Hello friends and family
Once again I am just coming up for air. My first full day off since I began almost 2 months ago! Tonight, for you, it is Thanksgiving Night and I am missing good food and MEAT! I want turkey! I went yesterday on my break from some mashed potatoes and enchiladas for a treat…yum!, except the mash potatoes were mashed with water, very little milk and no butter! Rishikesh is a holy Hindi town, so meat or alcohol cannot be found here. But no problem, there are so many good things and places to eat here. I get room and board at Ramana’s but having dal and rice every lunch and dinner every day, with an overcooked vegetable, is getting too tiring for me. So I sneak out for an hour to eat at some of my favorite spots that the travelers love here in town. There are a lot of backpackers and foreigners that come to this town, mostly Israelis’ come here for 6 months after serving in the army to unwind and get peaceful. They travel between here, Dharmasala (where the Dali Lama lives), Rajasthan, Varanasi, (where I am going next) and Goa, in the south of India.
I have met so many wonderful people, and have had to say goodbye to them after many days of great conversations, tea and food. Amos, Reut and Sagi lived across the way from me and I would sneak over for quick teas and good food that they would make me (humus, momus’, salads, chapattis, etc.) I so miss their sweet, gentle company now. They were my “therapy” and a place to get away when I have had too much at Ramana’s! We took a cooking class together to learn to make aryuvedic Indian food…yum! I have exchanged emails with friends and plan to meet up when I leave from here on Dec. 8, in which I will begin my travels alone around India until Jan 11. It will be nice to possibly see familiar faces along the way, but either way, traveling alone opens up more opportunity to meet people… I love that part of traveling alone, even if it is lonely at times.
The spots that are frequented here in Laxman Jhula are The German Bakery, where it sits high on the cliffs, overlooking the Ganga and village, while you can sip chai tea, eat chocolate croissants or cake, visit with other foreigners, watch the wild monkeys in the trees playing, do some “people-watching” as they cross the bridge (jhula) to get to the other part of town. I love this beautiful place and come there for my one hour break almost each day. I am a ‘regular ’ now and am greeted with warm welcomes by the Indian help there. On the other side of the bridge is Ganga Beach café (great humus and Israeli food), Freedom Café and Little Buddha’s where everyone lounges on the ground with cushions and pillows and low tables, plays music, smokes, eats, drinks tea, and visits with each other. This is the place “to meet someone” foreign (many beautiful people from France, Canada, India, England, Israel, and other places). I go there often to visit when I can, to hear the music and order Mexican food and guacamole…yes, guacamole! The owners are men for Nepal that also serve great Nepali food. I have to say, the women and men from Nepal are BEAUTIFUL! Most of our children are from Nepal, and with the blending of Indian and Asian……they are gorgeous! There is also Madras Café in Ram Jhula (the other bridge) that has the best Indian food and it is where a lot of the yogis hang out (this place is full of yogis from America and other places who are here to get their training at the local ashrams… a yoga studio and ashram can be found in every other building here. Not that I have been able to have time to enjoy any of it! Bummer!). And the best place and my favorite café is Roma’s Italian café…it sits up on a roof top overlooking the city and Ganga, the best view and food in town at night. I love the owners, and they love me. I eat there once a week to get my fresh Italian food and bread (with real olive oil and basmati vinegar! Unheard of in India!), fresh pasta and pizza and visit with “the guys”.
I love the sweetness of many of the Indian men here. They love to talk about where we are from and discuss our 2 cultures and the differences. They are all married, so we talk about family, children, their wives, this town,etc. I love it now because I am familiar to everyone when I walk down the street, so either I hear the food or shop keepers shouting “Hello Katy” when I walk by, or hear sweet children’s voices shouting my name, running up to me to hold my hand while we sing one of their favorite songs I taught them: “I am Happy, I am Good, I Am Happy, I Am Good, Satam Satam Satam Satam Gee, Wah Hey Guru, Wah Hey Guru Wah Hey Guru Gee.” These are the days I want to stay here forever and not leave this wonderful village place. I will be leaving from here in a week and a half, and find myself silently crying about it often. I will be back. I can see myself living here part of the year and the other part back home. What a nice life of East and West!
So my departure time from this lovely place and from these dear children is about here! I am sad….I was scheduled to leave Ramana’s Dec 9, but have given my notice to leave next Friday, Dec 4. I love these kids so much, but am just worn out. I have 10 pounds, am very weak and always on the verge of getting sick again. This is a 24-7 job, mothering 60 adorable children and teenagers that love me back so much and want to be with me all the time! I am loving the teenage boys the most…..the boys of all ages, including the 15-18 yr olds, still have an innocence and love about them that have not been spoiled by TV, computer games or other aggressive, violent media we have in the States,…and it shows. Or maybe it is the Hindi culture and religion that appears more accepting without judgments, shame or pressure (no ‘heaven and hell” philosophy). I do not know what it is, but you can feel peacefulness more from the boys and men here (and women, of course!). I love to sit across in Sat song, when the children chant and sing their prayers at night as a group in the Yoga Hall, and to hear these teenage boys sing solo or together in the most beautiful, sweet, devotional voices and then look over at me and smile pure love in their eyes……moments that melt my heart and I will not forget ever. They fill me up…as I said before, I ‘fall in love’ every day here in India- man, woman, or child! I do not want to leave these boys!
