No water... (Journal Entry)

This morning I went on an adventure! No water had come to the tap, so Joyti and I went to another tap to fetch water.
“Do you want to come?” Joyti asked
“Yes!”
“Okay.”
“Where’s my bucket? I’ll bring water too!” I said.
“No, that’s okay- it’s too heavy for you…”
“What? Give me a bucket, I’ll bring water!”

So she gave me a bucket, and we were off- down a skinny trail not far, about 5 minute walk to another tap. There were a bunch of lower caste girls there when we arrived. It seemed they all of the sudden were finished when we got there- perhaps they were, or perhaps they were moving out of the way for the upper caste people to get their water first.

Some of them left, some stayed to watch how I was going to manage the bucket of water- which I planned to carry on my head- just like everyone else. I took a few pictures of them while Joyti filled my bucket. I asked Joyti to take a picture of me with them, and she did, but didn’t smile much while doing it.

Finally our buckets were filled and Joyti put hers on her head. I rolled up my duputta, placed it on my head and lifted the bucket to my head. Three little girls were watching me- I was just as curious as they were, as to how I was going to manage it! As I lifted the bucket to my head, the duputta slid off! I had to put the bucket down and re-position the duputta on my head. They tried not to laugh at me! The second time, I was more successful in getting the bucket on top of the duputta before it fell off! And I followed Joyti- I didn’t realize until a little while on the path that the three little girls were not more than two steps behind me! When we got back to the house, I asked Joyti to take a few more pictures which she did- I think she enjoyed their smiles…It was overall a good experience and another connection with the lower caste girls.