community arts :: journals + photographs
Thursday, February 10, 2011
more from gautam's village
gautam's village (bhojpur)
i packed my small bag; toothbrush, toilet paper, and my cameras. gautam (the school art teacher), was going to his village to check on the construction of his family's house. his parents are staying with his uncle there until it's ready.. so, he invited to take me. we have classes until 1:30 on saturdays, so we left in the warm mid-afternoon. we took a rickshaw through town and to some kind of a roundabout bus stop.. no station, just buses stopping through on their way to other towns. it was a blue bus, three seats to a row (which i'd never seen actually), and everyone stared as we got on.. at me, of course. surely they wondered what this guy was doing with this foreigner. at this point i don't even notice the staring anymore. the bus probably only took around an hour and a half, but it felt like much longer as we drove through many towns. when we arrived at his town, it was like i had walked into an old Western movie, only the Indian version. there was one dusty road that cut through with stores and buildings with tin roofs. from there, his uncle's house wasn't a far walk.. as we walked, we started to notice people beginning to collect behind us.. i turned around to find what looked like the whole village following me. it really felt like something out of a michael jackson video. we laughed so much because i was the first foreigner to ever come to this place. at his uncle's home, was his mother and younger brother on the roof / terrace area (where they live) and his aunt and cousins.. all women. even being a saturday, the men were working in other towns. they welcomed me and i spent a lot of my time there just observing while they all spoke hindi around me. i didn't mind cause you really notice a lot of things when you don't know what people are saying.. like watching a movie on mute. the village itself had only foot & bike traffic, no cars. the roads were like little alleys, barely able to fit the width of two people side by side. at 200-something years old, the place had amazing architecture .. glimpses of centuries in the details that were still standing. and in a way, you wonder how much has really changed about this place after all that time.. we got water from the water pump. all you could hear at night was the sound of dogs, jackals and cows. most people didn't have electricity in their home. his sweet mother escorted me at night with her flashlight to the outhouse so i could use the bathroom. some homes are made of brick or cement, others of just straw, bamboo, mud. the people were so inviting, and really just strikingly beautiful. his mom made us some food and the rest of the night i watched gautam spend time with his family, which may sound boring, but it wasn't somehow. i saw the moon for the first time since i've been in india. i realized it may have been because of pollution and there was also a new moon so it wasn't visible. it felt great to be able to breath and see the stars and moon.. here in dhampur, there's a lot of pollution and the sugar mill has huge lights on at night, making it difficult to ever see the sky clearly. after the long day, i slept in a room with his aunt and cousins. everyone got up early.. and since i was looking forward to more exploring with my camera, i didn't hesitate either. most of the day was spent navigating through the alleyways as my caravan (mostly kids) followed closely behind everywhere i went. we would stop in to see his neighbors, have tea... everyone i met was either his "brother", "sister", "uncle", "auntie".. at first this was confusing since i really thought he was actually related to them. that was just the way everyone saw one another.. like family. the village raised him.
before we left in the late afternoon, gautam, his brother and his "uncle", took me to see the river. the river is actually part of the Ganges, but it's dried up now, but in the heavy monsoons it apparently flows. the walk was about a mile downs a dirt road surrounded by sugar cane fields. as we approached the river, the sky just opened up.. it was desolate. the land was so vast and just went on forever. the ground was cracked from the drought and there were cattle in the distance and some kids on bikes or herding goats. we just climbed the hill and sat at the top for a bit and shared a bidi (tobacco rolled in dried banana leaf). there was some water from the river but it was more like large pools and beach. i've shared some pictures below..
we headed back towards the village down the dirt road lined by the cane fields, passing tractors, kids on bikes, and horse wagons carrying crops. after the many goodbyes from what seemed like the entire village, we went to the town and waited for a rickshaw to take us to the train station. since there wasn't one, a guy on his horse wagon appeared so we and about 6 other people hopped on too. the ride through these small surrounding villages (made up of probably under 100 people each) was incredible. people, sitting out of their homes / businesses stopped what they were doing and just watched as the wagon with the foreigner went by. the train station was small.. you could just walk freely across the tracks to get to the other side. there were lots of people living in tents nearby, but i think they were working on the railroad. it was almost dark when we got on the crowded train.. lots of people everywhere, i was lucky to get a seat. in the later part of the 2hr trip, gautam and his brother were able to sit across from me. i was squished between an old lady who had her bare feet up on the bench across from her, and an old man wearing sunglasses. above in all directions were people of all types and smells. after almost being shoved off the train as we got out, we took a rickshaw (guy pedaling a bicycle as you sit on a two-seater in the back) back home. dhampur doesn't have electricity at night so if you feel like you'll get hit by something on wheels during the day, at night you really feel like you're going to die headlights dodge by you, picking up clouds of dust in the dark. i was so tired from the travel but i had such an amazing time. hopefully we'll get to go again when his house is finished with anna and melanie.
