My best day yet in Pachaikili, parachutes, bubbles, art and song.

January 14^th

 

What a super morning in the Pachaikili today!  We have poorliness in our ranks as Andy has had a version of Delhi belly, so had cycled back early yesterday (accidentally taking my cycle key with him) which meant that he was going to have a quiet day at home today. Then Brian woke up with a nasty red and swollen eye, so Pam and he had to go to the RUHSA hospital to get some advice. So I set off early to get an auto-rickshaw, (tuc-tuc) on my own, which I think is a first for me. 

When I arrived a very few children were there, and they were already engrossed in free play, with jigsaws, water and the rocking horse. As the government schools are already broken up for Pongal, which starts tomorrow, lots of children did not come but would have been kept home with their older siblings. I learned today that in December when there was torrential rain in Tamil Nadu the government closed all schools, which included private ones, for eleven days. This meant that the half-yearly exams were postponed at that time, and that is why they have been happening this last week instead. Children of all ages in the village (as young as four) have been sitting exams. Ooh, Tory government heaven! The teachers showed me some very good new picture books, some in Tamil, some in English, which they recently bought on a shopping trip to Katpadi.. Sekar had suggested that as there was an unexpected eleven day break for the floods, they should use the funds in their account for that time (for snacks and milk for the children) to buy books. Brilliant enterprise Sekar!

At around 10 a long yellow RUHSA bus drew up and disgorged a large gaggle (I use that word advisedly) of doctors, who are doing a community health course at RUHSA for several weeks. They are from a more northern state and speak Hindi rather than English. They burst upon the centre with never a word of introduction and a total lack of respect for what was happening with the children and elderly people and proceeded to take selfies with much mirth and chatter. I was to be placed with each of them in these endless selfies, what is worse. We have encountered this and similar groups in the canteen at RUSHA and they are very demanding of all of us for selfies. Padmini and Rani endeavoured to tell them something of what the centre is about, but they really weren’t very interested. I didn’t recognise the RUHSA person who was with them, but he clearly didn’t know much about Pachaikili either. Memo to self, ask for meeting with Dr Rita and come the very stern, I am an experienced Early Years practitioner, and this CANNOT happen! Will discuss guidelines for visits to our centre with her.

The joy of bubbles and Kabbadi, in the sandpit

Mercifully they departed as suddenly as they had arrived. The teachers then took the children outside to the sandpit where they blew bubbles (a gift brought by Pam and Brian) with great delight and squealing. Then they drew a line across the centre of the sandpit and played a game of Kabbadi, the local game which seems to involve catching a player from the other side of the line. Some of the children then started to ask for the parachute, from yesterday. I had planned to introduce it today to the elderly also and they were busy with a traditional game, so our children played a round of musical chairs first, which they love. Then time for the parachute. Rani was able to explain exactly how the parachute games worked to the elderly people (who had left yesterday by the time we showed it to the children). I was not disappointed in the reaction of the elders- they all joined in and obviously really enjoyed it too! The favourite game involves throwing the snakes in the air and trying to get them all down the hole in the centre of the parachute. 

Parachutes for young and old; musical chairs

After the children’s milk drink they then sat in a group on the floor  to do free painting. The elderly had gone back to sitting around fairly quietly so I passed paper and paint and a brush to a couple of the women and suggested they drew the yellow flower in my hair, or perhaps did a Kolam pattern (the symmetrical patterns that women learn to draw in chalk or rice flour on their doorsteps for Fridays and for festival days). Then one of the men was persuaded to join in and he painted a dog, a cat and a sun in the sky. I looked around and the room was full of children and elderly people painting freely (not an Indian practice normally) and I felt very happy!  Rani, the care-taker for the elderly, was present, so I hope that she can be encouraged to keep up these kinds of activities. After a while the children went into the other room to do singing and I asked the elderly people whether any of them like to sing. I told them about some of the other groups we have seen this week, where the elders enjoy both singing and dancing. There was only a very limited response, but suddenly one woman started to sing. Padmini had reappeared by now from the other room and she sat with her and very gently and kindly encouraged her to sing for us all. Another very touching moment. 

Loveliness, as we called it at Cameley school...

Just at this moment the trusty Mr W hove into view, having arrived to cycle home with me (it being midday and the sun being overhead in the sky!) Much solicitousness from the staff about his health and free advice about how best to treat poorly tummies. What a good husband he is, they said. With exclamations all round of ‘Inneeya Pongal vartical’ – that’s Happy Pongal to you and me, we were off. The school has only one day of holiday for Pongal this year so will reopen on Monday. 

On arrival home I heard the tale of Brian and his eye. Dr Rita had looked at it and shown much concern and then the ophthalmic doctor saw him. Apparently he gave him a full eye test first which was hilarious because people kept wandering between him and the illuminated letters,  but in the end he was diagnosed with an infection in the eye, perhaps initially caused by an insect bite, and the surrounding swelling and redness is probably an allergic reaction. So he has tablets to take and drops to put in, four hourly and he is not to cycle for a couple of days as the tablets will make him drowsy. 

This meant that we were down to two of us, just Pam and I, to go to Sekar’s home for lunch. Brian was out cold, the drowsiness having set in rapidly, and Andy was going to give his stomach another day to settle. We had a lovely visit, with a chance to talk to our old friend Sekar, who told us that back in May he had a health scare. It sounded as though he had a blackout whilst he was at RUHSA so there had been much solicitousness from his colleagues and from Dr Rita. Finally they had found that he had some evidence of cholesterol in one artery. He had been advised to lose weight and this he certainly and swiftly has done, dropping fourteen kgs fairly rapidly via diet and exercise. His lovely daughter had taken a day of leave to welcome us. She and her husband and two young children live with Sekar and his wife whilst she is concluding her PhD, of which she has one more year to go.

Whilst I was writing this blog Brian came back into the room (he and Pam had been at Paul’s hotel eating two x two-yegg omelettes). They had met a group of Keralan nursing students who had just come back from doing a community health presentation in Seetaramanpet village, on the harm done by tobacco-chewing and also against female foeticide. As part of the presentation they had done a dance and singing and they were about to reprise it for us if we would like. It was a lovely dance, and they are a delightful bunch of young women, with a leader who could explain everything to us. Finally, please could Sally be put in the middle of the group for yet more group selfies. My goodness, for a camera-avoider like myself today has been a nightmare; but in all other ways, a super day.