I'm Outta here...

...sorta. I left Goraj's Muni Seva Ashram earlier today. I was sad to leave the kids, who were, literally begging me not to go...but I was happy to leave Neema Masi and all of her monstrosities behind. It has been a really fun past few days though. For those that aren't Guju...Navrati started on Thursday, which is basically nine days where you do garba (dance) till wee hours in the morning. At first I was not having too much fun, but on Saturday there was a lot more people at the Ashram from all of the nearby villages. Garba here is so strange though. The style is very different and everyone is so good at it. But after I got the hang of it, it was really fun. Especially with the kids and the nursing students.
Anita has malaria. I felt so bad for the girl because Neema Masi thought she was faking a flu because exams are coming up at school, but she was so sick and her fever was really bad on Saturday night. At one point, she was shivering in her bed with like ten blankets on her, and the only thing she was worried about was when Neema Masi was going to come because she didn’t want her to see her sick. It was so sad! I was feeling so sorry for her though, because I know when I am sick I just want my mother, and she has no one to play that role for her at the orphanage…Neema Masi certainly isn’t compassionate. I was trying to play with her hair to make her fall asleep and it eventually worked, but Neema Masi wouldn’t let any of the other kids stay with her during the pratna, so I did. Anita was telling me how much she hated it there and how awful Neema Masi always was. I have such a soft spot for the girl…she reminds me a lot of Karishma, and she looks a lot like Ankusha. But she’s such a charismatic, fun, sweet girl. I wish I could take her home with me…
Then Urvasi (she’s a younger one…about 4 or 5) had put earrings in the night before, and her ears had been bleeding. So I was trying to take them out but the girl was in so much pain. She was screaming and crying and I was trying to get her to be quiet because if Neema Masi was there she would get mad. Then she just started screaming for her mom…I later found out that she had only come there about 3 months ago and lost both her parents pretty recently. It’s so sad that her first instinct when she is in pain is to yell for her mother, and even more sad that she has to remember that her mom isn’t alive anymore.
I think I mentioned before how often the kids hit each other…which was never as common at Agape. It definitely has to do with how much the elders hit the kids, which I think I may have mentioned before. Anyways, I find that lately the kids have been hitting each other a lot less when I am around, I think because they see that I get really cross with them when they do it. But even still, they hit each other so much and sometimes they get all whiny and it drives me a little crazy.
Payal was mentioning putting pictures up. As of yet, I haven’t been able to get to a photoshop to get them put on a CD that I could then upload, so it will probably have to wait. Taking pictures here is so funny because no one has ever seen a Digital Camera and are absolutely fascinated and all crowd around me whenever I want to take a picture. The Agape kids were so used to digital cameras from previous volunteers so it wasn’t ever a big deal. But it makes trying to take pictures without anyone noticing rather difficult…
Anyways, yesterday night I didn’t go to garba and stayed home with the older girls which was really fun. I attempted to put mendhi on them (it actually turned out okay), and they put a bit on me. Sonal gave me a hankerchief last week because she saw that I was using tissues (I was a bit sick). Divya gave me a pen so that whenever I write, I will think of her. Anita was like, “Now, whenever you use your hands, you’ll think of me. Well, at least until the mendhi fades.” The mendhi, of course, will fade. And the ink will run out of Divya’s pen. And the hankerchief will one day be torn and tattered. But the memories will remain. Most of them have been tainted by Neema Masi’s watchful eye and eagerness to punish the kids. But some of them have and will remained pure in my mind. Like how Urvisa always wants to play bhajia, but can never say my name properly. How Varsha runs towards me with lightening speed to sit on my lap as soon as I get there (presumably because no one at the Ashram ever lets her sit on their lap). How Usha always says to me, “Didi, na jaso,” which means “Sister, don’t go.” How Pinki is always wanting me to take pictures of her doing silly things like playing bat-ball. How Sonal is the sweetest, most thoughtful girl I think I have ever met. How Anita is always asking me silly things like, “Do they hit you in Canada if you fall in love?” (although I know a lot of it is translation problems). How Gungo always has that mischievous look about her and is just waiting to test you. How excited they all get when I come there…and how sad they are when I leave. How they always look at me whenever Neema Masi starts to get angry, as though I am a magician that can heal all of their problems. I thought it was so strange in South Africa that I could become so attached to people I had only known for ten weeks. Now I find myself so bewildered because I am so attached to kids I’ve only known for three weeks. So much so that I would adopt any one of them in a second if I could. Especially Anita and Sonal though…moreso than any of the Agape kids. That might seem strange, but in truth, when I left the Agape kids, I left with the assurance that there would be other volunteers to take my place and take care of them. This time, I was leaving the kids completely sure that things were going to be worse for them after I left, and that there would be no one to take my place. It was, on many levels, a lot more difficult.
On a completely unrelated topic, I just came out of my first eyebrow threading experience in India and the woman butchered my eyebrows. All that hard work growing them out in South Africa has now gone to waste because they are super thin again. I realize this is quite useless information for most of you, but I am a little bit annoyed so I needed to vent!

Shoutouts:

Pravin Uncle, Kalpana Auntie, Naren Uncle, Amita Auntie and Surender – who have all called in the last while
Nemesh and Seema B – who called upon my request (but it still counts!)
A super belated one to Rahul Bhai and Preeti Ben who both ran the ½ Marathon a while ago and raised lots and lots of money for the Diabetes Association! But I do think it deserves a special mention that Preeti Ben actually beat Rahul Bhai…in her own words, “How does it feel to lose to your WIFE?”


Reading Pleasures – done with the Shackled Continent, and am now reading “A Long Walk to Freedom”. Yes, I know it is a book that I should have read before South Africa but I am quite behind on my books, so forgive me!

Listening Pleasures – still listening to South Africa songs. It’s strange because here, I don’t find myself exposed to any music that isn’t in my direct control. In South Africa, we’d listen to the radio in the car and other people would be playing different types of music…but here, I choose what I want to listen to. So far, it's just been the Agape kids singing, and a CD of songs that remind me of South Africa...