Greeting my students as they walked into our first grade classroom
last week, one boy showed me a bandaged finger. I asked him what had
happened. He told me in Hindi a few times, and finally said to me, in
English, "Didi, rat bite".
I didn't know whether to be thrilled because he was able to relay the
information to me in English, or horrified at the fact that he was
bitten by a rat, likely in his sleep.
Every morning, one of my students, 'Sania' and her mother are the first to arrive at school, half an hour before school starts. They arrive with another woman and her kindergarten boy, and I let them run around the classroom and say things in English to impress me while their mothers look on and we adults attempt to chat in Hindi / English - although neither of us know the others' language well enough.
Last week, 'Sania' popped into the classroom with her bright, ever-present smile, and stuck out her hands, with a 'DIDI!'. Her hands and arms were stained with the dark brown paint called mendi, an intricate painting traditionally applied for festivals and special events, but today applied as a pastime and decoration.
I 'ooh' ed and 'aah' ed at her arms in genuine appreciation, and her mother asked me if I had ever had mendi applied to my hands. I replied that no I hadn't, but would love to, and she invited me to her home to paint my arms and hands. She explained (through translation from a co-teacher), that as I was only here for 2 years, and I was doing such a good job of teaching her daughter (opinion only!), she would like to do something for me.
I gladly accepted, and yesterday after school, I walked to her house with her and a co-teacher who came along to chat and help me converse in Hindi / English.
We walked about 15 minutes away from the school, onto a wide, busy road. On the way, we cut through a narrow alleyway lined with small open shop fronts and dwellings to our right, and a row of tied up goats munching on weeds. I gathered it was a Muslim community, as Hindus don't normally eat meat, and mostly chicken if they do.
As we emerged onto the large, busy road, and turned left, walking against heavy oversized traffic, across the street, on our right, were piles of broken bricks, next to which large, orange and blue painted supply trucks were parked in a long line. Behind the decorative bells and paint of the trucks, the remnants of a demolished, illegal slum community stretched as far as we could see.
To our left, our escort (my students' mother) pointed to a small hole in the wall (literally), covered by a pinned-up sheet, and said the name of another of my students. Apparently he lived in that hole, and his mother peeked out and said hello, with a slight look of surprise, as we passed.
Suddenly, we turned left into an extremely narrow passage, where very little sunlight passed through from the two-stories of tiny hovels, the blue paint of the walls casting a dreary glow. Plenty of rain water dripped heavily from the rooftops, leaving little dry room to squeeze through the passage. We walked through muddy puddles, past naked children, women scrubbing laundry on rocks and blaring television sets, and stopped at a narrow, vertical steel staircase leading above us. One by one, we closed our umbrellas and climbed the narrow stairs, (just big enough to squeeze through) to a platform at the top, about 1 foot by 2 feet long. I slipped off my shoes on this platform, and slid into Sania's home.
The dwelling was approximately 6 feet wide by 10 feet deep. At the back right corner stood a small, shiny television, atop which sat dried flowers and a brass container.
Just below the television laid a thin plastic mat, folded so as to fit two people sitting. At the back of the room and to the left of the television, one high shelf ran along two walls, stacked full with metal cups, bowls and pots. Two oversized metal buckets with lids stood at the back of the far shelf, where our host kept clothes and other possessions.
As I sat down on the mat below the television, I turned back towards the entrance. To the right of the door was a waist-high counter, just big enough to hold a large metal pot of water, covered with a lid and a cup resting on its top. One long fluorescent bulb lit the room.
As the three of us sat down - our host, myself, and my co-teacher, two little boys from the dwelling directly next to us came in - one was a kindergarten student at our school. We recognized each other and said warm "hello" 's. Our host handed a small wad of rupees to an older child and told him to fetch a cold drink for her guests. In about 5 minutes, the boy returned with a small bottle of Miranda (orange soda) and a plate of dry packaged biscuits and partly stale potato chips.
Two glasses arrived, and orange soda was poured for us which we happily sipped.
Then, a woman appeared at the doorway, who was introduced as our host's sister. She would apply the mendi to my arms. She was a little younger than our host, and something about her composure and mannerisms suggested, rightly so, that she had obtained some amount of education as a child. In fact, she told us, she had completed the 8th standard in an Urdu-medium school.
As she began to apply to mendi, we all talked, I through my co-teacher's translations. We learned that my 6-year-old student, 'Sania', comes home from school at 4pm, and sits doing her homework until about 5 or 5:30. From 6 - 9, she then attends a local madrassa, where she studies the Qu'ran (which is taught in its original language, Arabic). At 9pm, Sania returns home to sleep. Dinner is not served. In fact, we learned, her only meals each day are the meals we have requested her mother to send with her to school - a small snack and a lunch, eaten at 10:30 and 1pm respectively.
We also learned that the home in which we were sitting had only recently been rented out by this family, as they had formerly lived in the demolished slums across the large busy street. As the slums had been illegally built, the city government had demolished them the month before, planning to plant trees and greenery in a larger project of 'beautifying' Mumbai.
As the dark brown streaks of paint on my right arm turned into wonderfully intricate floral and tribal designs, us women sat and enjoyed each other's company in the small, closet-sized (by western standards) room.
When the artist finished her work, we all stood up, took a photo together, and then I and my co-worker made our way back down the narrow stairs, and out into the stormy, rainy Indian monsoon. Our host walked with us to the train station, and I thanked her politely for her hospitality.
