This has been an even longer absence from the blog than the last one. Ironically, it comes after deciding against an absence more than 3 days. Lots of improvement in lot many areas still desired!
It’s tough to decide where to start from. Let me begin by reporting some facts:
Bhairu Singh (the mason, who had agreed to build our house) did not turn up on the decided day and did not respond to calls as well. Though he made a good first impression, ultimately did not live up to it. After some effort, I did find another stone mason. Another old man, Hari Narayan, by his own admission the only stone mason in nearby villages. He came to check the site on March 1, 2013, agreed to commence work on March 6, 2013, took an advance of Rs. 1000 and did turn up on the agreed date. He made us perform a pooja for commencement of work and has been religiously following his work routine since then. I agreed to pay him an extra daily wage and serve lunch and tea. He comes on a cycle everyday from a village 5 km away and on a pathetic road. We’ve completed laying the foundation and after a 2 day break to let the lime mortar dry, ready to commence with the walls tomorrow. It’s been some hectic work during the last week or so. Got 3 trollies of stones from a village 4 km away, 2 trollies of black mud to join the stones with, some more stones for making the lofts and kitchen shelves from Sehore (nearest city), hurt myself on the wrist while procuring stones, thus retired hurt as far as physical labour is concerned. So far, decent progress with the house construction. All going as planned, the house should be complete by end of the month.
The incident of getting hurt was quite interesting. I slipped while picking up a stone and a sharp edge made a cut in my wrist. The stone vendor immediately plucked a few leaves of a particular tree and rubbed them on the wound. It instantly arrested the bleeding as well as the pain. I got back to work. But when I showed the wound to Rekha, both of us realized that this will need to be stitched. It seemed most apt to go to Bhopal and we started off. I drove quite comfortably. The pain started only after the effect of the anesthesia wore off, primarily due to the way the doctor cleaned the wound. When I went to pick up another trolley of stones a day later, the vendor was all praise for the leaf he’d rubbed against my wound and casually added that people go to doctors because they have lots of money. It hurt more than on the wrist! Lots that I learned from the incident.
Every month, the promoters of Sreejan are scheduled to have a monthly meeting. The meeting on March 2 and 3 was my 3rd meeting and this was another interesting event. I’ll write a separate post on this subject.
It is quite late in the night and I will have to continue tomorrow…
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