It was a wonderful day; we had a fieldtrip to a nearby village where we hiked, took pictures, ate, and heard about (but did not see) wild elephants… We just got back now--I took a shower, developed my pinhole-camera pictures, and escaped to eat. Right now I am at “the lawn‿ the hotel’s outside restaurant. It is, well, a lawn. In the center there is a thirty-foot brick pillar topped with a god who is trying to spear a dragon that shimmying up the side. There are about twenty tables, generously spaced and illuminated by lion-witch-and-wardrobe type lamps. The tall trees that encircle the lawn make it an elegant, private space. It’s cool and the food is good. It’s the perfect place to write.

The village we visited is in the mountains about an hour away from the hotel . We left early and arrived around 9:00. First we visited one of the Shanti Asharam’s Bala Shanti schools. It was the smallest school I’ve ever seen. Hardly 150sqft.

The highlight of the day was the hike. It took approximately two hours to reach the next village. We walked through mountainous scrub. It was quite scenic for what I‘ve seen of India, though not jaw-dropping beautiful like some places I‘ve seen. There were few tall trees and lots of scrub. At the end of the hike we rested for half an hour by what used to be a river. It would more aptly be described as a creak by the time we arrived, though it hardly deserved even that classification. There was some de-hydrated elephant shit by the river. It was huge. I posed for a photograph.

Oh- food just came. Yum. I shall take a break from writing….

Ok, done eating. That was the most horrid chicken-dish I’ve ever had. They called it “Chicken Escalope.‿ It was rich, heavy, gravy-topped ground-chicken patty. I only ate a couple of bites. I’ll bring the rest to Jonathon, who recommended it to me the other day. I hope he eats it.

Fireworks went off all during dinner, as if to compensate for the chicken escalope. They were the leftover fireworks from Divali, the big festival-holiday here. Divali was on Friday for which there were thousands of fireworks all over. We had that day off school, but we went anyway for a special dinner they prepared at the Asharam. Good food!

Where was I? Ah yes, the hike. After resting at the river we made a short temple visit and then went back to the first village by bus. There we ate and had a beautiful hour-long nap. Although, I did shavasana for the whole time. I didn’t move a twitch even though my head hurt like a bitch and my face itched like ants were crawling all over it.

In the afternoon we toured the village. A few villagers accompanied us to answer questions. The top question on my mind were the marauding elephants. We learned they come down from the mountains because of draught and trample crops and sometimes even houses. Not only are they dangerous, they are also economically burdensome. The villagers erected electric fences to keep them away, but it doesn’t work very well. One villager told us how a mother elephant walked with her three calves right through the middle of the village. Everyone prayed to Ganesha, the elephant-headed god and remover of obstacles. Just as they left the village, the cow lifted her trunk, as if to salute she were saluting God.

I also asked about the village housing. It seems that about ten years ago, the government erected concrete houses to replace traditional mud-brick huts. However, it seemed to me that concrete houses might not be very good replacements for traditional construction-methods. The villagers confirmed that concrete houses were not as cool as the traditional houses, but the concrete ones were more permanent. That is, they were more permanent if they were properly constructed, which they weren’t The roofs were caving in because government didn’t use metal rebar. However, the villagers still preferred concrete houses to traditional ones.

Another nice thing about the fieldtrip was the children. Today they had their best clothes on because of the festivals. They performed a dance, and also danced to David’s drumming. And, as usual, they had a riot looking at pictures of themselves on people’s digital cameras. They were thoroughly endearing as children tend to be. Today’s outing was good, but, like usual I got little alone time. That is the negative part of the field trip; lack of alone-time is beginning to ware on me. And, there’s not much time for writing. Oh well, what can I do? I’m sure I’ll get at least 15 credits; it’s hard to see how I could get any less with all the work I put into this damn portfolio. It has been a good fieldtrip though. Especially today and our two village visits last week.

Tomorrow is my birthday. I will be twenty-two. I wonder, how will I celebrate?