a narrow lane between buildings. The parade began, up the steep path to the secondary school. The largest assembly ground in town was filled to overflowing. Speeches, songs, and the most wonderful welcome signs in the hands of the students. Back down the hill, but the buses did not arrive, so our parade left town, still accompanied by drums and banners,…
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Japanese student volunteers arrives
Last night the Japanese student volunteers arrived in India after a long flight from Tokyo. After a few hours rest in the Delhi Amrita Vidyalayam, began their long journey to Uttarakhand. As soon as they stepped off the train in Dehra Dun they met by the City Magistrate Mr. Girishji, honored as official state guests and given a police escort to meet the Chief Minister of Uttarakhand, Shri Harish Rawat. The Chief Minister spent some time interacting with all the everyone and expressed his admiration and support for the students’ efforts. When addressing the students the Chief Minister said, “Amma…
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One house, many pujas
Although we have already done a large groundbreaking puja for this house, another simple puja with just the workers is done before the brick masons begin. Om Lokah Samastah Sukhino Bhavantu three times, prasad for everyone, and the walls start to rise. – Scotti
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The sound of water
When you live near water, hearing its sound becomes part of your life. A fisherman living in a coastal village will hear the tides of the ocean like his own breath. Someone living along the banks of the Ganga will hear its never-ending flow like their own heartbeat. These sounds are usually a constant and steady presence in their life. But sometimes, like a sudden heart attack that hits with no warning, the constant and soothing sound of the water’s flow becomes the sound of rage and pain, chaos and violence. The coast of Tamil Nadu and the Himalayan valleys…
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Hole in the road
Lest we forget how fragile the transportation is in the flood areas of Uttarakhand, this hole has opened in the main highway just 100 yards from our ashram. Within the past 24 hours, with no rainfall, the last foot of pavement has fallen away. The road is so narrow that the rear wheels of every bus and heavy truck will come within 6 inches of this drop to the river. With no support, it is only a matter of time or the next rain before this place collapses more. Yet traffic flows as normal with no alarm. Today is a…
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Preparing for the Japanese students
Preparing for the Japanese students, we are all doing extra tasks. I got to do my first full day of real construction work. Even though I made many mistakes, it felt so good to be actually building someones home. This is called the market site as it is just behind the main business area of Chandrapuri. We will build four houses here. The field is full of 40 feet long steel rods in various thicknesses. Our job is to cut the rod to the proper lengths so our students can assemble the reinforcement for 33 concrete columns and then pour…