gautam and i at the river
view of the village from gautam's family's roof
what i saw every time i looked behind me
the horse wagon to the train station
before we left in the late afternoon, gautam, his brother and his "uncle", took me to see the river. the river is actually part of the Ganges, but it's dried up now, but in the heavy monsoons it apparently flows. the walk was about a mile downs a dirt road surrounded by sugar cane fields. as we approached the river, the sky just opened up.. it was desolate. the land was so vast and just went on forever. the ground was cracked from the drought and there were cattle in the distance and some kids on bikes or herding goats. we just climbed the hill and sat at the top for a bit and shared a bidi (tobacco rolled in dried banana leaf). there was some water from the river but it was more like large pools and beach. i've shared some pictures below..
we headed back towards the village down the dirt road lined by the cane fields, passing tractors, kids on bikes, and horse wagons carrying crops. after the many goodbyes from what seemed like the entire village, we went to the town and waited for a rickshaw to take us to the train station. since there wasn't one, a guy on his horse wagon appeared so we and about 6 other people hopped on too. the ride through these small surrounding villages (made up of probably under 100 people each) was incredible. people, sitting out of their homes / businesses stopped what they were doing and just watched as the wagon with the foreigner went by. the train station was small.. you could just walk freely across the tracks to get to the other side. there were lots of people living in tents nearby, but i think they were working on the railroad. it was almost dark when we got on the crowded train.. lots of people everywhere, i was lucky to get a seat. in the later part of the 2hr trip, gautam and his brother were able to sit across from me. i was squished between an old lady who had her bare feet up on the bench across from her, and an old man wearing sunglasses. above in all directions were people of all types and smells. after almost being shoved off the train as we got out, we took a rickshaw (guy pedaling a bicycle as you sit on a two-seater in the back) back home. dhampur doesn't have electricity at night so if you feel like you'll get hit by something on wheels during the day, at night you really feel like you're going to die headlights dodge by you, picking up clouds of dust in the dark. i was so tired from the travel but i had such an amazing time. hopefully we'll get to go again when his house is finished with anna and melanie.
arriving at the river
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
lately
Monday, January 31, 2011
attack of the monkeys
i thought that the meowing cats at our house in brazil were bad, but i've made new enemies.. the monkeys. before yesterday, they were just part of the landscape, laying around pruning themselves. yesterday was Sunday and we woke up to monkeys swarming our patio and fighting over a rotten papaya that we had forgotten about and meant to throw away. Melanie wanted to make everyone french toast and bananas. she had run down to get something from her room and i was in the kitchen washing some dishes. all i heard from one of the teachers who was hanging her clothes outside was, "monkey!" there just wasn't enough time for me to react and think about what in the world i would do to get rid of a monkey. these monkeys are not little either.. the adults stand to be as tall as 3 feet or so (essentially a 1st grader) with big pink butts, nipples, and balls. these guys are not afraid of humans and clearly don't mess around. the monkey ran off with our dozen bananas! they all feasted (as if purposely) in front our room hissing at us. no shame whatsoever. this battle was far from over. i volunteered to go to the market to get more bananas. except i didn't know how far or where. i gave it a shot, but once i got to a certain point i just turned around, not in the mood to face the honking cars, motorbikes, & mass of people. so i ran by Nisha's house and she happened to have some bananas. i arrive back upstairs to monkeys all over the place just waiting for someone to forget the door open. we enjoyed our breakfast.. french toast w/ honey and bananas. after our feast, we decided to go bike riding. we were getting ready to leave, anna and melanie were waiting downstairs, and i ran to the bathroom before we left. apparently anna had left the door open because i walked out of the bathroom to find a monkey holding my refrigerator door open and pulling out food. i'm sure he was just as surprised to see me as i was to see him. we both looked at each other and i just screamed and grabbed the broom. the punk ran out with our bananas while dropping a few eggs and making a mess on our floor. i could've killed the monkey! we now have a trap door -- a rope that goes across from our front door to the bathroom door, holding it shut.
