Kusum egy napja

Az irodaban altalaban tiz korul kezd, bar van amikor mar reggel fel hetkor is bent van. Egy tea mellett gyors pillantas az emailekre, aztan indul a nap. O Kusum Mohapatra, a hazigazdank es a Prakalpa ugyvezeto igazgato helyettese. Kusum szarmazasa szerint brahmin, a legfelsobb kaszthoz tartozik. Rengeteg tisztelet es elojogok jarnak egy brahminnak, amik igazabol csak azert fontosak a szamara, mert ezeket felhasznalva segithet azokon akik raszorulnak. Amikor elso nap megkerdeztuk, hogy o e itt az igazgato, nevetve csak annyit mondott: "nem, en az igazgato unokahuga vagyok! "

Es ez igy is van. Nagybatyjan keresztul kerult a szervezethez tizenhet evesen. Ma huszonhet, es mar a Prakalpa masodik legfontosabb embere... bar en szerintem inkabb az elso. Szuletett fonok, de napjai jelentos reszet nem zart ajtok mogott egy nagy borfotelben tolti. Folyamatosan beszel, kommunikal, ide oda maszkal, mindenhol jelen van. Egybol feltunik ha nincs a kozelben es nemcsak azert mert nem hallod a hangjat. Az energiaszint es a lelkesedes ebbol alabbhagy. Kusum a Prakalpa motorja.

A tegnap delelott az irodaban meg mindig az ujevi ajandeknaptarak csomagolasaval es az udvozlolapok szortirozasaval telt. Ebed utan (mert hogy itt a Prakalpaban van konyha es az alkalmazottak egyutt esznek) beultunk az autoba, es elindultunk a kormanyhivatalokba hogy atadjuk az ujevi udvozletet. Ezt is o csinalja, mert az alkalmazottai 'felnek' a nagytekinteju koztisztviseloktol...

A korut utan vegre jutott ido arra, hogy az egy hete halogatott utra: elindultuk a Prakalpa nootthonaba. Swadhar egy menhely nok es lanygyerekek szamara, akik az utcara kerultek eroszak vagy egyeb csaladi konfliktus miatt. A hely nagyon erdekes, es az asszonyok tortenetei megrazoak, meger egy kulon bejegyzest.

Miutan megerkeztunk, hamarosan kiderult, hogy az egyik lako, egy 13 eves suket kislany (akinek mar van egy 6 honapos csecsemoje) nagyon rosszul van: ket napja hany es megy a hasa, mar jartanyi ereje sincs. Tovabbi kerdezoskodesre kiderult, hogy meg legalabb tizen hasmenessel kuzdenek.... Kusum azonnal akcioba lepett: mindekit mozgositott, gyogyszerert es vizert kuldott, megetette-megitatta a beteg kislanyt, es az allapotat latvan azonnal korhazba kuldte. Majd jol leszurta a tobbi lakot es a vezetoseget hogy nem cselekedtek elobb. Kevesebb mint egy ora mulva a gyogyszerek megerkeztek, a sulyos esetek mar uton voltak a korhazba es a tobbiek alazatosan hallgattak Kusum utasitasait a vizforralasrol es a furdoszobak fertotleniteserol. A baj elmult, a kedelyek csillapodtak. Kusum mosolyogva azt mondta: "azt hiszem kicsit tobb idot kene toltenem az otthonban." Hmm, igen. De sajnos belole is csak egy van. Pedig ha valakibol nincs eleg, akkor az a Kusum es a hozza hasonlok, foleg itt videken, Indiaban. Nagyhatalmu, pofesszkedo irodakukacokbol, elojogaikat szemermetlenul kihasznalo hivatalnokokbol van eleg. Sokan vesznek reszt a szegenyek es kitaszitottak helyzetenek javitasaban, de kevesen teszik ezt oertuk. Kusum nem azert beszel, hogy a sajat hangjat hallja es nem azert intezkedik, hogy fontosnak tunjon.

A nap vegen o altalaban tovabb marad mint a tobbiek. Azt mondja ilyenkor tud gondolkodni es irni. Szerintem ilyenkor van egy kis ideje sajat magara: amikro a kollegak es a csalad sincs jelen. Ilyenkor lejegyzi gondolatait a vilagrol es a sajat eleterol...de naplojat nem a parna alatt hanem az interneten tarolja. Baratai zome mar elkoltozott Keonjharbol India egyik dinamikus fejlodo nagyvarosaba ahol sokat kereshetnek es ki vehetik reszuket az azsiai fejlodo orszagok lenduletebol. Keonjhar nem tartozik az ilyen helyek koze. Egy olyan megye szekhelye, ahol a lakossag tobb mint fele irastudatlan erdolako es a szegenyseg es a visszamaradottsag komoly gondokat okoz. Kusum itt maradt, ki tudja miert...de tudasara, onbizalmara es lenduletere itt egetoen szukseg van.

