Village Life

I have had the most incredible three-days of normalcy. In order to keep my head in order I am going to have to go backwards, starting with today.

Hand Loom for making Saris

When I woke up this morning I was planning for a relaxed homework day followed by some possible shopping. I had left something in the program house that I was going to need, so I stopped in for what I thought was going to be just a minute. An hour later I was in an autorickshaw with Sunder Ji heading to the village of the night and weekend watchman. The watchmen and his family had all been to the Kumbha Mela, and I was to go interview them for my research project.

We drove all the way across the city then right out to the village. The honking slowly died down and the gray and tan stone surroundings gave way to the greenest farms I have ever seen. Our first stop was to talk to a man at the local weavers, where I saw the handlooms that make the famous Varanasi Silk Saris. They were huge contraptions that take incredible skill to run, and while I did not see anyone weaving (they were to busy staring at me) I could hear them from the next room.

Watchman's mom (right) and someone else

After a cup of chaii we were back in the rickshaw and heading deep into the village in search for the watchman’s family members. The watchman has a big family, and lot of land and cattle, so we would have to trek all over the village to track them down. We started at his house where I met the two cutest old ladies, one of whom was his mother, and the other was… I have no idea. I also met his daughters, who were incredibly beautiful. There were mud huts and cow dung cakes all over, and the watchman especially wanted me to take a picture with him and his white buffalo, which I assume was the pride of his life. Over the next hour and half we hopped all around the village, gaining stares and research information wherever we went. It was such a nice change from the chaos of Varanasi. I was completely surrounded by the slow pace of village life, babies running everywhere, and green for the first time in two months.

Hay chopping contraption

Once we met everybody who went to the Kumbha Mela with the watchman, including two thirteen-year-old boys (by far the most educated of the bunch, and the only literate two) we went for a tour of the area. I was gifted guava straight from the tree and we took a nice long break to chew on sugar cane. Sundar Ji and I each got a stick that was three feet long and hitting it against a wood slab we peeled and sucked on the juice till it was nothing but pulp. After spitting out the one mouthful of pulp you could not help but go back for more. I managed to finish almost the whole thing!! ( I took some home to feed to elephant who is supposed to come to the program house on Tuesday) We were then offered sugar cane juice, but I could not manage more than two sips. It tasted like one of those wheat grass shakes, but nauseatingly sweet.

Three day old calf

The entire time that Sunder Ji and I were eating we had an audience of about 12 men and a few boys. They though we were so funny, especially when I finished my stick before Sundar Ji finished his. That being said, the three year old was kicking both of our butts.

After washing our hands we headed back, sticky, tired, and so happy. After a quick West Wing break, it was off to Chabad for Purim!

Seen in the Village:

• A three day old calf
• toothless people amass
• a boy in Ralph Lauren covered in dung
• Mud huts
• Beautiful clothes, and very well made
• People in almost no clothes
• Old women who did not seem to be able to conceptualize sitting and doing nothing
• More dung cakes then I can even explain, nicely juxtaposed under electricity and telephone towers  

Things you did not know about poop:

Cow dung piles under telephone tower.
East meets west, old meets new

• Dung cakes are used for fuel- I had dung heated chaii yesterday
• Dung is used for sanitation
• Dung is used for paint. It makes a beautiful brown color and the smell fades eventually
• When Dung cakes are on a farm they are set out to dry in a very particular order. The reason: So that if they are stolen the owners will know. There we have it folks: a poopy security program
• Scientists have attempted to create a cow dung powered car, but it was decided that it was too dangerous because it was too combustible