Saturday 29th May 2010.
on Jen's Indian Adventure (India), 30/May/2010 09:19, 34 days ago
I was just walking home from the shops this afternoon– another glorious day – when I started thinking about how much the street where I live is starting to change.Recently a local slum farmer has started walking his buffalo down our street in the late afternoon. I don’t know why for sure, but I’m assuming it’s for the exercise and for the little bit of grass we have on the side of the road. I see the buffalo every day tied to posts in the local slum farm and in some cases the rope is so short the buffalo have no option but to sit down. But not in all cases. I have seen the same man play with the buffalo calves and rub their backs in the morning as I walk by on the way to work.I’m getting used to scenes like this over here inIndiaand taking it as part of daily life. I’m sure it will seem odd when I return home not to see cattle walking through traffic inLimerickand again it will take a while to adapt to the change of scenery. Although I’m bound to be so cold I may not even notice !The construction workers over here are very different to those at home - typically small, slight women with a male supervisor. A new house is being built around the corner from mine. It’s just gone 4pm in the afternoon and I have walked past a group of 5 ladies working under the sun, while the supervisor sits in the shade of his jeep. One of the women was hosing down the stone, 2 others were opening bags of cement, and the last 2 were mixing the cement. Inside the wall 4 other women were moving the bricks around on their heads.The women out here amaze me. They are so physically strong. A few weeks ago I was walking down from the 3rdfloor of a local shopping centre, when I had to step back to give space to a women carrying 3 grey masonry bricks up the stairs, again on her head. I doubt she was being paid anything more than the minimum wage for a long day’s work in this soaring heat. The minimum wage is Rs100 per day (or less in some cases for unskilled labour). Rs 100 is approx €2 per day.Now I do understand that it is far cheaper to live out here. But still€2per day for such physical labour is still only €2. Compare that toIreland’s minimum wage and it really does make you think. Mind you, I have just handed over Rs80 for a cappuccino in the local coffee chain, so I need to make it clear that the VSO allowance is a very good allowance. In a lot of cases it’s far more than some of my colleagues wages - and they have families to support.I’d love to have photos of these women to show you, but I have to respect their privacy. It wouldn’t be very nice just to walk up to them and start taking snaps. I wouldn’t like it if they did it to me while I was doing my job.However, it’s not just my street that’s changing. I’m changing too. Apart from the obvious loss of weight – I can’t tell you how much as I’ve yet to find a weighing scales – there are so many other things.I’m accepting that being sweaty is ok. It’s a part of daily life now to sit in the office, even under a fan, to have a river flowing down my back.I’m liking the taste of water – never did before – but then without it I wouldn’t get very far. It’s great that the office has a filter system on each floor. We even have a colleague who fills our water bottles every morning for us.I’m understanding that saying ‘Namaskar’ to someone you walk by on the street will probably get you more of a return stare than a return greeting. But thankfully people are also finally recognising me and I’m being charged regular prices at veg stalls and for autos. Last week I told one auto driver that the price he quoted me for a straight run home was too much (and it actually was compared to other journeys) but he replied to me ‘Mam you paid this much last week’. I’m sure he was right. There are times when I’m too tired or too hot to argue the price and I just want to get home. There are other times I’ll get the best value I can.But there are people who will smile at you and return your greeting. A few days ago on the walk home from the office I changed where I bought eggs as my usual guy hadn’t set up his stall and had to wait until I got nearer to home and buy from a lady I had never bought from in all the time I have been here. In addition to it being unusual for a stall to be manned (excuse the pun) by a women, she was very friendly and even though I only have a few words in Oriya,I’m sure her final greeting to me was ‘Please come back again’. So I will.RecentlyBhubaneswarhas been hit by the end of Cyclone Laila. I have never seen or heard sun thunder and lighting as I have over the last week. On Monday evening I went out onto our balcony to watch it closer but then the next flash of lightning encouraged me to step back inside. As soon as there’s any sign of bad weather the electricity goes off so we get out the torches and generally sit in the dark. I don’t know for sure, but I’m guessing that we lose power during every storm as the electric system here is in such bad condition that it’s safer to turn off the power than have someone hurt, or worse, by a faulty system. On the plus side it has given me a brief introduction as to what the monsoon may be like – and that’s only 2 weeks away.I’m looking forward to the rain lowering the temperature a bit, and it will only be a bit I’ve been told. But I’m not looking forward to being constantly wet for two months. Who knows but I may get used to that also !As I finish writing this it has started to rain, and I have lost internet access. So it will upload as and when…..(Another thing I'm getting used to)Namaskar.