Festival Time!
I was hoping to feel better by today, but I still feel pretty bad. The fever is much reduced though, so that is a massive relief.
I got up early to go and help with getting breakfast ready at about 7.30am. Mani was there, even though she was supposed to be resting! So there was not quite so much to do as we had expected. Manil dealt with the washing up and Mani was preparing the food, so I helped Saroja with whatever odd jobs needed to be done. This included some cleaning up, sweeping, disposing of the food waste and foody-but-soap-free water into the biogas unit, disposing of the cleaner grey water by using it to water the coconut palms, and other general to-ing and fro-ing.
With the kitchen clean and ready and the food prepared, it was time to start cooking. Mani showed me how to make the aloo (potato) dish first, and I helped with stirring it and putting it out ready. Next, she showed me how to make the dough for the puris. I helped cut the dough to the right sized pieces, and then rolled it out ready for the quick deep frying that puffs them up into slightly crispy and totally delicious bubbles. My puri making was obviously not so skilled and flawless as Mani's, so I needed to be given some tips and corrections to make them better. While I was checking the thickness of a rolled puri, Alex came in and just joined in with prodding the dough and commenting about what fun it looked and how he would have to have a go himself. As he had prodded the puri dough I asked if he had washed his hands, to which he made a bit of snide comment about me being ill. I must admit that this whole exchange really needled me, as I wasn't feeling great and had already been up and working for 2 hours before Alex strolled in and treated it as a fun diversion for himself. This has been something of a longstanding theme of this placement, so I think I need to work on my leadership confidence. I am happy to act as a leader when I know that I have been given that role and I have the 'authority' to act as such, but I have zero confidence to just take on a leadership role when no-one has given me 'permission' to do so - even when I can see that leadership is required. I might try to do some form of leadership training or something after graduation to try and increase my confidence.
Once breakfast was finished, I decided to go down and visit the school. I didn't want to teach as my throat was still bad and I felt woolly-headed and tired, but luckily when I got there the children had games as the classroom lessons had finished, so I was able to sit in the shade and watch, at least showing my face for a bit. The children are so lovely, and they soon cheered me up too.
A few of the teachers invited me to their villages for the Ganesha Chaturthi festival, which was culminating today. I could only go to the local festival in Mekalapalli village as I would have had no way of getting back from other villages, so I was a bit disappointed to have to turn down some of the kind invitations.
Arrangements were made to meet with Balaji, the headteacher, that afternoon. Alex had already made his arrangements and had previously been to Balaji's house while I was ill, so he knew where to go and I followed along. We met Balaji at the house nearest to the SEDS farm, and he introduced to a few of his friends, they were very friendly people! The house was the home of Balaji's friend, they welcomed us and gave us gujiyas, sweet pastries filled with a cardamom flavoured filling.
We walked up to the village and watched the drummers for a bit - I had been hearing the drummers beating constantly for several days by now, and it was good to actually see them finally. Next we went to Balaji's own home, where we met his mother and she gave us some rice, dhaal, and more gujiyas. Balaji's mother seemed very sweet, and tried to feed us more but we had not long had lunch and had no space for extra food!
After finishing our snacks and talking a little, we progressed to the village. The procession of the Ganesha idols had begun, with the idols loaded onto trailers pulled by tractors and decorated with many garlands. Children also rode in the trailers, smiling and waving at everyone.
The processions were led by the drummers who rapped out different rhythms, and ahead of them groups of men danced wildly, jumping up and down and generally being very energetic! Many of the boys and some of the men wore silver face paint, and they were throwing purple dye around to splash people with colour.
As we moved through the crowds of villagers to keep ahead of the procession, we spotted Venkatamma, who works in the kitchen at the SEDS farm. We went to talk with her, and she invited us back to her house and gave us more gujiyas to eat. We met her young sister, and talked a little before rejoining the crowds.
Alex was dancing with the men and was covered in purple dye, I was trying to stay out of the dancing as I didn't feel well enough to jump around - and not many women were dancing - but suddenly I was dragged out of my group of spectators with a great deal of force, and into the dancing. It was a fierce grip that had taken me and I was quite surprised by it - Ventakamma tried to grab me to hold me back, but then we realised it was just an old woman who had taken me to dance with her! She was very energetic from the energy of the festival and from chewing paan, and soon I had a few paan chewing old ladies grouped around me to dance!
Luckily they stopped dancing fairly soon, because I was really wiped of energy at this point! Then two old ladies fought over me, and the winner took me by the arm and dragged me off to introduce me to lots of people through the village. It was pretty surreal, but good fun and I just wish that I'd had full energy for the occasion.
Eventually I was released and found my way back to familiar faces, including lots of children from our Ananda Vidyalayam school, from tuition, and from the sponsorship program who attend on the second Saturdays. It was much easier going with all the children as they didn't try to kidnap me and make me dance, they just wanted bits of attention and to play with my camera. I tried to supervise so they all had fair use of my camera without it getting damaged, and I managed to get my breath back from the all the dancing and jumping!
