It's that time again..

January 25^th

 

Our last day and time for a few loose ends to be tied and for many sad farewells.  It promised to be a bit stressful in various ways, but largely because of the intense and humid heat that was weighing heavy on my head and also on Pam’s. Never mind, off we set to meet with Dr Rita, to hand over the donation from FOV and the list of purchases we wanted to be made on our behalf at the toy shop in Vellore, plus on line for a camera and an MP3 player. Alas, thwarted at the first hurdle: Dr Rita was absent in Vellore and would probably only be able to see us around 4ish. Various other things needed to be sorted like payments for electricity and for our accommodation during our stay and we had at last decided it was time to set off for lunch with Indra, one of the centre’s cooks, in Seetaramanpet. As luck would have it Andy had a puncture, and as further luck would have it (the gods who deal with stress and  migraine must have been with us today) there was Mani, the taxi driver just drawing up, so quick, abandon bikes and off we set. He has a tiny van which requires tall people to bend double to enter and exit, but apart from this it provided some breeze and got us to Indra’s only half an hour late.

Pam Indra and Rani (teacher)

Rani, the caretaker for the elderly and our next date ‘for coffee’ was also present, and then Rani, teacher, arrived. It was lunch hour at school and I think she came to support Indra who has only very limited English. It is surprising just how well one can communicate with a few words and with gestures and miming as long as you have quick-witted women like this. Lovely lunch, of course, then off on our round Seetaramanpet walk,  in blistering heat, to say goodbye to Raghu’s family, Balaji’s family, Sarida the poor bereaved former ayah, Santi and her lovely ex-Candle fund girls, and finally to Rani’s, not, of course, for ‘just coffee’ but for some freshly cooked plantain fritters, called ‘badgees’- very nice and I remembered she had served us with them last year. Her two adolescent granddaughters appeared and Rani showed us the head-dresses and the saris being prepared for the imminent ceremony for both of the girls, to mark the beginning of their menstruation. 

 

Then, finally, to the Pachaikili where the staff were waiting for us, with the SHG women Indra and Vimula, and Rani the caretaker for the elderly, plus Rajeshwari, one of the elderly. They had come with gifts, of course and to make a small leaving ceremony for us. My head was throbbing by now so I sat with a flower in my hair and a wet flannel on my forehead, a ministration which needless to say Padmini was happy to take over from me, bless her. They presented each of us with gifts, from the SHG, from the teachers and Rajeshwari had come with two packets of biscuits, very much the widow’s mite if you recall her story from Pam’s blog. After the presentations they showered us with foil confetti, as they had done the day we arrived and then began the tearful farewells, emotion on both sides, for us and for them. Definitely time to remember what Gandhi wrote: There are no goodbyes between friends. 

Ooh me poor head..
 

 This year we remembered to sign the visitors' book

Our wonderful family at Pachaikili

Back in the Mani tiny van to RUHSA, where we found Dr Rita still in her office. She had to rush off, but we managed to speak at speed and pass her the money and the orders for toys etc, which passed without a problem. I then explained that we had committed last year to raising the teachers’ and ayah’s pay annually in line with inflation, but that it had not been put in the budget request to FOV. Dr Rita made dubious sounds and muttered about how well paid that staff are, compared to many nursery staff. I said I would also like to reinstate the daily 100 ml of milk for the staff. Dr Rita not keen. I asked if she might be able to do a simple costing for setting up the counselling group for adolescent girls, and she thought they might be too busy to commit to doing this group. I said I would write to Arabella at VRCT and to FOV as I think there is an issue about not making our funding inflation proof, for all our projects, not just for Pachaikili. I will also of course put all these things in an email to Dr Rita for her to consider after we have gone.  Finally we showed her the very nifty drawing Brian had done for a simple hand rail at two heights, one for the children and one for the elderly. We assume CMC will pay, we said, it being their building and a Health and Safety issue? Oh no, I doubt that she said. So all in all, perhaps a good thing that Dr Rita didn’t have very much time for us, as we had left on such a high note with the love and generosity of our wonderful Pachaikili family and Dr Rita and the voice of reason can have a somewhat deflating effect. 

So we all survived our final day without the stress of emotion and heat boiling over, my headache responded to Padmini’s care, and we are ready now for our next adventure, in Sri Lanka.