Good Eyes

Jitender:

One of the orphans, Jitender, was always busy studying in the back of the center. He wasn't bothered by the loud school children or the silly dance moves in the afternoon. But about 1 and a half weeks ago, we stopped seeing him altogether. I had just figured he had been studying late at school or something. Today I asked Yogen where he had gone, though, and he said that all he knew was that Jitender had mentioned to the other boys that he had gone to meet with his father and that they hadn't seen him since that day. Yogen said it was a very undesirable situation. Apparently, 3 or 4 orphans before him have departed for various reasons.

Salim:

Salim is amazing. He is one of the orphans and is 16 years old, very caring, generous and incredibly smart. Everyday he asks me 2 or 3 times through out the day: "You are feeling?" to which I usually reply "happy" or "hungry" or "tired. and you?" to which he usually replies "Iamfine thanks" or "Hungry. 10 minutes, food." Our days seem to revolve around lunchtime.

Nayan:

On Tuesday the 6th, Laxmi and Karan (the young couple who works at the center) brought in their newborn baby boy. He is incredibly precious and incredibly chota (small). They all dressed up and had identical marks on their forehead. I held the baby right away. Also held that day as the baby naming "ceremony" It is an Indian tradition to name the baby a couple days, weeks, months even years after it is born. Everyone associated with the center attended and cooked an amazing meal including Dal & Rice, spicy hard-boiled eggs, fresh vegetables and apples and potatoes. Then, everyone EXCEPT the parents discussed the name of the child. They wanted to start it with Na, to commemorate the center's name: The Nav Jagriti Collective. They settled on Nayan which means "Good Eyes" which I think is beautiful. Now Laxmi and Karan are back to work for good, which means baby Nayan lies in a blanket in the corner of the back of the center and is attended to when he cries. I try to spend time with him every hour or so.

Baby boy Nayan with the special marks for his naming ceremony

Nayan's chota(small) hand and Guddu's bara (big) hand

Dad(Karan, 24), Mom(Laxmi, 19) and Baby.

Me & the baby!

Finally, i wanted to post a typical day's schedule for me, which is actually decently relaxed:

• 820am: wake up
• 830am: eat breakfast with volunteers
• 1000am: discuss/plan daycare activities for the day with Jess and Peter
• 1030am-330pm: work
• 330-8pm: free time which usually includes writing, reading, internet cafe, shopping, TV time(Friends comes on at 7), talking with other volunteers, planning weekend trips
• 800pm: dinner with volunteers unless we plan to go out ourselves for a non-vegetarian meal
• 900pm: free time- usually spent going out for milkshakes or drinks or socializing
• 1030-12pm: reading/journaling, bedtime

Namaste!

E