Village Visit

April and I had the opportunity yesterday to visit a nearby village where there are some interesting programs taking place. For example, when we arrived, there was a yoga class underway with boys and girls. This was in a community centre. These programs are the regular activity in the centre that occurs every Saturday morning. We also saw girls learning traditional Indian dancing, boys learning a martial arts program that originated in the forests and jungles to portect against wild animals and a group of children doing watercolours.

Yoga Underway

What impressed me was the very keen interest with which these children pursued the activities. This is not a wealthy village and without this community action program, it is highly improbabale that these opportunities would be available.  Regrettably, most villages of this small size don't have these programs.

This young lad sat quietly in the courtyard - quite unassuming - when I went to look at his watercolor, I discovered his talent. He was rather shy about showing it but it was very much there. I looked at several of his drawings - I am not sure what can be done to develop him but he is quite talented - but it is  not a talent in rural India that puts rice on the table.

This young lad was engaged in the martial art and quite proud of his effort. He knew his routines well and was anxious to show his instructor - a young man who would twirl these sticks like some of us might twirl a pen.

Like many villages around India, however, there is the constant problem with garbage. As we walked over to meet a group of boys learning to do the funeral music, we passed piles of garbage lying about and a garbage fire burning. These fires are seen throughout India and act as a major source of pollution. They also coat the air in some areas. Thus, one can face smoke, piles of garbage and open sewers all in the same block. Add to that the problem of plastic which cows and other roaming animals eat.

Example of a garbage fire

A fascinating area for me has been meeting some mothers who have talked about the impact that the west is having in their families. One, a middle calss mother, described the challenges she is having with her 13 year old daughter who is caught between both cultures. She is engaged in Indian dance lessons like those seen below while she also wants to watch the TV show Friends. Culturally and emotionally she is not able to manage the themes in Friends and, as a parent, this mother does not have the history from her own upbringing to know what these themes are about. These mothers talk about been trapped between their family moral code that they grew up with and the pressures from the west that they don't know hwo to manage.

Another interesting area is how parenting is changing - partially as a result of western influences that have made brought so many different attitudes about things like discipline. Thus, some of the abusive things that have been happening are getting slowly talked about.This may be good. It is also increasing awareness in at least middle and upper classes about education for girls including post secondary.

A pose from the traditional dance

Another feature of our recent days has been learning to drive a moped. It is getting too hot for the bicycle. The challenge has been getting a good one. We tried an electric one but the charge doesn't seem to last more than about 15 km. So today we will switch to a gas one which I deeply regret. We are keeping the bicycles for early trips in the mroning such as over to meditation.