March 10th
The nights have been incredibly clear and beautiful, the stars appear so tangible like you could reach out and touch them. It was under these stars random thoughts tumbled about in my brain... about the decision to send Khasti out to hospital - a move that most likely saved the life of mother and child (a boy), will the friend recently diagnosed with a tumour have the operation to remove it/or not, dead babies, those who died last year, the children who died in the schoool building collapse, running school classes, the continual drama that has surrounded the Solar Home Lighting system Project. Suddenly I felt weighed down, claustrophobic and for a brief moment I felt like I was in a giant fishbowl ... The dividing line between our public and private lives is non existant and the pressures of living intimately with a community sometimes weighs you down. However, after a good nights sleep (or better still - a break) your 'batteries' feel recharged.
Today has been busy with school, Scott is resurrecting the stone wall which collapsed in the horror monsoon in September. Unfortunately, some of the work - a stone wall and the water tank on top - that went into the Word Nomads funded Potable water/hygiene project vanished in an incredible monsoon that culminated in 5 days of incessant rain. At the time of implementing the project PEAK put in two 500 litre water tanks and built a bathroom, fortunately one tank and the bathroom remained intact. Thanks to a donation from St Xaviers College, Canberra, Australia (who came into the valley in December) PEAK has been able to purchase a new 500 litre water tank (the old one was head-loaded to Bageshwar for recycling) and galvanised iron pipe to resurrect the area back to its former glory! The extra stones needed for the wall were procured under the Khati 'bartering' system for favours done.
The fields of wheat and barley are a lush green with a hint of yellow as the mustardd plants interdispersed start to flower. The fields that lay fallow for winter have all been ploughed with one male, two cows at the helm and a wooden plough. After a good harvest last year potatoes have been plentiful. In November the excess was sold onto the market but the prices were low (7-8 rupees a kilogram). The remainder (aside from those kept for consumption) were stored in large earthen holes covered with grasses, today they were exhumed and the women have begun planting.
The towns men have been working on a government contract job building a wooden bridge over Guddighar creek on the Dhoor side of town. It was washed away in the monsoon. For most of the year it looks like a small side stream but during the monsoon it can treachery as the water literally 'pours' out of the surrounding hills. In the 90's a sturdy steel bridge was build but a heavy monsoon in 1995 sweptt it away... ever since there have been temporary wooden bridges and/or stone crossing points.
Fortunately, for Khasti the road fom Khurkia is open again, this made her exit from Khati to hospital relatively seamless. Vehicle access has seen the price of a sack of cement drop, this is an important point because the biggest male complaint was the hight cost of cement. You can now travel in the vehicle for 200 Rs and your cement can come along for th ride for free (so you only pay the price of a cement sack) whereas previously you paid for mule hire at 400 Rs per mule (2 sacks) adding greatly to the cost of your cement bill. I'm sure it won't be long before the 'cement scourge' as a building material will hit the vally with vengeance. Actual people movement (usually male, but some women for hospital trips) between the valley and the 'outside' word of Bharari and Bageshwar has increased dramatically with the ease of access. And the first of the red plastic buckets have hit town as the latest trend....
Bnnie
peAk
