Wednesday, February 25, 2015
The amazing weaving center...
The weaving center started by the sisters of the Ashram is in one word amazing. Local women are trained to weave and the things they turn out are so beautiful and even better, they are very durable. The sisters get the wool and the artisans weave bags, table mats, mufflers and what have you. The sisters then sell the goods and the money goes back to the women. The goods are unbelievably priced. For instance, the gorgeous bags are in the range of 300/- and table mats in the range of 400/-.
In the picture on the left, you can see the set of table mats in the center (they are in red, blue and white with design); two pocket books which could double up as pencil cases, resting against the mufflers, and a few bags.
The picture on the right is a selection of bags. They are like the traditional jholas but have flap-over covers and are very spacious.
These articles are all for sale but since there is no question of profits, please do spread the word and in case anyone is interested in sourcing these hand-woven articles, please contact me here and I will work with the sisters to facilitate your orders. I am keen that the work of these totally dedicated, unworldly and hardworking sisters does not go unheeded...They have only one thing in their minds - how to help and serve people in the villages they go to.
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| Women at work |
The picture on the right is a selection of bags. They are like the traditional jholas but have flap-over covers and are very spacious.
These articles are all for sale but since there is no question of profits, please do spread the word and in case anyone is interested in sourcing these hand-woven articles, please contact me here and I will work with the sisters to facilitate your orders. I am keen that the work of these totally dedicated, unworldly and hardworking sisters does not go unheeded...They have only one thing in their minds - how to help and serve people in the villages they go to.
The village market...
Clothes: traditional, along with the inevitable jeans, tees, and bermudas!
Silver jewellery and bangles.
Mounds of whole red chillies, coriander seeds and other whole spices.
Vegetables - fresh from the fields
Walking along the lanes of Sihora...
The inner roads are all narrow. The main road is the highway that goes through Sihora on to Jabalpur.
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The village well above - not used now - has four places from where to draw water (you can see two here).
One of the sisters who had accompanied me on my wandering can be seen in the pic.
Most houses are traditional ones made of mud like the one on the left. The house on the right is also mud and bricks, but the outer wall is decorated and there is a sturdy wooden door.
There are some new large houses (sign of prosperity) living quite happily as neighbors to the mud houses, with no hard feelings (you get a glimpse of it in the first picture to the left. Cows get right of way always and one has to just go around them.
On the way to Akbar, the driver's home...
Akbar, the faithful driver who works for the 2 ashrams at Sihora and Darshini got married on the 21st. Of course we all had to go for it. Akbar's uncle told us that their forefathers had been granted land during British rule. The land is still with the family - the 4th and 5th generations live here now. Akbar's home is very far from the Ashram and the road is terribly bumpy for a long stretch - seems the government started building the road 2 years back, but not much progress seems to have been made. Nevertheless, we passed some picturesque places.
The road had trees and large bushes lining it.
Fields of grain
and
cows tied in the yard and eating the hay were common sights
Hills could be seen in the distance and for the rest, it was just wilderness.
These natural ponds were really beautiful.
You can see a buffalo having a bath here!
The road had trees and large bushes lining it.
Fields of grain
and
cows tied in the yard and eating the hay were common sights
Hills could be seen in the distance and for the rest, it was just wilderness.
These natural ponds were really beautiful.
You can see a buffalo having a bath here!
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| Akbar's house |
Tuesday, February 24, 2015
And mixture...
Each ingredient has to be roasted or fried separately - again on the wood fire - and then mixed. The roasting and/or frying is important so that it does not lose it's crispness or taste.
YUM!!!
YUM!!!
Baking a cake...
For all the primary school functions, the refreshments are made in the ashram - nothing is bought. The primary school is on the Ashram premises. Practically all the older people, now grandfathers, have studied here....now their grandchildren study here....Amazing!!!
The school celebrated its 65th Anniversary on the 21st with a grand program by the little ones.
