Singing electricians and a blinking baby

My summer of painting has turned into a summer of tiling bathrooms in my basement and running to Home Depot.  I have to admit that laying tile can be artistic, but it is lacking expression.  I have a goal to post something once a week.  I hope my students can find this blog.  I accidentally put cloudsmovefaster.blospot.com on the card I gave them.  Parents may be concerned.  It points out a very important point to proofread things you give to people.  Gummy Bear (my baby) is seven months old today (he is still in my belly).  I just learned that he can blink and dream.   There isnt much to see inside the womb, I wonder what he is dreaming about? 

The dedication

Today there was the dedication of the High School, volunteer house (that I am in right now) and the new dining hall. The students were so excited to see their parents! There was a big program with speakers and dancing. I was in charge of watching the UKG (Kindergarten) kids, which meant stopping fights, keeping them from running to sit with their parents (which I did not like at all) and handing them stars when they got up to sing. They have not seen their parents for a month or two. The parents were waving at them and calling their names. Since most of their families have been affected by leprosy they can’t ride buses so Rising Star picks them up in their vans from train stations, and villages. The students were smashed against the bar windows in their classrooms, climbing up them, looking for their parents. Parents brought home made food and treats for each one of their kids. They didn’t really care about the dedication ceremonies; they just wanted to spend time with their little ones. Watching the dancers that prepared for so long perform perfectly was amazing. I got to braid their hair this morning and help them get ready after one of the house moms helped me put on a sari. After the kids sang “ I’m a rising star” all the families went out into the mango grove, sat on mats and ate lunch. The Marriott catered lunch and they served Biriani with Raita sauce. MY FAVORITE. After photographing as many families as I could I sat down and ate with them. The Marriott donated $25,000 dollars today! It was one of those days where you feel like you are in a movie and a super cool song starts playing as the camera zooms into your smiling face.

The art of the Sari

I’ve never been the kind a girl that wears a bunch of jewelry, but today was special, and I think I have been converted. I was really excited to wear a sari for the celebration today, but I had two things going against me. The first one is that I have no clue how to put a sari on, and the second is that “for religious and personal reasons” I did not want to show my stomach. A miracle solved my second problem. A head band I made for this trip out of black stretchy material fit perfectly over my white belly. The first concern vanished as a house mother pulled me into her room and was excited to help put my sari on. If you do it wrong the whole thing can fall off. You need about 3 safety pins to keep it in place. After being wrapped over and over, the sari finally fit. When the house mother realized that I didn’t have earrings or a necklace to wear she grabbed her jewelry box, pushed her earrings through the vacant holes in my ears, and put a beautiful necklace around my neck. She finished me off with a bindi on my forehead and two red marks above it. I have never felt so beautiful; I even wore my ankle bracelets with bells. I may turn into a toe-ring-wearing, jewelry person.

Mogli the man cub

This one is for you mom. They mentioned a mural in the library when I first got here, but when I asked some of the staff they said no way, it would distract the kids. I was kind of relieved to hear that. Next thing I know the people who donated money to the library had given “specific instructions” to have a mural painted in the library and I was asked to do it. I started out with an illustration from “Oh the Places You’ll Go” by Dr Seuss and I ended up with this scene from the Jungle Book. I had to work during our breaks, late at night, and beg for the volunteer directors to let me paint. I will admit I was a bit discouraged about being asked to paint and then not being allowed time to do it. But in the end, with help from my dear friends Dani and Bailey, It was finished. The quote makes it a bit busy, but it’s a good quote. Be the change. Once you see you own the responsibility to do. Becky Douglass said that.

Four Owls

I have in my procession a painting of four owls. Here is the story of the artist. Rada Vamkatasamy is 30 years old and was afflicted with leprosy fifteen years ago. She has been married for those fifteen years, and her husband also suffers from a disability but works assisting doctors. She has a daughter that is 9 years old, Trisha, who is a student at Rising Star. She was accepted at the Bindu Art school in January and has been producing incredible paintings ever since. Each weekday she paints from 9-11 and then from 3-5. She, like the other artists at the school, meditates for 15 minutes before she starts to paint. She paints mostly from her imagination. After coming to the Bindu Art School, each time she paints she has a peace of mind that she didn’t have before. The Bindu Art School was established for and with people affected by Leprosy. Somewhere along the line Rada lost one of her feet because of complications when she had Leprosy. When I first saw her painting she was smiling as she painted pink lines over and over a white Bindu Art School stamped paper. It is amazing to see this group of painters at work. They were able to have an Exhibition in Austria a few years ago and with much negotiation with the airlines some of the artists were able to be there. They have a website, just Google Bindu Art School and you can see their work. I love the four owls. They remind me of the childrens. (I know I spelled that wrong)

Update: Trisha may not be her daughter, but her neice or cousin..... I still think she is her mom.

