Today we went to Myrawana village. It’s a village we can see from SMTA hostel in Jakhadhar, where we’re staying. So you can picture how far of a climb that is. First we had to climb downwards to the stream we love so much. And then followed an intense 2000 ft climb steadily upwards to the village. I think its about 6000-7000 ft. This walk I will never forget. We crossed potato farms and on the way had to ignore many barking dogs. They really don’t do any harm. We also saw the biggest pine-cones… some I swear the size of footballs. There was lots to see in Myrawana, but we spent our time in the intercollege (Grades 6-12). Our SIHI boys taught the local boys how to play baseball. It was funny because the boys they were playing with were used to playing cricket. Instead of leaving the bat after they batted, they’d run with it in their hands to all the bases. And they also assumed that they could make infinite rounds around the bases to gather many points if they hit a homerun. Finally, there was a Kho-Kho showdown that ended it off. The SIHI girls learned a traditional Jaunsari/Garwali dance called Jhumela. We all formed a semi-circle and did a fine job getting a hang onto the intricate footwork. We taught them some classic country line-dancing steps and shared a bit of the Spice Girls “Stop Right Now” dance. Haha! The girls also enjoyed some Stella-Ella-Olla with them. Some of them knew it already because a past SIHI group taught them. Their memory really impressed us! We shared the Canadian national anthem and the entire school together and shared with us the Indian national anthem. The hard trekking we did to get to the village was forgotten when we met with their kindness, love and high spirits. It was an awesome day! We learned that by sharing our childhood with the students we met today allowed us to form a relationship with them. Sharing and exchanging is another scope of what we are doing here, and an important aspect of what appreciative inquiry is all about. J
“Don’t let the world define you.”
Loving the people here and missing the ones back home.
Muah,
Mohini
Today is Lauren’s birthday. That’s her 19c birthday (aka 21st) !!!
So Dr. Sachin let her decide what we would do today, and we reached consensus on visiting
After breakfast, we hiked to the falls, which were about 5km away. The trek consisted of climbing up and down hills and ridges, and over irrigation channels and past cactus trees, fig trees, aloe vera plants, rice fields and through jungle-like forests.
At the falls, we spent about an hour of bliss. To try to describe it is next to impossible, but here’s an attempt:
Three waterfalls, one on each side of an alcove, and the 4th side is an opening through which we entered the mini-paradise. Lush greenery, hanging vines, rocky cliffs, and the powerful sound of water crashing into a small pool, a stunning place which I wish I could take home with me and place into my own garden J
So we rested here, taking photos, reading, journaling, sketching, relaxing. We enjoyed cold drinks that were bought from a local man … not cold from a fridge, but cold from the cool river.
Everyone was very reluctant to leave
Returning to SMTA was a huge reward indeed, finally able to sit, change, drink, and eat. Hiking through the
The afternoon was spent reading, relaxing (again) and basking in the sun on the roof or in the orchard.
Sara and I went to help Maggie make a special birthday dinner for Lauren… Dumplings!!! So much effort went into preparing them, but the result, as agreed by everyone, was well worth it!
It was a wonderful day, who wouldn’t want to celebrate their 21st birthday in
Xoxo
Nora
May 23rd
Hello everyone!
We are well into the core module at this point of the trip, and still learning each day. Today we revisited a village we had felt a particular connection with earlier in the trip to have further discussion with a group of school girls. We started off by playing an Indian game called Pithu, which was a lot of fun once we understood how to play! However, as usual, we are always beaten by the Indian students! We had a really interesting conversation with the students afterward and discovered that there are no washroom facilities at the school for students. They must depend on the bush. We also realized that we both experience winter (up in the
We then Walked the 8 km distance back to our home base and called it a day!
Lots of Love to
Trish
May 24th
This is my second assigned entry on the blog thus far – and what do you know – another rest day! I don’t have any crazy adventures to tell you about because just like my last entry (which was also a rest day) – we basically just relaxed! Some of the group went on a two and a half hour hike while the rest of the group stayed back and relaxed. Most often a typical rest day around here includes laundry, sun bathing, card playing, lounging, journaling and reading.