Wherever I went, people automatically knew I wasn't a resident here, and being friendly by nature, they never fail to ask where I'm staying. When I say I'm living in the Ashram, there is an instant connect, for not only is the Ashram known for its good work in Sihora and all the neighboring villages, but it always turns out that all the members in their families have at one time or another had their primary education here.
Here is the way they bake cake...
and here are the cakes!!!!
Abhana village...
One of the sisters took me with her to Abhana, a real Indian village, for a prayer meeting. We were a band of people - a sister who is a nurse, a brother, and a couple of Bible College students along with the two of us - going in a Sumo. The road, though not very broad, was a good one. There were only fields, ponds and trees with a mud hut or two far away in the distance on either side of the road. Exquisite. Finally we came to this village. The brother who was travelling with us told me that there were four Christian families in this village, but they were subject to so much persecution, that three families went away but this fourth one stayed despite and regardless of all the trouble they were subjected to - in fact are still subject to. The ashram has opened a mission center there where they run a small primary school for the village children.
The mud hut was beautifully kept and maintained in the traditional way. There was a courtyard between the room which is used to receive visitors and hold prayer meetings, and the living quarters. The lady of the house - an elderly lady was very dignified and radiated beautiful calm. Her husband welcomed us in and they joined us in prayer and song. I was so taken up with the joyfulness of the singing (the only instrument accompaniment was the tambourine), and the passion with which they read the Bible and talked about the lesson read. Later they served us papad - I've never tasted such delicious papad - mixture, and biscuits. We had water with this - sweet water from their well. As we sat and chatted, the brother and sisters speak their dialect - and it gave me such a warm feeling to be included in their talk They exchanged news of the area, the local political scenario, the ruthlessness of the rich towards them. This lady was to stand for the post of the sarpanch of the village but when she went to fill in her form, the men there tore up her form, beat her and sent her away. They were angry, but had no option other than to accept it - and get on with life without any bitterness - accepting that the rich will do as they please and these have no chane. It's not an easy life they live - not at all - but they are so proud of their home and of who they are and their life there. They know their place in the scheme of the Universe and proudly live it....
The mud hut was beautifully kept and maintained in the traditional way. There was a courtyard between the room which is used to receive visitors and hold prayer meetings, and the living quarters. The lady of the house - an elderly lady was very dignified and radiated beautiful calm. Her husband welcomed us in and they joined us in prayer and song. I was so taken up with the joyfulness of the singing (the only instrument accompaniment was the tambourine), and the passion with which they read the Bible and talked about the lesson read. Later they served us papad - I've never tasted such delicious papad - mixture, and biscuits. We had water with this - sweet water from their well. As we sat and chatted, the brother and sisters speak their dialect - and it gave me such a warm feeling to be included in their talk They exchanged news of the area, the local political scenario, the ruthlessness of the rich towards them. This lady was to stand for the post of the sarpanch of the village but when she went to fill in her form, the men there tore up her form, beat her and sent her away. They were angry, but had no option other than to accept it - and get on with life without any bitterness - accepting that the rich will do as they please and these have no chane. It's not an easy life they live - not at all - but they are so proud of their home and of who they are and their life there. They know their place in the scheme of the Universe and proudly live it....
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| A home we saw along the way - mud and brick - but oh! so lovely!! |
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| The Mission House |
The Ashram...
A glimpse...
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| The Ashram |
The motto:
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| The Chapel |
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| The Emblem |
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| The Primary School in the Ashram compound |
It's two worlds...
in the same country. Calcutta and Sihora - they are worlds apart...in every way except in the color of our skin...
The ashram where I live has typical mud houses all around it - with their thatched roofs, courtyard smoothened with a mixture of cowdung and water, a cow or buffalo tethered to a stake, dung cakes drying on the roof top, a dog lazing in the wintry sun, a rope cot and stacks of firewood under a tin roof in one corner of the courtyard, we may wonder if we haven't moved back in time. The walls are whitewashed and clean, and the doorway is decorated as is the low mud wall that separates it from the next house.