Jonathan Livingston Seagull

Picture me, standing in a bookstore in the airport in New Delhi. I had four books in my hand, trying to decide which one to choose and then I saw it. A blue book with a seagull soaring on the cover, Jonathan Livingston Seagull. I remember seeing a movie about this book in 5th or 6th grade and being disturbed by the violent seagulls. Maybe I have mixed up that movie and “The Birds” by Alfred Hitchcock. Either way, I don’t remember liking it. It is now one of my favorite books. Jonathan is not satisfied with just being an average seagull and centering his life around where to get his next meal. The code of the seagulls is “live to eat”. Jonathan’s code; “eat to live” This phrase is written in puff paint on my old green snowboard that I made into a bench. Weird. Anyway, Jonathan is kicked out of the seagull clan because he will not conform, and he is more interested in learning how to fly and flying well. On his way to the cliffs where he was banished a seagull starts flying with him, and this seagull can fly. Jonathan finds out that there are more seagulls just like him that can teach him how to fly perfectly. Once he perfects flying they want him to stay and be an instructor. Livingston declines and says that he needs to go back and give his seagull family the knowledge he has now. Even though they treated him so badly he wants them to enjoy the happiness that he has.

“Why is it,” Jonathan puzzled, “that the hardest thing in the world is to convince a bird that he is free, and that he can prove it for himself if he’d just spend a little time practicing? Why should that be so hard?”

The people we are working with have been kicked out of their communities, are banned from riding public buses, their children are not allowed to attend most schools. They learn here that they are free. They seem happier than most people I have seen in India. They have learned that there are people just like them, good people, whose lives have been affected by leprosy. There is a real sense of community and love at the Rising Star Outreach center. I can imagine all of them going back to their communities and using all of the knowledge they have gained to help the same people that ostersized them reach the level they have attained. I had one of the older students translate for me as I asked a 6 year old girl, Abisha, some questions about herself. She wants to be a doctor because her mom said she should. What a great way to bless other people.

Skiek Hindu Wedding

Hindu Sheik Wedding
Saturday night we found out that there was a huge wedding at our hotel that would be going on all night. We could hear drumming everywhere in the hotel, and the steps leading to the big reception hall were lined perfectly with pink and white flowers. Strings of Jasmine perfumed the air. I was hesitant to attend a wedding I wasn’t invited to but someone told us that it would be an honor for them to have foreigners attends. I felt very welcomed once we were in, in fact, I felt too welcomed. We were pulled into the middle of a group of professional dancers surrounded by drummers and maybe the mother of the groom. I tried to copy the moves that the dancers were doing and just feel the beat, but I’m pretty sure I looked awful. As we danced a man waved money over us, (for good luck) if I don’t make millions this year, I will be very disappointed. Then the whole procession of hundreds of people moved out into the gardens surrounding the hotel. The groom was sitting in a horse drawn carriage, his face was covered with a diamond veil and he had a younger cousin seated next to him. The carriage was behind the crowd and everyone led the way. Men with torches were lighting our path, we were pulled back into the dancing circle. It was so exciting, but I was still a bit uneasy about being there just because I was a foreigner. I tried to look at it as a once in a lifetime opportunity to attend a wedding as Grande as this one was. You would have thought it was a royal wedding judging by the crowd, the jewels, and the place it was in. We got back to an entrance to the dining hall and after the groom arrived and was led to a couch/throne in front of the audience the bride finally arrived. She was covered in Gold! Her face was adorned by an enormous nose ring that linked to an ear ring. Her face was flawless! She walked up to the groom under a canopy of jasmine. They exchanged flower necklaces. I was waiting for a kiss, and then I remembered that this is India, there would be no kissing at this wedding. It was a spectacular event. We were served Coke, and led into a banquet hall with TONS of delicious food. Lasagna, ice cream, and a ton of delicious Indian food. A woman saw me eating and directed my attention to an Indian dessert called Jelabe, or Jellybee. It is fried sugar covered in cream (a new favorite of mine : ). The whole even was painted with bright pinks, yellows, and reds. Indian weddings go on all night. On our way out around midnight we met a really nice couple and their grandson. They said we were good crazy dancers. I took it as a compliment. They had a love marriage, not an arranged one. The wife is an artist, she paints silk. I am really going to miss the new experiences that I have every day in India. I doubt I will ever attend a wedding like this ever again.