I plan to come back and have promised the children this. Many ask if they can come home with me (including one of my dear friends and a teacher here, Madam Anu)…..and I say YES, please come visit me anytime! But I could not even begin to pick which one child I would take home…soooo hard! I love each one so much. Good or bad, these children cannot be adopted out. This IS their family and they should not be separated from their home, country and this rich culture. I know Praba would not allow it. She feels, as I know the Indian government does to that they should not removed from their country, people, Hindi and culture. I hear it is hard to adopt form here. I understand why….for all of it’s poverty, this is such an incredible place. I would want to stay….These kids would be “shocked’ in our culture, especially for as old as they are. We do not have young ones here….5 yrs. being the youngest. I will ask Praba about other adoptions, but it is not easy. They are ‘taken care of’, at least in this town, by the ashrams and other family members……having a ‘mother or father” or lots of “things” is not important to these people and children…..all the family members, friends and community raise the children and it is a beautiful thing.
It been hard to tell these kids I was leaving next week. They are always so happy, but when I told many of them, you could see their faces go blank, and they got very quiet. One girl said quickly, “No, please do not say it, I do not want to know…”. They boys are taking it the hardest. One said, “we will never forget you” and I said, “oh, you have so many volunteers that come through”…but he said, “no, there are some we never forget”. It must be so hard for these children to have lost their families and then also have to say goodbye to the volunteers and caretakers that they have grown to love. Lost and change is forever a part of their life…maybe that is why they are so open and loving and accepting, they have learn to Let Go and just deal better change?!
We have all become accustomed to bedtime, when I go around to give meds and vitamins at 8:30pm and visit the 6 different rooms (2-3 children sleeping together in one bed that is a twin size! But is keeps them warm and snuggly on these cold nights.). We spend time talking about anything and everything while I stroke and massage their heads. They ask me a lot of questions, especially about America, my kids and friends. They ask almost every other night to see my pictures of my girls and for me to tell them and about their lives. The teenage boys are now all in love with my beautiful daughters and are asking if you will come over and visit?!! The teenage boys always come up with interesting or funny questions about science, astrology, etc or one night we talked about ghosts….Many of the children ask the one question that baffles me to answer ,as they are baffled why… They ask if I live with my family…my mom, dad, sisters, brothers, my children, etc. and when I tell them, No, they ask flatly, “WHY?”. They are perplexed by this (in India, families all live together). Then I try as best as I can to explain that in our country most children leave the house by 18 to go be on their own….and eventually have their own family and house, etc.…and then they ask again, “WHY?”. They think this is so strange. They ask who will take care of me when I am older? Again, in India, it is the right and responsibility of the children to live with and care for their parents as they get older, just as the parents cared for them when they were younger. This is got me stumped…they are right in many ways…Why are we all living alone or so far away from our family, village and roots?
So lately the job of medicine has become an almost full time job. Praba for the most part, practices homeopathy/natural medicine, so that means administering the meds every 3 hours! At one point with the staff and kids, we had almost 20 fighting a very bad cold/flu. I was so exhausted at this time working from 6:30am til 10pm non-stop, plus somewhere in there teaching music for 3.5 hours or subbing when a teacher is out (which happens at least 3-4 times a week, Mon thru Sat 8-1pm). When the weather changed quickly here in the Himalayas from hot to very cold in am and pm (with a wind that whips you to the bones), we were struggling with many viruses. Since the kids sleep together, their immunes systems are battered and hygiene is not great (often there is no running water, and no hot water…yes we take cold bucket baths every day in the freezing cold), disease and bugs (lice, worms scabies…that I am STILL battling after 2 months…ugh!) spread quickly.
We have had three children out for 3 weeks and have been diagnosed from the hospital with one with Swine flu after tests were run and 2 with Typhoid Fever…yikes! And I administer to them…but I am doing fine so far and am only run-down with “normal illness” symptoms. I have to say, much of the $$ around here has been to take care of these severe illnesses, a worry for Praba. It’s a never ending battle and STRESS for her to have enough money and to keep this place running well! Christmas will be “light” for the kids this year, so if anyone wants to give a gift of $$ for a present, that would be great . Again, even $20+ goes a long way here! I will be here until the 4th if you want to donate from my website. I personally go and get what the kids need. So far from the money that I have received (THANK YOU!), I have bought more warm blankets for the kids, warm scarves and hats. Next I plan to buy sweaters, leggings and coats. With $20 I can buy 10 leggings! They need shoes (they wear flip flops, chappals, most of the time, but need covered shoes for winter). I hope to have some $$ for a special Xmas gift for each child (60 of them!).
I know I have so much more to share, but my brain is taxed with being so tired from caring for the kids, etc. Now I will go for a quiet walk around town, or to the river, or maybe the water falls. I could even get a massage for 450 Rupees ($10 only!!) I plan to meet Siddhi (my yoga teacher and friend from SB who leaves tomorrow) and dear sweet Rajender, the boy with polio who crawls or drags around because he has no use of legs. I love to see him and the light of love in his eyes. He truly is a saint and I feel so good when I leave his presence. Enjoy the pictures I am sending over- more of the kids and some the beautiful town here! I do not know how much I can email after the 8th, when I begin my travels…we shall see. Thank you all for you support and words of love and encouragement. I have received your love your positive energy, and it has helped me keep going when I am so tired or lonely!
Namaste…..with Blessings and Love
Kathy
