Mathru School for the Differently-Abled
Friday 1/24/14
The kids got to go to an amusement park today, so I was free to focus on the new mosaic, and worked twelve hours on it. It's looking good but going slow. I've decided to call it "Muktha's Chidlren." I found out yesterday that she found her son, Ragavo, abandoned as a little baby,,and adopted him. She really and truly is an angel to India's disabled and discarded children.
Yesterday, instead of mosaics, I spent the day boosting the economy of Bangalore. Muktha helped me pick out ten sets of fabric for outfits for my friends, and then I bought eight sari materials to give as gifts to all the teachers and staff here.
I must have been the single biggest sale the two fabric stores have made in a while, but the prices are so cheap by US standards that I almost feel guilty not paying more. The salwar kameez ou materials were less than $10 USD each. My friends will spend a lot more than that getting the materials sewn up at home, but even so they'll have a great outfit at a really reasonable price. And these materials are high quality, from one of the best stores in Bangalore.
It was Muktha's idea to get saris as gifts for the staff and teachers here. When I told her I wanted to get them something, she told me I could get good sari material for 200 rupees. That's less than $4 USD (yes, four, single digit). So after we bought all the salwar kameez fabrics, we went into three other fabric shops before Muktha decided the quality was good enough for me to buy. The fabric is not as high quality as the two saris I bought for myself, but it is still good, and all the staff will be very happy.
I still need to get something for Harish, Firojsh and the other security guy whose name I disremember at the moment. Divya suggested shirts, and said she'd find out sizes for me next week.
And Magda's bag of goodies is coming in handy. I have just enough little stuffed toys for each of my students, and I'll give them each a little bag of candy from the stash Andy is sending with Linda. The big hit so far are is the little temporary tattoo kit. Akshatha loved them, and said the kids will too. She insisted on putting two butterflies on my arm. It says hey are "temporary" tattoos on the label, but it took me two days to get them completely off.
Muktha is determined to make me an outfit herself before I leave. She wanted to get me a silk sari but I talked her out of it, reminding her that I don't know how to fold and drape a sari on myself, and that I'm sorry I got myself two of them. So she settled on a salwar kameez instead, and insisted I choose fabric from the silks counter. I chose a deep fuchsia pink with a gold and silver border for the top, black silk pants, and a sheer black scarf with gold and silver threads running through it.
She wanted to get me some gold and silver bangles to go with it but I managed to talk her out of that, too. My hands are just too big for the bangles they make here. But she got me a pair of anklets, and a necklace of black glass beads with a silver clasp/pendant that will look great with the outfit she's making me.
It was fun shopping yesterday, but the taxi ride back to the school took two hours. I thought of the way John Steinbeck described the "noise and stink" of Cannery Row. He'd have way more grist for his mill here. India is an assault on the senses. it's a barrage of smoke, sewer, sweat and traffic exhaust fumes, all mixed in with wonderful cooking smells; it's horns beeping and blatting, diesel engines rumbling and motorcycles roaring, raucous shouting and laughter, goats bleating, drums beating, and in the oh-dark-thirty hours the dogs are barking and howling and the mosque is blaring out its droning prayer chants over the loudspeakers.
I'm overloaded.
Friday 1/24/14
The kids got to go to an amusement park today, so I was free to focus on the new mosaic, and worked twelve hours on it. It's looking good but going slow. I've decided to call it "Muktha's Chidlren." I found out yesterday that she found her son, Ragavo, abandoned as a little baby,,and adopted him. She really and truly is an angel to India's disabled and discarded children.
Yesterday, instead of mosaics, I spent the day boosting the economy of Bangalore. Muktha helped me pick out ten sets of fabric for outfits for my friends, and then I bought eight sari materials to give as gifts to all the teachers and staff here.
I must have been the single biggest sale the two fabric stores have made in a while, but the prices are so cheap by US standards that I almost feel guilty not paying more. The salwar kameez ou materials were less than $10 USD each. My friends will spend a lot more than that getting the materials sewn up at home, but even so they'll have a great outfit at a really reasonable price. And these materials are high quality, from one of the best stores in Bangalore.
It was Muktha's idea to get saris as gifts for the staff and teachers here. When I told her I wanted to get them something, she told me I could get good sari material for 200 rupees. That's less than $4 USD (yes, four, single digit). So after we bought all the salwar kameez fabrics, we went into three other fabric shops before Muktha decided the quality was good enough for me to buy. The fabric is not as high quality as the two saris I bought for myself, but it is still good, and all the staff will be very happy.
I still need to get something for Harish, Firojsh and the other security guy whose name I disremember at the moment. Divya suggested shirts, and said she'd find out sizes for me next week.
And Magda's bag of goodies is coming in handy. I have just enough little stuffed toys for each of my students, and I'll give them each a little bag of candy from the stash Andy is sending with Linda. The big hit so far are is the little temporary tattoo kit. Akshatha loved them, and said the kids will too. She insisted on putting two butterflies on my arm. It says hey are "temporary" tattoos on the label, but it took me two days to get them completely off.
Muktha is determined to make me an outfit herself before I leave. She wanted to get me a silk sari but I talked her out of it, reminding her that I don't know how to fold and drape a sari on myself, and that I'm sorry I got myself two of them. So she settled on a salwar kameez instead, and insisted I choose fabric from the silks counter. I chose a deep fuchsia pink with a gold and silver border for the top, black silk pants, and a sheer black scarf with gold and silver threads running through it.
She wanted to get me some gold and silver bangles to go with it but I managed to talk her out of that, too. My hands are just too big for the bangles they make here. But she got me a pair of anklets, and a necklace of black glass beads with a silver clasp/pendant that will look great with the outfit she's making me.
It was fun shopping yesterday, but the taxi ride back to the school took two hours. I thought of the way John Steinbeck described the "noise and stink" of Cannery Row. He'd have way more grist for his mill here. India is an assault on the senses. it's a barrage of smoke, sewer, sweat and traffic exhaust fumes, all mixed in with wonderful cooking smells; it's horns beeping and blatting, diesel engines rumbling and motorcycles roaring, raucous shouting and laughter, goats bleating, drums beating, and in the oh-dark-thirty hours the dogs are barking and howling and the mosque is blaring out its droning prayer chants over the loudspeakers.
I'm overloaded.
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