Day 4 - "There is One God..."

Today, I woke up a little later- around 9am. I actually woke up at 6:30, but was sleeping off and on until 9. The sunshine doesn’t arrive on the house until about 9:30, so when I got up, the sunshine was just hitting the house. I gathered my dirty clothes, the bar of soap and the plastic brush and headed outside to wash my clothes. It took me a while because I was trying to wash my underwear, but having to hide it under other clothes anytime the father or brother would come to that side of that house! Finally the clothes got washed, and then I took a bath- for the first time in over a week! I decided to take one after I felt like there was some kind of rash on my back from not bathing. Probably time to get washed huh?

Even though I just had a bucket of water, it felt really good! (Below is a picture of another time, washing same idea - squatting and washing hair - this little girl was helping me :) )

Afterwards, Robin and I ate parathas, some of our favorite food. Then Anju came in and we talked about rent payment and payment for language stuff for Deepa. Anju first said, no one remembered what Becca paid last time…I had heard a previous conversation between Anju and Chachi and Chachi said Rs. 400/week, but she wasn’t sure. Neither of them realized I understood their conversation, since I was in the middle of eating and pretended not to be listening. I told Anju that Becca had said Rs. 400/week, which was what she thought she had paid. Anju then said, “Maybe 1000/week for both of you?” Robin and I both thought that was kind-of a lot, since we paid only 700 back in "Kahan" for our room there… We suggested 800. Anju went out and asked her aunt and uncle and came back and said, “Whatever you think is okay.” I said, “We want to do what’s right, what did they say…” She said, “I don’t know, 1000?” We said, “okay, that’s fine.” The reason being there is two of us and also a little inflation from two years ago when Becca was here. 1000 rupees is about $25.00, for both of us, per week. It is a little much for India, but since we're foreigners, and don't want to hurt the relationship, that will be okay with us. We think that instead of “per room” rent, here it must be “per person” – since us using the room doesn’t really cost them anything, it’s more the food, I guess.

We then went to Deepa’s and had our language sessions. It was still different from the two previous lessons. There were more people there this time, all interested in what we were doing and the mother and sister watched both Robin’s and mine entire language session. Deepa did a good job today- we all were confused at times, but I think she’s getting the hang of how we’re trying to learn. We’re learning that her Kahani is different from Anju’s (who we’ve learned from before), but we told her that we want to learn her Kahani. I think she’s happy about that…

When we got back, we watched Bicky and Chacha build a ‘closeline’ that Bicky had started on this morning. It’s two logs with little crevices in them, and a long, thick pipe that rests on them. Pretty ingenious! I keep thinking how much Mark would love life here- finding little things here and there to do and make. Pretty much everything is of natural stuff- from the materials they use to cut, chop and hammer, to the final outcome of whatever they’re making. Just fyi, previously, we use the wood pile or the mud roof to lay our clothes on to dry- because that’s not dirty or anything!!! Haha…
(Here is a picture of one of the village girls and her animals!)

Then I had a conversation with Chacha in Hindi. Robin was also sitting there. We talked about the town above us and his school he works at, and the temples nearby. He asked us about our work, what we’re doing and after we study language and culture, then what? I told him that part of that is learning Kahani stories…he seemed to like that idea…but still asked, “after that, then what?” The way he was asking was merely out of curiosity, he wasn’t trying to get anything out of us, just curious- as any normal person would be! (why in the world would you come out to a village to live and learn language anyway!?!?)

After our conversation we went inside to eat rice and daal. Chacha said something about how since we are guests we can’t eat with them, or they can’t eat with us (Although we have all eaten together before). He also said something about changing clothes to eat…which we have observed- he always puts on a doti- a white linin cloth thing around his waist when he eats- as part of his religion. Along with the religion topic, he said,
“God is one; there is one God…We, Hindus call him Krisha- Mohammad/Muslims call him…--what do they call him Bicky?—
Bicky said, “Allah.”
“Yes, Muslims call him Allah, and you call him Jesus.”

I explained to Robin what he said and told her it was similar to the conversation I had with Uncle before…and never really came up with a good answer. The conversation kind-of trailed off as we were eating and he was on his way outside. But either way, I think it’s interesting that he feels a need to explain that to us. After this, he did observe Robin and I as we prayed for our food.