Saint Valentine's Day - Feb. 14, 2007

After a VERY long and arduous ride back from Delhi, from the reception with the president, the group decided to go straight to their motel and Sanjiv and I drove together in his car, stopping by the hospital to see Roy Wise, a member of our group from Georgia. A few days prior, Roy had been taken ill, and we determined that the best possible course of action was to have him taken to the hospital for observation and treatment. It was determined that he had suffered a small stroke – possible days before flying to India, or even during the flight. That much still remains unknown. Roy was very pleased to see Sanjiv and me and so disappointed that he could not continue on with the group in the work project.

Once we left the hospital, Sanjiv and I continued the drive west, through Gurgaon, passing several wedding celebrations, one even had a fireworks show, that would have put some small town 4th of July celebrations to shame. We could see the fireworks at least ten minutes out before arriving at the scene! Not bad for a wedding.

There were severe storms, as well, and to say that we may have gotten twisted and turned onto wrong roads would be an understatement. At one point, I observed that some of the potholes were large enough to swallow up a good-sized dog! And there was no avoiding them. Swerving back and forth from side to side and then dipping into one hole and another made us feel as though we were like a pinball, being buffeted around a heated game. We finally arrived at the farm, and had a very light dinner before retiring at 1:15 in the morning.

Shortly before getting out of bed, I heard the caretaker start up the generator, so once more, we had lost power from the electric company. Imagine serving meals to a dozen people three times a day, and doing it, being forced to use a generator and a four-burner gas cook stove (a glorified Coleman camping unit). I touched my feet down onto the marble floor and decided smart money would be to put on my socks before venturing too far. I found some Valentine’s Day cards I had brought and filled them out for all of the members of the Team and then distributed them around the table places. Showered and saved and dressed, I then went out onto the porch area to greet the members of the Team, as they arrived from their motel. Magda Baggett had brought some boxes of candy hearts, also distributing them to our places. Since Dave and Magda are celebrating their fortieth wedding anniversary later this year, we raised our juice glasses and teacups in a toast to their continued happiness.

We finished breakfast and boarded the bus for another full day of work. Since most of us had brought several toys and goodies for the village children, we were anxious to distribute them. However, we had determined that in order to avoid total chaos and mayhem, we should wait until the following day and work in cooperation with the teachers at the school to maintain some semblance of order and organization. Arriving at the work site, we donned our rubber boots and looked over the project to see where we were needed. Through the generosity of several members of the Team, sufficient funds were raised in order to pay for and construct the second washing platform, so we began to work on that one, while Ramesh worked on putting some finishing touches on the one we had nearly completed. We began by forming another brick line, passing some five hundred bricks from one side of the site to the other. The only difficulty with this was the condition of the soil around where we would be piling up the bricks into a sort of wall. For years now, the waste water from the ladies washing of pots, pans, utensils and clothing had cascaded down over the wall of the reservoir, creating a stinking sopping mess, and we were passing the bricks directly through this area. Jo Barrow, being the smallest was perched precariously on two bricks we had placed beneath her feet, teetering back and forth when the bricks were passed carelessly.

Several times during the passing of bricks, we were concerned that Jo might simply sink down into the depths of this disgusting slurry of mud and flip-flops and clothes and heaven only knows what else, never to be seen or heard from again! Two of us were able to borrow a broken-handled pick-ax and a wide bladed hoe and proceeded to dig a trench to relieve some of the back water, but had to pause often to catch a breath of cleaner air, trying to hold back from gagging on the stench we were uncovering as we dug our trench. Eventually, the trickle turned into a steady flow of filthy water and with some encouragement from a few of the elders, the ladies moved to the other side of the reservoir cover, spilling their waste water away from where we were working. Having said this, however, our progress was occasionally interrupted by a woman or girl guiding her water buffalos to a spot right behind us for washing them down and giving them a bucket or two of water to drink.

We returned to the farm for an outside lunch, and while waiting for it to be brought from the kitchen (still with no power from the electric company) I wandered through Jyotsna’s wonderful rose gardens, cutting several stems of roses and aloe blooms, some wild mustard and put them together for a colorful centerpiece for our table. Following lunch, we returned to the site for our next assignment.

Once the pile of bricks had been built, we moved on to the next part of the new platform construction, and passed hundreds of hods of sand, dumping them into the enclosure to created a base upon which we would later pour the floor for the second platform. A few of us, namely Dave Baggett and Jayne Britton worked alongside Ramesh, serving as tenders for him, as he laid the bricks to form the two new walls. The temperature was rising as we worked through the noon hour, but we were really intent upon completing as much of this second platform as we could before leaving on Thursday afternoon. With tired muscles and sunburned faces and necks, we once again boarded the bus for the farm. A local camel driver, who had been entertaining us with his skill at whistling asked if we wanted to ride his camel back to the farm, or at least part way. Dave Baggett, complete with a hip replacement took the first ride – watching the camel bow down and fall onto his knees to allow David to get onto the saddle was quite a sight. However, he was up and on and the camel was commanded to rise and in a giant undulating motion, stood proudly with David on his back. He rode a few times around the schoolyard and then Jay Kapner and Jo Barrow took their turn. It was out the gate and around the corner and up the road for them. The rest of us followed in the bus until we had reached a point fairly far up the road, where we awaited their arrival. The children from the village followed us as though we had turned into THE Pied Piper. Jay and Jo dismounted and now it was my turn to go with Darlene Beal. The camel driver instructed me to get onto the rear part of the saddle and to grab hold of the hair on the camel’s hump and NOT to let go. Well, I took him at his word and a mile or so up the road, I looked more like a white-knuckled flyer than a confident camel rider. The group decided it would be great entertainment if they could encourage the bus driver to move along the road to a point where Darlene and I could not see the bus, and to park it and wait to see if our faces showed expression of concern that we might have to ride this beast all the way back to the farm! Everyone had a good laugh about it and we enjoyed yet another wonderful dinner at the farm.

We called it a night somewhat earlier than usual, and I am confident that each of us slipped into deep slumber after a particularly strenuous day at the site.