The children lined up for morning prayers

The littlest one peeking at what I'm doing


Mohinder's college giving me a hard time

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2003-06-02 - Houn - Chindi - Dhumaur - Chindi - Dhumaur - Chindi (Day 48)

Going to bed just after 9pm the night before, the whole house is up before 6am. As I'm sitting out with the morning Chai enjoying the sunrise, one of the family cows sticks his head around the corner to watch me giving me the impression that even the farm animals have decided to come check out the crazy foreigner in their midst. Mohinder and I pack up and by 7:30, we are on the way back to Karsog and Chindi.

The ride back is extremely peaceful with the morning sunlight streaming through the trees and the air still very brisk. We are hurrying a bit as Mohinder needs to be to his school to start teaching before 10am and it is at least a 2-hour drive back to Chindi. Even so, the ride is simply lovely and Mohinder and I both get to Kersog in high spirits.

We stop again in Kersog to try to call Taiwan but there is still no way to get a connection to Taiwan so we push on past Chindi and on the way to Mohinder's school. By 9:30, we are only a couple of kilometers from the school so Mohinder takes me to his apartment where he stays during the week and whips up a quick breakfast for the two of us. The apartment is a nice little two-room bachelor pad that he is paying US$ 8.00 a month for in rent. It is costing Mohinder the same amount in bus fees ¡V US$ 1.00 one way ¡V to go home on the weekends and see his wife as he is paying in rent, which I find amusing.

We quickly pack up and get to school right on time. I follow Mohinder in at his insistence and am amused to find all the students sitting outside in neat rows waiting for classes to start. As we walk by, they all stand and greet us with "Good Morning teacher" to which Mohinder just gives a slight nod. He takes me in and introduces me to the five other teachers at the 200-student school. All of the classrooms are dirt floored and without desks, the children simply sit on the ground to learn and write. We enter the office and a student is sent to get us Chai. Apparently, the arrival of some crazy foreigner is reason to start classes a little late and the teachers and I sit around talking and drinking Chai for 20 minutes. Mohinder calls me outside and we go to find the students lined up in straight rows in for morning prayers. The children take these very seriously with solemn faces all around and Mohinder standing like a drill sergeant facing them. He does not seem to have to play any role in this except look like a drill sergeant ¡V chest puffed out and very stern. I do my best to stay serious but when I see a couple of the students peeking out over there outstretched arms at me, I cannot resist taking a few shots.

I finally can excuse myself and let Mohinder get to work and walk out of the school. The ride back is again simply wonderful with cool morning breeze, mountain roads and sunshine in the air. I ride up to the hotel in Chindi partially disappointed to have arrived and get a hot shower to wash the road dirt off.

I had told Mohinder that I would be leaving in the morning as I absolutely had to find a way to call Taiwan, get my e-mail and get the website updated and I could see he was visibly depressed to hear that I would be leaving. As I had not done any homework over the last couple of days of being in his village, I also suggested I should work that evening as opposed to have dinner with him. However, by mid-afternoon I had finished a few homework pieces and figured that I should keep the opportunity to "hang-out" as a good way to learn and drove back to the school and gave him the surprise of seeing me ride down the road just as he was leaving the school. It was very touching how genuinely happy to see me he was, and I suggest we head back to the hotel and I would treat him to dinner.

As its only 4:00pm when we get back, it is a little early for dinner but not to early to have a drink the universal time passer so we drive past Chindi the 2 kilometers to an "English Wine Shop" where we can buy alcohol. I am still refusing to be pulled into crazy drinking games so just get two beers for myself but we get a ? pint of whisky for Mohinder. Going back to Chindi, we barely sit down when Mr. Sharma, one of the hotel guests, a couple of the waiters and a friend passing on the road all sit down to join us. The group (which quickly goes through the whisky sending Mohinder and me back to the shop for a couple more) sits and gossips until 8pm. Mohinder has decided that the best thing to do is for him to go with me by bus to Mandi tomorrow after school, upload the site, call Taiwan and escort me back to Chindi where I can stay for another 2 weeks. He is insistent on this and since he is relatively drunk, I just let him go on about how great that will be. With everyone else being drunk and thoroughly bored of an unbelievably dull college professor who has monopolized the conversation for the last two hours, I beg out a little early and head off to bed ending a day that with the ride back from Mohinder's home and the children was amazingly pleasant.

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