The road to the school, where I have been assigned, is the National Highway No 7. It's a lovely road. On either side are fields as far as the eye can see - it's so beautifully peaceful and utterly pastoral.
The school caters to the children of this village and surrounding villages. There is a hunger for learning which is very touching. The children don't take anything for granted - I think they are very conscious of the fact that they have to get themselves an education if they are to go ahead. They know they have to fight huge, huge odds - unbelievable odds, but their sincerity cannot be doubted. In fact, tears come unbidden to my eyes when I see them struggling in class.
I overheard this conversation one morning - A parent who wanted admission for his 3-year-old child told the teacher-in-charge of admissions: 'I didn't get a chance to study and look at me - I neither have any knowledge, nor any morals. I don't know right from wrong. I don't know how to do things properly. I don't even know how to talk properly. I don't want my child to grow up like me. Here in the school he will have to study and learn to be a good human being.'
The ashram where I live has typical mud houses all around it - with their thatched roofs, courtyard smoothened with a mixture of cowdung and water, a cow or buffalo tethered to a stake, dung cakes drying on the roof top, a dog lazing in the wintry sun, a rope cot and stacks of firewood under a tin roof in one corner of the courtyard, we may wonder if we haven't moved back in time. The walls are whitewashed and clean, and the doorway is decorated as is the low mud wall that separates it from the next house.
The road to the school, where I have been assigned, is the National Highway No 7. It's a lovely road. On either side are fields as far as the eye can see - it's so beautifully peaceful and utterly pastoral.
The school caters to the children of this village and surrounding villages. There is a hunger for learning which is very touching. The children don't take anything for granted - I think they are very conscious of the fact that they have to get themselves an education if they are to go ahead. They know they have to fight huge, huge odds - unbelievable odds, but their sincerity cannot be doubted. In fact, tears come unbidden to my eyes when I see them struggling in class.
I overheard this conversation one morning - A parent who wanted admission for his 3-year-old child told the teacher-in-charge of admissions: 'I didn't get a chance to study and look at me - I neither have any knowledge, nor any morals. I don't know right from wrong. I don't know how to do things properly. I don't even know how to talk properly. I don't want my child to grow up like me. Here in the school he will have to study and learn to be a good human being.'
A new path...
opened up for me last week. The place is Sihora Road in Madhya Pradesh, half an hour by train from Jabalpur. I decided to come to the Mar Thoma Ashram here - The Christa Panthi Ashram - to live as a volunteer for a while and serve. It was a difficult decision to take because it involved a lot of changes....changes in my thinking, change of place, change from a life I'd got used to, change of track entirely, and many other intangible and tangible changes.
But it was a step I had to take. Let me put it this way - it was a step Life made me take.
Why Sihora? This is a place I've been associated with ever since I was a baby. My parents were deeply involved with this Ashram, and all our lives we have come here for at least one weekend every month. It is a place where I have been totally and non-judgmentally accepted with open arms - a place where I've been given unconditional love - not only me but my whole family, especially my DD.
I've slipped into the daily routine. It's not an easy life, but it is a loving way of life.
It is a life that will smoothen the jagged edges and bring a sense of peacefulness and completeness to mind and body.
But it was a step I had to take. Let me put it this way - it was a step Life made me take.
Why Sihora? This is a place I've been associated with ever since I was a baby. My parents were deeply involved with this Ashram, and all our lives we have come here for at least one weekend every month. It is a place where I have been totally and non-judgmentally accepted with open arms - a place where I've been given unconditional love - not only me but my whole family, especially my DD.
I've slipped into the daily routine. It's not an easy life, but it is a loving way of life.
It is a life that will smoothen the jagged edges and bring a sense of peacefulness and completeness to mind and body.
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