Charan Episode IV: Imperialism and Nipples

Check out the Charan kids in this week's feature photo! After we took some photos of us looking organized and proper, I told them, "Everybody DANCE!!" just a half-second before the picture was taken. Hilarity ensues. I think little Sanjay (a.k.a. Yellow Monkey) is enjoying that nipple tweak a little bit too much!

Shankar, on the left, is our translator, Hindi instructor and co-disciplinarian. Lives in the Charan, no formal education, awesomely productive in every facet of Tong-Len's work. He distributes medicines, transports the ill and injured to the hospital, keeps the classroom from falling apart, etc, etc.

Class was cancelled today (hence I am sitting here writing my blog), the wind/rain/hail/cats/dogs storm last night knocked over a bunch of homes so they need to make some major home repairs (find new bamboo poles, tie down the tarp). Met with Runa, our new English teacher from Norway (where the sun shines for two glorious months), to sort out Tong-Len's very first curriculum for the next school year. 'Been researching local schools to see how things are run. Private schools are posh (they have desks), government schools are often dumpy (teachers arrive to class when they feel like it). I dare not blast the schools here too harshly, some real smarties come from India, but the country is still working on providing equal education for all castes/incomes. They have a ways to go, so does America.

Speaking of India: The term "Hindu" used to refer to anyone from this region of the world. Peoples of all religions and walks of life lived in harmonious diversity; nobody cared if you worshiped Vishnu or Allah. Then the British came along, divided the nation in two (Muslim and Hindu), then conquered. The reign of England has ended here, but the unfortunate results of colonialism live on in the conflict between Pakistan and India. Imperialism leaves a bloody footprint in its wake.