Soon we saw Ganagamma, another staff member in the SEDS farm who takes care of the mess side of things (feeding the staff members and the children on second Saturdays). She invited us to her home, and again we were given gujiyas to eat. She introduced us to her older son - we already know her younger son as he lives in the hostel at SEDS - and I got to cuddle her granddaughter too, a very cute baby.
We rejoined the procession again, and this time stuck with it the rest of the way. Alex rejoined the men's side of things, while I stuck with my large group of children as I was a bit exhausted by now! Many of the girls had beautiful henna designs on their hands, which they were very proud of - I wished that I knew the meaning behind the decorations.
The climax of the procession is the immersion of the Ganesha idol into water. This has a huge environmental impact these days, as the idols are made from plaster of paris and painted in vivid colours - all of which contain toxic chemicals that pollute the water. Even the flower garlands and other offerings which are immersed, which are not toxic, damage the water life as when they decompose and the decomposition bacteria flourish, the bacteria use up the oxygen in the water and can suffocate the other aquatic life. In the past, the idols would have been much plainer and made from clay. The clay is natural to the water beds, and so did not pollute in the same way.
Mekalapalli village had 4 Ganesha idols this year, and all were immersed to much cheering and celebrating in a small water tank at the edge of the village. Many of my little gang of children had rejoined their families by now as it was getting dark, but I still had a couple of friends who stayed with me to watch the immersions.
It was fully dark by the time the immersions were finished, and we made our ways back to the village. I was led by a few children who had rejoined me, and back in the village food was being distributed. Chickpeas, rice, curry, gujiyas, and other snacks were being shared out, and samples of each were pressed into my hands. I had been holding the hands of various children and it had gotten quite hot and sweaty, so I wasn't at all keen on eating food from my hands by this point... I took small nibbles so as not to offend anyone, and then discretely dropped the food where the dogs and chickens would be able to eat it.
Back at the main road, I didn't have to wait long before Alex and Balaji and his friends arrived, but even during this short wait I had been given more gujiyas despite politely repeating "Chaalu! Chaalu!" (enough! enough!) and trying to gently refuse. When Alex arrived he was also given gujiyas, and then Balaji and his friends escorted us across the road and back down the lane to the SEDS farm, telling us that now the ritual was over and people were all energised and intoxicated, there could often be much fighting.
I arrived back at the farm simultaneously exhausted and buzzing with energy :)
I got up early to go and help with getting breakfast ready at about 7.30am. Mani was there, even though she was supposed to be resting! So there was not quite so much to do as we had expected. Manil dealt with the washing up and Mani was preparing the food, so I helped Saroja with whatever odd jobs needed to be done. This included some cleaning up, sweeping, disposing of the food waste and foody-but-soap-free water into the biogas unit, disposing of the cleaner grey water by using it to water the coconut palms, and other general to-ing and fro-ing.
With the kitchen clean and ready and the food prepared, it was time to start cooking. Mani showed me how to make the aloo (potato) dish first, and I helped with stirring it and putting it out ready. Next, she showed me how to make the dough for the puris. I helped cut the dough to the right sized pieces, and then rolled it out ready for the quick deep frying that puffs them up into slightly crispy and totally delicious bubbles. My puri making was obviously not so skilled and flawless as Mani's, so I needed to be given some tips and corrections to make them better. While I was checking the thickness of a rolled puri, Alex came in and just joined in with prodding the dough and commenting about what fun it looked and how he would have to have a go himself. As he had prodded the puri dough I asked if he had washed his hands, to which he made a bit of snide comment about me being ill. I must admit that this whole exchange really needled me, as I wasn't feeling great and had already been up and working for 2 hours before Alex strolled in and treated it as a fun diversion for himself. This has been something of a longstanding theme of this placement, so I think I need to work on my leadership confidence. I am happy to act as a leader when I know that I have been given that role and I have the 'authority' to act as such, but I have zero confidence to just take on a leadership role when no-one has given me 'permission' to do so - even when I can see that leadership is required. I might try to do some form of leadership training or something after graduation to try and increase my confidence.
Once breakfast was finished, I decided to go down and visit the school. I didn't want to teach as my throat was still bad and I felt woolly-headed and tired, but luckily when I got there the children had games as the classroom lessons had finished, so I was able to sit in the shade and watch, at least showing my face for a bit. The children are so lovely, and they soon cheered me up too.
A few of the teachers invited me to their villages for the Ganesha Chaturthi festival, which was culminating today. I could only go to the local festival in Mekalapalli village as I would have had no way of getting back from other villages, so I was a bit disappointed to have to turn down some of the kind invitations.
