2/21

I slept in until 7:30am this morning; it felt wonderful, luxurious even. I never thought that 7:30am would feel like sleeping in, but this morning I got the same consuming calm that usually accompanies staying in bed until noon, I got out of bed at around 7:45am, knowing full well that I had to get dressed, post my blog and eat breakfast all before class at 8:00am. The best part is, I was in class at 8:06am and I still beat half of my students to class. There are days when I love Indian time.
During breakfast we watched TV (which is out of the ordinary). A terrorist group (which functions more as a violent government that is unrecognized) in Sri Lanka (and parts of Southern India), used some of their planes to drop bombs last night. From what I could tell the targets were mostly Sri Lankan government or military buildings and 2 people were killed. There has also been conflict in Southern India. In Tamil Nadu (a state) the government has issued a shoot on sight order for all policemen. The police are supposed to shoot anyone seen to be damaging public property. There is conflict between the lawyers and the police that has caused this shoot on sight order. The lawyers are upset because a political leader they support is in jail. It is very interesting to see the law and order tactics and situations that are common in India. There is corruption in every county, rich or poor. But in India some of the police corruption is blatant. The police take bribes from the goods carriers by stopping them on the side of the road and reaching up to the window to take the money. I have witnessed this, as Puthumai is always quick to point it out. The part that gets me, is how can a country maintain any sort of order and stability if the law enforcement officers don’t obey the laws. I guess that in the US there is corruption and bribery that takes place, but at least the criminals hide it from the public. Does it make it better or worse that they hide it? What does a society that values law and order look like, and who monitors the law enforcement agents? Where is the system of checks and balances?
Puthumai and I finalized the CBDP budget and sent it into the regional office. We spent the morning rereading every single detail and triple checking for mistakes. It was eye-bleeding tedious, but the feeling of accomplishment when it was finished was more than worth it. For lunch we had pork and green grapes, two special treats. The pork was in a sauce that was really tasty and the grapes were fresh and crispy. After lunch I helped Hannah with the assignment that Puthumai gave her earlier this week. He had asked her to read an article on Voluntary Organizations in India and the government’s new policies regarding the non-profit sector. She wrote a summary of the article and an opinion piece about the positives and negatives of the new policies. I helped her edit her English grammar, it was difficult for her to understand some of what the article was saying, because English isn’t her first language. But overall her article was well-written and interesting for me to read (I got an idea of the upcoming government policy regulating voluntary organizations).
In the afternoon I read in the sunshine for a while and then we went to Chonditola. The kids were good, although since there was a light breeze outside we had to play inside. Regina and Johannes leave tomorrow, so they brought all of their donations for the kids. There were lots of toys and games. The kids had a lot of fun playing with the new toys and seemed even more energetic then usual (especially for being inside). I spent most of my time there holding Rajes, or Sleepy (we can’t understand all of their names, so we give them names based on personality traits, its all done very lovingly). He is the cuddliest child I have ever met. When you pick him up he squeezes his body into the crevices of yours. The only problem is that when you put him down he cries. It is really sad, so I try not to hold him the whole time. Today I held him the first half, and then sat down on the bed next to him while we played with the new toys. He didn’t cry and I we had a lot of fun playing together. After Chonditola we went to St. Xavier and played with the KGer’s. We played memory and ‘spin me around’. The kids are really sweet and I am going to try and make an effort to go and play with them during their play hours for the next few weeks.
In the evening I spent a few hours posting pictures and doing Sudokus. The Fathers were late for dinner and I sat in the dining hall from 8 till 8:40pm waiting for them to show up. Finally Fr. Herman and Markus arrived, but Fr. Puthumai was a no show. The television was broken so the English channels weren’t working. And the man on the English news channel was speaking in Hindi. I went to bed early and am hoping for another good nights sleep.
Sending love.