I am a teacher at a school in India and it is crazy. School is loud. There is always shouting in a mix of English and Tamil and Tamglish and a general confusion. But so much life. So little boredom. This week we went on a field trip to Sahdana Forest, a farm 5 km away from New Creation Bilingual School. The 17 children in our class borrowed bikes from the some of the teachers and made a raggedy line down the dirt road, spread out over almost a kilometer. Their teacher, Parumal, rode with two kids on the back of his moped up and down the line of us, checking on and cajoling everyone. Each bike had one kid pedaling and one sitting precariously over the back wheel. When we got onto the main road with all the cars zipping by, and I looked down the long line of children in their purple uniforms and slow, wobbly riding and complete lack of helmets and attention to the traffic, I had a passing thought of how no American mother would ever sign a permission slip for such a field trip. We got to the farm and learned how to put mulch around trees in preparation for the hotter months. Ravi and Iyappan, the class wiseguys, stole my camera and went wild taking pictures of each other and me and the trees and the sky and everything else. We all went and had a green banana for breakfast, and then some of us found the mud hole and hopped in in our clothes to cool off. The water was completely opaque, the color and thickness of milk tea. The mud at the bottom was slick and smooth and jelly-like. It was glorious. The ride home was as disorganized as our previous journey, with the addition of some sopping clothes and a flat tire for me. It was the good kind of day.
Dearest everyone. From the 16th to the 26th I will be in Hampi. I will live outside on some rocks. Sometimes I will live in a cave. I will go on a 40 hour water fast called a sacred solo where I won’t talk to anyone or see anyone or hear anyone. I will not have any internet or telephone whilst I am there. Please do not be disturbed when you don’t hear from me during this time.
3 Comments:
Lovely writing as always. You are right, I would probably not have signed a permission slip for that field trip, (and in that vein, please take very good care of yourself in Hampi), but it makes me long for a time when I might have. It sounds as though life is full and good for you. And that makes me happy for you. I miss you. Love, Mama
Julia, your experiences in India sound amazing. I have to echo what your Mom wrote, I love the voice you have in your writing.
I really hope everything is going well. You're in Hampi right now. I hope that is well too.
I'm missing you a lot Julia.
Much love.
juliet. basically i think about you a lot and still miss you. but you are having a beautiful time so i can't miss you too much. hopefully you had a good cave birthday. if you knew that it was your birthday even. does time stop in a cave? do you know which day is which?
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