7th January: Party time in Khardah

After being woken several times during the night by the barking of dogs, I was feeling distinctly grumpy when I was woken by my alarm.  Since Clem was feeling unwell I left her to sleep, and headed off to the station with Derya.  It had been pouring with rain overnight but sadly this just spread the mud (and worse) rather than cleaning the streets.  As we walked through Sealdah train station/homeless shelter, one of the station guards tried to rouse the bundled-up figures from the floor and send them off on their way to nowhere.

Again I found myself with small children clinging to my fingers, although this was complicated by my also carrying a bag in each hand.  The turnout was slightly lower than the previous weekend, probably due to the rain.  The girl whose mutely gesticulating enthusiasm had been so contagious was sadly absent.  I hoped that she was just put off by the drizzle.

Once we had arrived back in Khardah, it was time to gather what we needed for the party that we had planned for the kids that afternoon.  At 4.30pm every Saturday the school-children have an arts & crafts class.  We came up with the idea of dividing the 20 or so kids into four groups, and giving each group an A3 piece of card to decorate.  They would take turns to draw, paint, colour, and cut & paste coloured card on the blank sheet.

Much of what we needed could be found in the flat's "crafts cabinet".  The rest was acquired by Clem and Derya, who also found time for some clothes-shopping for themselves.  Meanwhile I warmed up some water in a bucket for an overdue shower.

Filling the bucket

Heating water in the bucket

At 2.30 pm,  Puja arrived with a few of the kids for the computer class.  Among other things, the children are shown how to email their sponsors (who pay for extra schooling, books, etc.) to update them on their progress.  Unfortunately there was a problem with the computer.  I had a quick look, and at least managed not to exacerbate the problem.  At 3, Subhamita's husband arrived to collect the large donation that was very generously provided by our friends and family.  Apparently the problem had come up before, so he took the computer off to be repaired.  We had experienced the long journey from Khardah to his town by train and bus on Christmas day, so did not envy him that trip while lugging along a computer.

At 3.45 we headed over to set up for the crafts class and party.  With the help of early arrivals we laid out the mats and the four pieces of card, surrounded by paint and brushes, colour markers, scissors, coloured paper, glue, and pencils.  Above and around the children were decorations and balloons brought from Holland by Derya.  Left on our own, it might have been chaos, but Boby quickly had the kids in four groups and explained to them what we had in mind.  They set upon the paper with great enthusiasm.

Hard at work

Gopa, project leader for Dum Dum and cheekiest pupil for the Women's Awareness class 

Boby overseeing everything as usual

Creative energy flowing

We ended up adjusting the plan slightly.  The older boys were sketching a beach scene in pencil, and didn't want to rotate (working together quite miraculously, as four hands worked on the sketch simulaneously).  The older girls, who were cutting elaborate flower shapes from the coloured paper, needed more time so only wanted to paint at the end.  The other two groups, the youngest boys and the very youngest kids, swapped between painting and pasting.  The results were very impressive, and most importantly the kids seemed to have a lot of fun.  Here are photos of each group with their work of art:

The older boys and their beach sketch

The younger boys

The youngest

The older girls

Team photo

Then it was time for the cake and drinks that the girls had bought earlier.  The kids sat patiently while Clem cut the cake, Derya and I poured out fruit juice, and the older girls distibuted the goodies, starting with the youngest.  Then the kids were unleashed on the balloons to release any energy they had left.  Finally they were each given a last piece of chocolate cake (hand fed by Clem, on Boby's instructions) before disappearing into the night.

Puja and her birthday card

Queueing up for one last piece of chocolate cake (Clem did quickly stop sticking the knife in their mouth)

Back at the flat, Clem pulled out the recipe book from our cooking class and had a go at the vegetable curry.  It was very tasty, and the mustard oil gave it a seriously potent kick that lingered.  The girls pulled out the henna again, and I retreated to the internet cafe.

There the very friendly owner told me about a scam to which he had fallen prey, and asked if I could help, since the crooks were based in England.  He showed me the correspondence, and I said that I would do what I could to help but warned that the chances of recovering his money were limited.  At best I might be able to put the police on their trail.  Apparently the Indian authorities had dismissed his loss as a matter for the English.

Then it was time for bed, ready for another early start.