ABDF

Monday, June 08, 2009

Really, I have to admit that the past week has been slow, which is why I haven’t written sooner. Our new water tank, which I was told would be finished earlier this week, was, or so I’m told. But our partner on this, Prabha, had yet another death in his family (the third in a year; I’ve described the rites in past dispatches) and so the dedication ceremony is delayed until after the 8th day after the death.

The death in Prabha’s family was his mother-in-law. Last year around this time it was his father-in-law, and two months ago it was Prabha’s father. Now only his mother remains; I told him that he’s had enough funerals for a while, and there’s no need to go for a complete set.

Two people have asked me about whatever happened to Dog. Well, Dog is still around. He doesn’t try and come up to my floor, except if he smells food. A few snaps of my fingers, and he turns right around and goes back downstairs. On the other hand (paw?), he has managed to charm Amma (Mother) downstairs. Amma is the matriarch of the family, and what she says goes. I’m not sure how Dog did it, but she now looks at him with a smile, not the scowl of former days. And Vihas, one of the two boys downstairs, now has the job of flea-powdering Dog every other day. Dog is still not allowed into the house; that would be considered unclean, but he still manages to make himself comfortable. I say that hey, if he’s smart enough to worm himself into Ammas’ good graces, then he deserves some comfort!

We haven’t had any power outages since the big ones last week. I assume that means that the work on the grid was successful.

Thursday, June 11, 2009

Well, like I said; it’s a slow week.

It can be a bit frustrating, although I know that there isn’t much I can do to change the situation. For example, our water tank in Mangikkadu is complete, or so I’m told, but our local partner, Prabha, can’t go with me to the opening ceremony until after the eighth day following his mother-in-laws’ death. That will be tomorrow, so I hope I can soon report the project officially finished. The first eight days after a death is very important, as I described last year, with family members unable to leave the house for anything except an emergency. For the entire family everything stops; no work, no shopping, no nothing. It’s during this time that friends and neighbors and less immediate family do all the cooking, cleaning, etc for the family. It somewhat resembles the Jewish tradition of sitting shiva. As this funerary rite is deeply held by Tamil culture, I can’t really complain, but it sure can slow things down.

Balan, our computer lab partner, teaches in an area that has no mobile coverage. Additionally, his cell phone was on the blitz and he was trying to get it repaired. So when he doesn’t respond to text messages, I never know if it’s because his phone is still on the fritz, or if he’s out of range.

These are examples of some of the common things that can hold everything up. We Westerners get very frustrated and impatient. But, as I said already, there isn’t much you can do. So I try to think of this as an opportunity to practice patience.

The power has started to go out again, making such practice a hot and sticky (and thus more difficult) endeavor. When the power is out, not only is it uncomfortable, but all the usual distractions aren’t there; no music, no laptop, and at night no light to read by. Sigh.