I had a wonderful weekend here at Makaibari. On Saturday morning I went to the healthcare centre to check with Sheila and the other ladies that work there if they needed any help – they didn’t, but I got (another) cup of tea and also there was a canadian girl there called Amy, who was a visitor staying at Sheila’s as a ‘homestay’ guest. We 'clicked' instantly and so we headed down to the library to help out as we weren’t really needed at the healthcare centre. It turned out that the library was closed but as we were waiting I decided to go over to the little hut/shop to see if they had any er.. ‘ladies supplies’… AMAZINGLY, this place that doesn’t sell toilet paper, milk, bread or anything like that… did sell said ‘supplies’. There were 3 little girls running the shop and they of course found my purchase HILARIOUS and proceeded to ask me and Amy our names, where we were from etc.. They told us their names are Nikita, Myrna and Manshi and they are 11 and 12 years old and go to St Josephs school. They then said “would you like a tour of the tea gardens?” Obviously I have seen the tea gardens a lot since I’ve been here but didn’t want to burst their bubble so said “ooooh yes plllleeeeassse!”. They shut up shop and off we set… they took us to a big protruding rock which had perfect views of the tea gardens and the plains below and there we sat and they told us all about their families, the boys at school that they fancy, their ‘special club’ of 6 people whose mission is to help people (how lovely is that?!), they sang their national anthem and school anthem and for good measure, some Britney Spears and Miley Cyrus songs! They asked us questions about our lives and families and “what is Avril Lavigne like?” – they seemed to think that we would have met every famous white person! Before we knew it, we were late for lunch so we all scurried off to our respective homes, dodging the dogs, goats, chickens and baby chicks! After lunch, I went back to the library to see if it was open and sat outside the library was Amy, Nikita, Myrna and Manshi. They’d spoken to the librarian and found out the library was to be closed all day so we were going on a mission! We went to a Hindu Temple where there was a festival going on and I have never been given such a welcome anywhere in my whole life!! SOO many huge beaming smiles, so many people saying "welcome, namaste" and ushering us to a spot on the floor where we were served food “from the gods” and was told we should eat all of it to ensure good luck – today they were praying for rain. Oh. My. God. I had just eaten a huge lunch…. ! Mouthful by painful mouthful of rice kedgeree and spicy potato stodge, I somehow finished off my plate without managing to be sick and waddled out of the temple with my food quadruplets and hoped that it did rain that night and the effort was worth it! We were all given a blessing and had red stuff slopped on our forehead and given a handful of sweet rice puffs and peanuts. We climbed down from the temple, retrieved our flipflops and headed off on the next journey. We accumulated another member of our gang called Samden when we were in the temple and I think he may have had a little crush on Amy as he was doing cartwheels, push-ups and chin-ups all over the place and kept stripping off his t-shirt and showing us his muscles incredible hulk stylee! Haha! It was very entertaining! Up and up into the mountains these lovely kids took us until we finally reached a Buddhist temple. Two of the girls are Buddhist and they taught me and Amy how to pray to their gods (the kneeling –half blessing and lying down – full blessing versions!) Then they took us to a school up in the mountains and a haunted house with a doll's head on the floor... ooooo! haha! We sat and played with some kittens up there and then we played some games like who could run up a pile of gravel the fastest and hide and seek! It started to turn dark and so we returned to our homes and guess what? I woke up at 4am to the sound of the most almighty thunder (I thought it was a landslide at first!) and THE mother of all storms began! I patted my swollen belly and felt good I ate all that rice and potato! Haha!
On Sunday I headed to the library again only to find out it was closed again for the day. It is the first weekend in May this weekend and it seems people can decide on whether they fancy a holiday or not. Anyway, soon enough I was surrounded by another swarm of children who suggested we went to Amy’s home-stay to see if she needed help packing (she left for Bangalore on Sunday). When we arrived she was having a private disco with herself and her radio! We all sat down and she was bombarded with questions! She gave a stamped address envelope to the kids and asked them to write her a letter which I thought was a lovely idea and the kids were soo excited about it! She’d been to buy a supply of tea to take home and showed us some other purchases she’d made in India – some beautiful handwoven rugs and wooly jumpers etc.. Lunchtime raced around again and in the afternoon Nikita, Myrna, Manshi and I went to find Amy a shared jeep taxi to Siliguri and waved her off. The girls were upset that she had left so they asked if they could spend the afternoon with me so that they didn’t get sad (how sweet!) We spotted that one of the posters I’d made for the art competition next weekend had been ruined in the rain so we decided to make a new one together and went and replaced the soggy one. Then I got out some plasticine (little did I know the effect it would have!!!) Before I knew it my room was filled with about 10 children absolutely fascinated by the stuff and making models of flowers, cars, houses and people! They didn't seem to grasp the 3D aspect of it but loved it all the same! when the novelty of that wore off, they decided they would sing bollywood songs and dance for me.. that lasted for about 3 hours and it was so great, I loved it! They were all very good at singing and dancing particularly the cousin brother (I think he's name is Sol!) that lives with the family I am staying with - he can do amaazing break dancing too! It started to get dark so I sent them home except for Sol and Angelina who played with the plasticine again... Ashwini joined us too and I made some plasticine eyes, ears, lips, nose and a moustache which they had great fun sticking to their faces! It was actually very funny - check out the photo! We were eventually called for dinner and I went to bed that evening very happy - what a lovely weekend.
It is now lunchtime on Monday and I am waiting for the library to re-open. I met two lovely Australian ladies today - Gwen and Jill. They are in their 60s and saw Rajah on TV last time they were in India several years ago and have been saving up to come here ever since! They are staying here for ten days before they travel on to Sikkim and they have agreed to help me spread the word about the recipe competition and be the judges for the art competition at the weekend! Whooopeee! No more ramblings for now! xx
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