This afternoon I helped Maggie out with lunch – cleaned up the rice and made roti (similar to a pita bread) from scratch!!! One things for sure – it’s not as easy as it looks – kneading the dough is pretty tough – great way to let off some steam though if need be ;) haha. Mohini helped us cook the roti’s – the three of us had quite an efficient system going! We ate after the rest of the group - I got to be the roti girl (you serve the roti’s to the table as soon as they are ready – hot and fresh – mm mm mmmm). Mohini, Maggie and I ate together and Mama Maggie shared some more of her crazy stories. Today she told us about the building of this Jakhdar location of S.M.T.A and what herself and Reuben had to give up in order for it to all happen. Basically they relocated from the comfort of their home. They traveled by bus which could only take them so far because of landslides occurring in the area. The bus took them as far as it could at which point they had to continue on foot with their luggage while dodging landslides – CRAZY! When they arrived to the building site – their living arrangement was an old cow shed which was full of dung and was so small they had to crawl on all fours – they lived in this shed, a tent, and in nearby villagers homes for an ENTIRE YEAR! Maggie shared how hard it was at times for her and the moments she asked Reuben if they could turn around and go home – his response: “You have lived a great life for so long can we not give back to others now?” This totally stopped us in our tracks and challenged us to stop and think. The lessons here never end – there is always another challenge awaiting us – and on so many different levels!
In the evening Mohini and I headed back to the kitchen to help Maggie out with dinner – with the addition of Trish this time around. Believe it or not we made samosa’s for the FIRST TIME in
So that pretty much wraps up our day off – everyone is good here – we are all LOVING LIFE !!!
Food for thought: “In order to keep something you must give it away”
~ Peace and Love ~
May 25th
Today the SIHIs woke up at the crack of dawn as usual (well, maybe not the boys) and wolfed down a yummy breakfast by Maggie before heading to the home of a traditional herbalist near SMTA. The herbalist was a man who had immigrated from
We were surprised when the herbalist told us that he does not make any money or get any gifts when he treats a patient. The man said that if he charged, his remedies would lose their effectiveness. Why does he do it then? “Out of the love of God,” he explained.
Although he is a herbalist, the man’s main profession is farming, and he only treats 2 to 3 people a month with herbs. The SIHIs got to have a first hand experience at farming when they cleared two of the herbalist’s crop fields of stones so that the crops could grow better. It was hard and tiresome work, but extremely rewarding because it taught us how hard the Jaunsari farmers must work. And plus, we were rewarded by a great lunch back at SMTA once we returned.
It was a great day!
- Raman
(PS: Class 12 results are out; Both Priya and Abhishek have passed with good marks! Congrats to both of you! Editor)
WE CAME. WE SAW. WE CONQUERED!!! Today was a great day for the SIHIs. We decided to dedicate today towards having a real outdoor picnic. We had prepared the night before of what we were going to bring with us and cook there. We had planned to leave at
- Nishu
This morning quite a number of us woke up to discover new aches and pains, our bodies having been pushed to the limit by the previous day’s picnic/hike/mountain climbing expedition. Today we enjoyed some much needed r & r. The only structured component was a morning meeting with Sachin to learn more about the structure of the core module which we had just completed, as well as some of its history and future directions. We were encouraged to provide feedback about how to improve the core module, as well as think about what we, as Canadian students, could do to promote a sense of continuity between the various SIHI groups that come here year after year. The feedback processes will be slow but thorough. We really want to make the trip as good as it can be for next year’s batch of SIHI’s.
After lunch, we lounged around: did our laundry, tanned on the roof, played cards, etc. I tried to use my newly-acquired Indian flute playing ability to charm Tommy the wonder dog, who always greets us with barks and growls but runs away on approach. We (or I) call him wonder dog because when he comes with us on our hikes, he always finds his own way home, often over treacherous terrain. I held Tommy’s gaze for a brief moment and was sure I had him spellbound, but alas, I failed - the wild could not be tamed! Just before dinner, we met up on the roof to plan our ‘presentation’. We decided to divide the presentation into six general topics, with a more-or-less equal distribution of factual information and audience interaction/participation. It’s still rough, nay course, along the edges, but hopefully it’ll come together in time. After all, we’re university students. When it comes to procrastinating and succeeding, we’re the best in the business!
Festina lente [ do it quickly, but slowly ]
Peace out,
- Jonathan
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