Long days!

Ok, I think I’m getting the hang of this daily routine now.  India doesn’t go to bed, as we do in the UK, due to the heat.  So it’s not unusual for there to be things happening through the night, when it’s cooler.  However, I was awoken today at 3.00am by singing from the temple next door! Apparently, Thursday is this particular temple’s Sabbath & the devotions continue for 24 hours!!  I’m told that lots of the temples have different days of devotion, depending on which god they are devoted to. 

The children in Aarti Home get up at 5.30am.  The early morning is when a lot of the more strenuous jobs are carried out before the intense heat of the day. So the girls & house mother at the orphanage are busy outside doing the laundry – ie. from buckets, & scrubbing on flat stone slabs.  This seems to involve a lot of slapping the clothes as hard as possible, apparently the dirtier the clothes, the greater the slaps! 

All the children accept the fact that they are expected to do chores & they each have their own jobs to do. So this is how they start the day.  Those up to 8 years old are given a drink of milk & the rest are given ragi, which is apparently rich in iron.  They are then prepared for the school day.  Despite having no shoes, the children are immaculately turned out.  They line up for their ablutions & to have their hair combed & tied up. There’s complete order, no complaining!  The house mother is assisted by some of the older girls in checking that the children are all clean & tidy before they walk across the courtyard to the school, where lessons start at 7.30am.

At 9.00am there is a break for breakfast & then back to work.  The classrooms are small & lessons seem to be as we used to know them in the UK.  There is little evidence of equipment or much interaction but the children are keen to learn & manage with their very well used books.  There is another break at 11.00am &, in the Summer, school finishes at 12.30pm, due to the heat.  (In Winter, school is from 9.45am until 5.00pm.)

After lunch everything quietens down from 2.00pm until about 5.00pm & people seem to rest their way through the greatest heat of the day.  The children are occupied with peaceful activities until they have a snack at 5.00pm & do a few more chores. Then I see the younger ones, lining up beneath my window for their baths, hair washing & sprinkling of talcum powder.  The older children shower in a large bathroom.  There is study time throughout the year from 6.00 – 8.00pm & the children are back at their books, supervised by adults, older students & volunteers.  Supper is from about 8.00pm, although the older girls don’t eat until about 10.00pm.  So it’s a very long day for children, yet they cope well & are laughing & happy.

I am amazed by the amount of work these youngsters undertake.  The older girls are expected to assist with the running of the home & they help in every way – from looking after the little ones, bathing them etc. to cleaning & cooking, in addition to their studies.  One particular girl is looking after me constantly.  She’s 17 & awaiting her exam results, hoping to go to college, after which she wants to return to the orphanage & work as a teacher in the school.  So, she cooks, cleans, goes to the market, works in the office until all hours (sometimes until midnight!) & is then up at 6.30pm, cooking, filling the water dispensers, doing laundry & making sure I’m ok!  Today she’s cleaning the whole orphanage, as she decided the constant dust had got too much to bear & the only cleaner is away at the moment.  The cleaning involves mainly sweeping, as there is incessant dust, which I’m learning is a permanent characteristic of India.  By the afternoons, despite a morning shower & moisturiser, my skin feels as though there is a layer of chalk all over it!