The world was my oyster today, or at least the world that existed within a 15km radius as my ass couldn’t handle much further on that torture device they call a bicycle. It still hadn’t recovered from the long trip to and from Thaali the other day, but I had a nice refreshing ride to Sauraha where I wandered the touristy street and into some shops thinking I would find some small trinkets to get for gifts, then decided that wasting money on this stupid stuff that people might pretend to be impressed with for a few minutes and would then gather dust on their shelves was foolish and that I would spend the money on buying some notebooks and pens for the young boy who lives down the road from Bhandari’s.
Muwa was in Class 4 at the school and kind of stuck out in my memory as he was so sweet and shy and I sat beside him one morning when I was helping one of the other teachers. Some of the other boys were a bit more obvious and confident in their gawking and asking of questions, but Muwa just kind of lowered his head and would peek up at me from time to time. When I’d catch him, he’d grin and slowly raise his head and give me a full smile. He had a somewhat defeated look about him that made me just want to give him a great big hug. He walked by the house one day around noon when Swapna and I were outside and he gave me a shy little wave. After he had passed, she told me about his family situation. They are very poor and the father has pretty much abandoned the family including this young boy, his mother and a younger sibling. When the father is around, he is abusive and it sounds like he most likely drinks away what little money they do have. Some days he does not go to school because he does not have books or pens and I gather from what Swapna was saying that the father has been abusive to the mother, and most likely the children. I am going to pick up some materials tomorrow and see about leaving them on the step or something.
I was also hoping to get some photos developed in town, some to give to Ranjan and family with messages on the back as thank-yous and also a larger one for the elderly couple we visited the other day. I should have done it in Thaali when I had the chance as I discovered at the one place that would do it, that it would cost 100Rs for one little picture; it was 10 for next day processing in Thaali. Dammit. I didn't bother because I figured again, that money would be put to better use by actually giving it TO them than giving them some picture with the weird foreign girl that visited them that one time.
I did purchase a pair of cheap sunglasses as my other cheap sunglasses have broken and I’ve been scorching my retinas for the past 2 weeks every time I go outside, as well as a new book; “Into Thin Air” by Jon Krakauer. I’ve heard of it before, but never read it. It’s about the story of a disastrous trek to Everest; thought it would make for some nice light reading while I do my own mini-version and maybe help me to realize that things could be much, much worse if I feel the need to start complaining about sore feet or chilly temperatures.
I found a rooftop restaurant with wifi and a seat that would allow me to keep an eye on Ranjan’s unlocked bike down on the street and settled in to work on the iMovies and catch up on some messages.
I took a break, walked around again and then found another spot to sit for a cold drink and a snack and luckily caught Dad on Skype so was able to have a nice chat with he and Sammy while turning the computer screen to the street so they could see the herds of elephants on their way home from a long day of safari’ing.
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