Arrangements were made to meet with Balaji, the headteacher, that afternoon. Alex had already made his arrangements and had previously been to Balaji's house while I was ill, so he knew where to go and I followed along. We met Balaji at the house nearest to the SEDS farm, and he introduced to a few of his friends, they were very friendly people! The house was the home of Balaji's friend, they welcomed us and gave us gujiyas, sweet pastries filled with a cardamom flavoured filling.
 |
| The children at the house |
We walked up to the village and watched the drummers for a bit - I had been hearing the drummers beating constantly for several days by now, and it was good to actually see them finally. Next we went to Balaji's own home, where we met his mother and she gave us some rice, dhaal, and more gujiyas. Balaji's mother seemed very sweet, and tried to feed us more but we had not long had lunch and had no space for extra food!
 |
| Inside Balaji's house (Balaji on the left, his mother on the right of the frame) |
After finishing our snacks and talking a little, we progressed to the village. The procession of the Ganesha idols had begun, with the idols loaded onto trailers pulled by tractors and decorated with many garlands. Children also rode in the trailers, smiling and waving at everyone.
 |
| Venkatesh from SEDS driving the first tractor |
 |
| The children showing off their small bottles of purple dye |
The processions were led by the drummers who rapped out different rhythms, and ahead of them groups of men danced wildly, jumping up and down and generally being very energetic! Many of the boys and some of the men wore silver face paint, and they were throwing purple dye around to splash people with colour.
As we moved through the crowds of villagers to keep ahead of the procession, we spotted Venkatamma, who works in the kitchen at the SEDS farm. We went to talk with her, and she invited us back to her house and gave us more gujiyas to eat. We met her young sister, and talked a little before rejoining the crowds.
Alex was dancing with the men and was covered in purple dye, I was trying to stay out of the dancing as I didn't feel well enough to jump around - and not many women were dancing - but suddenly I was dragged out of my group of spectators with a great deal of force, and into the dancing. It was a fierce grip that had taken me and I was quite surprised by it - Ventakamma tried to grab me to hold me back, but then we realised it was just an old woman who had taken me to dance with her! She was very energetic from the energy of the festival and from chewing paan, and soon I had a few paan chewing old ladies grouped around me to dance!
Luckily they stopped dancing fairly soon, because I was really wiped of energy at this point! Then two old ladies fought over me, and the winner took me by the arm and dragged me off to introduce me to lots of people through the village. It was pretty surreal, but good fun and I just wish that I'd had full energy for the occasion.
Eventually I was released and found my way back to familiar faces, including lots of children from our Ananda Vidyalayam school, from tuition, and from the sponsorship program who attend on the second Saturdays. It was much easier going with all the children as they didn't try to kidnap me and make me dance, they just wanted bits of attention and to play with my camera. I tried to supervise so they all had fair use of my camera without it getting damaged, and I managed to get my breath back from the all the dancing and jumping!
Soon we saw Ganagamma, another staff member in the SEDS farm who takes care of the mess side of things (feeding the staff members and the children on second Saturdays). She invited us to her home, and again we were given gujiyas to eat. She introduced us to her older son - we already know her younger son as he lives in the hostel at SEDS - and I got to cuddle her granddaughter too, a very cute baby.
We rejoined the procession again, and this time stuck with it the rest of the way. Alex rejoined the men's side of things, while I stuck with my large group of children as I was a bit exhausted by now! Many of the girls had beautiful henna designs on their hands, which they were very proud of - I wished that I knew the meaning behind the decorations.
The climax of the procession is the immersion of the Ganesha idol into water. This has a huge environmental impact these days, as the idols are made from plaster of paris and painted in vivid colours - all of which contain toxic chemicals that pollute the water. Even the flower garlands and other offerings which are immersed, which are not toxic, damage the water life as when they decompose and the decomposition bacteria flourish, the bacteria use up the oxygen in the water and can suffocate the other aquatic life. In the past, the idols would have been much plainer and made from clay. The clay is natural to the water beds, and so did not pollute in the same way.
Mekalapalli village had 4 Ganesha idols this year, and all were immersed to much cheering and celebrating in a small water tank at the edge of the village. Many of my little gang of children had rejoined their families by now as it was getting dark, but I still had a couple of friends who stayed with me to watch the immersions.
It was fully dark by the time the immersions were finished, and we made our ways back to the village. I was led by a few children who had rejoined me, and back in the village food was being distributed. Chickpeas, rice, curry, gujiyas, and other snacks were being shared out, and samples of each were pressed into my hands. I had been holding the hands of various children and it had gotten quite hot and sweaty, so I wasn't at all keen on eating food from my hands by this point... I took small nibbles so as not to offend anyone, and then discretely dropped the food where the dogs and chickens would be able to eat it.
Back at the main road, I didn't have to wait long before Alex and Balaji and his friends arrived, but even during this short wait I had been given more gujiyas despite politely repeating "Chaalu! Chaalu!" (enough! enough!) and trying to gently refuse. When Alex arrived he was also given gujiyas, and then Balaji and his friends escorted us across the road and back down the lane to the SEDS farm, telling us that now the ritual was over and people were all energised and intoxicated, there could often be much fighting.
I arrived back at the farm simultaneously exhausted and buzzing with energy :)
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