Baboolu goes to school, and we go shopping

Hello All,

Yesterday evening I didn’t get much rest, I wanted to be awake when Kumari and Xavier returned from the doctor’s. Five hours later they returned. The wait in the doctor’s office is terrible, and you can’t make appointments in advance; instead you have to make the appointment in person on that same day. Kumari thought it was very strange when I told her that I already had a doctor’s appointment set up for a couple weeks after I get home, and that the appointment was made before I even left for India. While waiting there was no place for Xavier to lie down and he ended up vomiting several times. The doctor said that his feelings were all side effects of the medicine, and that it was something he would have to deal with until his body got used to the drugs. He did, however, change the times that Xavier is supposed to take the meds. Before he took everything at once in the morning, but now it is split into the morning and the night. The doctor also suggested drinking a lot of fluids, specifically juices and buttermilk. Today Xavier is feeling better, and tomorrow he will have been taking the medication for five days, so we will go back to the doctor again.

It was a relatively relaxing evening, the kids all had a lot of work so there was little for me to do. Prithivi actually came back after school; this is the first time he has gone to school without running away. A couple days ago I talked to Kumari about making Prithivi feel like he is here for us, not that we are here for him. We worked out jobs to give him so that he will feel like he has a purpose and is needed here. Kumari also had a talk with him about how he is the oldest so he is in charge of all the other children. He seems to like this position of power and has been to be a little more upbeat.

This morning I woke up, for the second time in a row, to Baboolu screaming. His grandmother was holding him and he was shaking all over and completely freaking out. Tomorrow, tomorrow, he kept pleading. I told Kumari that if she let him stay home then I would carry him to school myself; everyday he stays here it is only going to be worse. I can’t believe that Kumari, who is so strict about studying with all of the other children, keeps letting her own son skip school. He doesn’t like school because he feels behind everyone else, but if he keeps staying home than he is going to be even more behind. Xavier was finally able to calm Prince down by bribing him, but I don’t think that was the best solution because now he will expect something every day he goes to school. Hopefully he will start feeling better about school soon.

When everyone left for school I ate and took a much needed bath. Kumari and I then took a short walk to pick up curd for Xavier, since the curd she made the other day still hasn’t finished condensing, and some eggs. It was a tiny shop and Kumari admitted that in the seven years she has lived in this house she has never been to this shop because it is so close that she can just send the children to pick things up when needed. On the way back we got completely sand blasted. The wind here keeps on picking up, and it has gotten terrible. Everything is covered in dust (my book, by the end of the day, usually has a substantial layer on it) and the wind whips the dust, dirt, and sand roughly against any bare skin. Walking down the street you have to keep your head bowed to protect your eyes, and you have to breathe through a handkerchief.

After running that mini errand we went into town. Once again I got to see Kumari’s fine haggling skills at work. The shopkeepers always point at me and say that we could easily pay the full price. She always respond with something along the lines of “who, him? He’s a student; he has no money at all!!! Why, he’s poorer than you are!” or “We are buying two things, so you can take at least thirty percent off the marked price. Otherwise we will only buy one thing… or maybe nothing at all.” She gets excited about every rupee she is able to mark down. If, in the end, the price ever comes out as a strange number she always rounds down to the nearest 10 or 50 rupees, even if the price has already been marked down a lot, and the shopkeepers just grumble and agree.

On the way back she got into a fight with the auto driver (again!). She always works out the price of a ride before we get in the auto, but still, when it comes time to pay, they try and charge more. I paid the driver the amount he had told us in the beginning, and while he was yelling for the extra ten rupees he was trying to charge us (aka, 20 cents) Kumari grabbed my hand and pulled me away. She looked very smug and never looked back while the man continued to yell and demand for us to come back.

We had lunch; Kumari made dal, pepper water, and rice. I’m not a big fan of pepper water, it is basically like tea made of peppercorns with some oil and a few other spices and herbs thrown in; there is no real substance to it. The dal was fantastic, though.

That is all for now,

Peace,
Robby