Now, I plan to return her hospitality with some type of gift, but of what, I'm not sure. I've had the problem of buying a gift for someone who has everything, but I have never faced the opposite dilemma.
I thoroughly enjoyed myself on this first true visit to one of Mumbai's countless poverty-ridden communities. While the poverty is very real, I see that life continues as it does in the rest of the world, minus the ability to provide for a family's comfort, and often even basic needs. The ever-present smile on Sania's face is testament that yes, life IS lived, despite the difficulties. Yet her growling stomach, stunted height, and bags under her eyes reveal the sentence of poverty she has been born into and may last her entire lifetime.
On two days' notice, we piled all the first graders into 3 taxis and
a car to go to the Bombay International School kindergarten - 3rd
grade exhibition.
Our organization does a lot of work with that school, which donates
space and resources to conduct after-school classes for teenagers.
So, we set out to let our first graders see what other first graders
were doing in school - first graders at a private, English medium
school. A long way, in distance, culture, and quality of living from
our little school in the slums.
As the 3 taxis filled with kids and accompanying teachers, I got into
our principal's car - 5 little 6-year-olds in the back seat, and one
on my lap in the passenger seat. As the car started and pushed
forward, the kids all giggled and screamed with glee - when I asked
them if they had ever been in a car before, all but one said 'no', it
was their first time.
Bumps on the road caused laughter, the ascent up a windy bridge
caused jumps of joy. Each time the car stopped in traffic, the kids
shouted 'stop!!'. We all smiled and sang and pointed the whole way
across Bombay.
When we got to the school exhibit, the kids behaved incredibly well -
likely in a slight state of shock at the beautiful flowers growing on
the school premises, and the glowing newness of their child
counterparts' displays.
While the kindergarten displays were full of animals made of paper
plates, neatly colored animal faces on paper cutouts, and whole wall-
sized diagrams of crafted trees, our students were just learning to
scribble and color.
While the first graders performed a song and dance routine and
displayed portfolios about all the food, nutrition, and food cycles
they had learned in the last month, our students were learning how to
pronounce the alphabet.
But, what absolutely struck me the very most was this -- the 6-year-
olds at this other school were not only wealthier, plumper, better
dressed, standing straighter, and lighter skinned ---- they were also
6 - 12 inches taller then our group of children from the city slums.
My, what malnutrition can do to a child who otherwise appears to be a
perfectly happy, playful child.
In comparison to the wealthier children, our kids have rotten teeth,
dull skin, uniforms that are likely washed once a week, sniffles and
coughs, and are extremely short in height and lacking in weight.
But I will say, these kids from the slums have bigger smiles than any
other children I have ever seen. There is a richness in their smiles.
Opened the double door to my classroom this morning, the first one into the bottom floor of the dank government building, as usual.
Turned the lights on, and - funny - there were scattered flash cards just beneath the supply cupboard. Set my things down, and noticed the two dustbins near the door had fallen over.
I was the last person in the room on Friday afternoon. Now, Monday morning, and I'd say someone else had been there. Went to the supply cupboard, and as I opened the doors, bottles of glue, more flash cards, paper and a stapler fell to my feet.
A scurry led my eyes to the top left corner. Little eyes peered out at me. I grimaced and stepped back in a flash. My fear had finally come true. I had been greeted by a rat. I stood around and thought about how to get it out. My first thought was "No way am I dealing with that thing - I'll have to wait for someone else to show up". Then I thought "Well, I DID take this job, knowing it would not be in clean areas with adequate sanitation. Heck, I can handle a rat."
So, just as I was looking for some sort of stick to poke at the cupboard with, our social worker showed up, (a young woman the same age as me), and started dealing with the rat too (in the same hesitant manner as I, thank you very much).
Finally, we found a short broom (much too short if you ask me), and I jabbed the top left corner of the cabinet. Without a second to flinch, the rat, dark brown and hefty, scurried down out of the cabinet and onto the floor. Then there we were, the social worker, the rat and I all running in circles trying to avoid each other. Finally we got out of the room, and a child's mother came walking in, and in amusement, went around the room to check for the rat. Apparently it had escaped through an open window. We found a gnawed corn cob on the floor as its gift to us.
Oh, I hope I have the room to myself tomorrow morning!!
Quite different from the truck delivery system back home!
Yesterday we went into the city to spend the afternoon. First, we
visited the Haji Ali mosque, which sits out in the bay offshore from
western Mumbai. A concrete causeway leads people in droves to and
from the mosque, which is open to Muslims and non-Muslims alike
(quite a treat).
Along the causeway were goats being fed scraps of plants, beggars of
all kinds - blind, handicapped, loud, silent... There were men
selling bright green cloths with arabic inscriptions, others selling
bangles, shoes, purses - the normal fare for street stalls.
The weather was nice - we had a few quick showers here and there, but
overall the breeze from the Arabian Sea was refreshing. Palm trees
swayed in this breeze, encircling the courtyard of the mosque. Some
people left their shoes to enter its interior, while others (like me)
lingered in the courtyard.
After that, we headed to Crawford Market - a famed market area we
hadn't visited yet. We found the area to be swarming with people,
taxis and hand-pulled carts. The fruit and vegetable section smelled
delicious - a nice respite from the other smells in the area.
We finished our little trip with a light dinner of pav bhaji, dosas,
and two cups of chai!
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