Viragszal a sivatagban? Hulye hasonlat. De a neve tenyleg az jelenti: Virag.

Kusum blogja: http://www.disruptiveharmony.blogspot.com/

So since Christmas we went to an Indian picnic, with about 80 Indians, and a couple hundred more on the spot, with loudspeakers and hindi popsongs blasting all around, in a middle of a forest.
Can it get any more romantic?
And there was lovely food too.

Karacsony masnapjan elmentunk egy indiai piknikre, 80 indiaival az erdoben. Az indiai piknik leginkabb a bogracsolasra hasonlit, csak hatalmas hangszorokbol uvolt az indiai pop zene.



New years all the girls got hairdo's and hennas, and spent the evening dressing.
Luckily I got rescued by some guys and rum-and-cokes, so it was the steady routine of NYE's.
We even went to the party on bikes. Yes, I got a real mean one for myself, will put a picture up of it. I call her 'Retek'.

Ujev alkalmabol henna tetovalast csinaltattunk a csajokkal.





As a pre NYE party we gave blood in the morning - kind of symbolic - to get rid of all the bad stuff and get a lot of good vibes in 2008.
And it has been coming ever since, so this must be part of my NYE routine for years to come.

Oev utolso napjan szimbolikusan vert adtunk, hogy megszabaduljunk a rossz dolgoktol es 2008-ra uj legyen a pezsges.

Here is Virag and a group of scientist in the bloodbank.
They will later clone Virag to give birth to aliens, just like they did with Ripley.






And this is the badass 'Marry Christmas' cake she wrote about earlier. After eating the top right corner, the 'Marry Christ' message came up by accident, making it even better.
Ezt a tortat karacsonyra kaptuk, tojas nelkul keszult. Indiai szokas szerint a helyesirasi hiba sem maradhat el...

So good vibrations in 2008 for everyone.

J

01.01.2008, Planet India

Virag: The school of Angels

During the volunteer placement at Prakalpa, one of the first things to do was a handout on an educational complex in a remote part of Keonjhar. We visited the school with Kusum last week. The roads were bumpy, suitable only for a 4 wheeler, but as we went deeper and deeper in the country, even that one was vanishing. Kusum said that they have chosen this spot to be as close to the Juanga villages as possible. Juanga is a small tribe that populates the south of Keonjhar district of Orissa, probably the most disadvantaged in the region.

The pupils in the school are all Juanga girls, receiving primary education in a residential school. They learn how to read, count and write in three languages. You could ask: why do they need this in the mountains? The tribals indians territories' are shrinking, they are poor and they depend more and more on interactions with the outside world. As easily we get lost in their jungles, they can also get lost in our 'civilised' world. Government officials come with complicated forms and procedures to 'help' them; dodgy businessmen come and offer them prosperous work in other states that usually ends in exploitation and misery. The Constitution of India and several rules are established to safeguard them, but they don't know anything about rights. Tribals need to learn about the outer world to be able to protect themselves.

After arrival, Kusum Joseph and I were welcomed by the teachers and we walked into the quiet school building. When we entered the first room, suprisingly we have found about thirty girls of the age 5-6, sitting orderly on the floor, with open books in front of them. Thirty little angels in blue uniforms in complete silence. It was magical, I have never experienced so much innocence before. The second room held another thirty little bit older pupils. The girls looked at us shyly, we must have been a very unusal sight for them. They hardly ever left their villages before. We have sta down and Kusum as a good teacher started to speak to them. Ten minutes later they started to respond to questions and we could see the first shy smiles.

We had to get on with our project of making a couple of hundreds of New Year greeting cards for Prakalpa with their help. After a couple of hours work while the paintings were drying under the sun, the girls went out to play football. Kusum explained that they were asked at the begining of the semester what toys would they like, and instead of dolls they went for a football. Joseph joined in to the bare foot game. That was the first time we saw them relaxed, moving about freely. What is this quietness in them? Is it because the girls are always the last when there is trenching poverty? Or is it a sign of gratefulness for the safety and security of the school that Prakalpa and God gave to them? Girls of their age in rural India would normally be out of education, with the responsibility of looking after their younger siblings and work from dusk till dawn for their daily meal? Could this humbleness be the opposite of the restlessness you see more and more in western kids: a never ending crave for the new and the dangerous and the protest against the adult world? We accept this behaviour as normal of their age, no? Seeing kids at the age of 5-10 being so humble and quiet has deeply touched me and made me wonder.