anyways, our bike ride was so nice. instead of going left toward town like last time, we went right, determined to find nothing but country. what we found was the closest to country we have come.. the road was lined with big trees hugging the road, small homes with families outside in the sun, people working the land, and farmland. anna and melanie gave up on waiting for me since i couldn't help stopping every few minutes to find something amazing to take a picture of. a little boy getting his hair cut, some young girls in beautiful colors with their white horse, and people piled up in tiny WWII-looking vehicles. we went through the town on the way back from our ride down the road to nowhere, bought fruit (oranges, apples, bananas and even a watermelon), and some other supplies. we tried to find toilet paper again but with no luck.. somewhere the translation got lost and we found ourselves with napkins again. at this point i'm used to the staring. we go to buy some apples and suddenly i turned around and there are about 10 or 15 people just standing there staring at us. i think i had about had it though when we were heading out of the town with my bicycle basket heavy with fruit, when a guy on a bike carrying long metal poles hit me from behind and i fell on the ground... again. the fruit went all over the road, watermelon and all.. i was more worried that a bike or car was going to run over my food. luckily the food was still good but i was surprised by the fact that nobody helped the poor white girl running after fruit.
today was the first day of my school week. i finalized my schedule this morning and i'm really looking forward to working. my photography class starts tomorrow that i'll be doing with the 5th grade class. they are a small group, about 13 kids, and just a really great group. i'm working with some of the english classes (various grades) in small groups doing conversational activities. capoeira was supposed to start today but i didn't have the music, so it'll start on wednesday.. today we just did the yoga portion which Anna taught. the rest of my time (majority of my time) i'll be working with Gautam, the art teacher. he's full of crazy / amazing ideas and i'm really excited about teaching with him. we've already started discussing a wall sculpture project (to hang on a huge wall in the school) inspired by Vik Muniz's work, Wasteland. we plan to use trash and recyclables as materials with the older classes to create a wall piece inspired by their country. it's still in the works, but if it actually gets done, i know it will be great.
anyways, our bike ride was so nice. instead of going left toward town like last time, we went right, determined to find nothing but country. what we found was the closest to country we have come.. the road was lined with big trees hugging the road, small homes with families outside in the sun, people working the land, and farmland. anna and melanie gave up on waiting for me since i couldn't help stopping every few minutes to find something amazing to take a picture of. a little boy getting his hair cut, some young girls in beautiful colors with their white horse, and people piled up in tiny WWII-looking vehicles. we went through the town on the way back from our ride down the road to nowhere, bought fruit (oranges, apples, bananas and even a watermelon), and some other supplies. we tried to find toilet paper again but with no luck.. somewhere the translation got lost and we found ourselves with napkins again. at this point i'm used to the staring. we go to buy some apples and suddenly i turned around and there are about 10 or 15 people just standing there staring at us. i think i had about had it though when we were heading out of the town with my bicycle basket heavy with fruit, when a guy on a bike carrying long metal poles hit me from behind and i fell on the ground... again. the fruit went all over the road, watermelon and all.. i was more worried that a bike or car was going to run over my food. luckily the food was still good but i was surprised by the fact that nobody helped the poor white girl running after fruit.
today was the first day of my school week. i finalized my schedule this morning and i'm really looking forward to working. my photography class starts tomorrow that i'll be doing with the 5th grade class. they are a small group, about 13 kids, and just a really great group. i'm working with some of the english classes (various grades) in small groups doing conversational activities. capoeira was supposed to start today but i didn't have the music, so it'll start on wednesday.. today we just did the yoga portion which Anna taught. the rest of my time (majority of my time) i'll be working with Gautam, the art teacher. he's full of crazy / amazing ideas and i'm really excited about teaching with him. we've already started discussing a wall sculpture project (to hang on a huge wall in the school) inspired by Vik Muniz's work, Wasteland. we plan to use trash and recyclables as materials with the older classes to create a wall piece inspired by their country. it's still in the works, but if it actually gets done, i know it will be great.
Thursday, January 27, 2011
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