After sunset we all sat in one room, seventy pair of shy and curious eyes looked out at us from the shelter of their blankets. We listened to their songs in the shady light of the kerozine lamp and I felt God was present. Many call the Juanga primitive and simple. The only words that come to me after that day are innocent and pure. That was my visit to the school of Angels.

Virag: Marry Christmas

I woke up on the morning of the 24th thinking that this is the first time in my life, when I am not pressured to celebrate Christmas. I thought it is an interesting situation, lets find out what do I actually feel about it.

You would think that in India, where less than three percent of the population is Christian Christmas passes without notice. But as Kusum our host said, India understands secularity differently: they celebrate the festivals of every religions of India. So, when we arrived to the Prakalpa office in the morning, a Christmas card and a present waited for us. And a small Christmas tree. This was really sweet and put me right into Christmas mood for a couple of minutes, but the rest fo the day went normal. We had guests for dinner, so we made our effort to cook some Hungarian cum India meal ( I must say Indians are very peculiar about their food...my God, they want to put masala in everything!) and we received a real India 'Marry Christmas' cake. It was fun, and very very assertive of them to celebrate with us. We also lit candles and called the family: after two months heard their voice for the first time. It was a lovely day and evening with lots of love and caring, but I kept thinking: what is it that is important to me about Christmas? You can and should do this thorghout the year and not just Christmas. Is there anything beyond that at all?

We tend to forget during the feasts and shopping spree that it is Jesus who we celebrate. He is very important for me ever since I have seen and read things about him that were condemned by the Catholic church. The latest was from Sri Yogananda Pramahansa who refers to Christ as one of the greatest avatars, God incarnations and says that the great masters of India mould their lives by the same idea that animated Jesus the 'Yogi Christ'. So how should I celebrate him how could I reach him on his birthday? Through the thick veil of consumerism, fake filantropy and without the blessing of the Catholic church?

Yogananda says in his Autobiography that the outward manifestation of the omnipresent Christ consciusness is 'Aum' the Word, or the Holy Ghost: the invisible divine power, the only doer, the sole causative and activating force that upholds all creation through vibration. Aum the blissful comforter is heard in meditation and reveals to the devotee the ultimate Truth.

"The Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all remembrance, whatsoever I have said to you." (John 14:26, Holy Bible)

Boldog Karacsonyt!

Sziasztok,

Na azert mar nincs az a depi ami a multkor volt, most mar Orissaban vagyunk, nagy a nyugi meg a csend, van sajat konyhank, nagyszeruek a vendeglatoink es tavakban lehet uszni.

Dolgozni meg sokat nem dolgoztunk, de mar voltunk egy torzs falujaban meg egy iskolaban ahova az indian kolkok jarnak.

Mindjart megyek piacra a karacsonyi vacsorahoz valoert, es beszereztuk egy 20 centis muanyag fat is, ugyhogy pont olyan lesz mint otthon.

Na, szoval boldogat oda is,

es jo etvagyat.

csok

J es V

Kicsit elfaradtunk

52 napja uton. Eddig 12 helyen alltunk meg, negy ejszakat es egy nappalt vonatoztunk at, ket ejszakat es ket napot toltottunk buszon. Atlagban negy-ot napot toltottunk egy helyen. Eleinte azert, mert hajtott minket tovabbb a kivancsisag, aztan meg azert hogy idoben elerjunk Orissaba ahol most vagyunk. Mire kezdtuk magunkat valahol kiismerni, mar alltunk is tovabb.

Nehany hete felvaltva de mindig rajtunk van valami nyavaja: kiutesek, kohoges, hasmenes, laz. Az indiai varosi levego faszan kicsinalja a legutakat nehany het alatt, a kajaval meg nagyon kell vigyazni a higienia miatt...En mar csak fott krumplit es piritost eszek citromos teaval, es hozza hatmillio gyogyszert, hogy bennem maradjon. Elegunk van az ettermi kajabol, fozni es mosni akarunk de a vengedhazakban nem lehet, es egyre jobban hianyzik a Malna is. Elfaradtunk.

Most vegre megerkeztunk Orissaba, India keleti partjaihoz. A tengeri levego a szeles horizont, a viz, a helyiek nyugalma es a szel nagyon jo a tudonknek es a lelkunknek. Eldontottuk: innen nem mozdulunk, amig rendbe nem jovunk.

Photos: Jo is everywhere part 2

with Jill and Jack the guards of the Taj Mahal

Dosa in Varanasi

Sri Jocibindo Gosh

Bumped into SM in Kolkata, he insisted on a joint photo