It's Koraput-town
Recently I travelled to Koraput with some of my Bhubaneswar Posse to visit some VSO volunteers. They promised us food and fun and we promised to get them random and luxurious items from the big city. Such items included muesli cereal, Earle-gray tea, maple syrup, wine and baguettes. Margret and Jan were in the midst of leaving and therefore holding an auction to sell some their household items to raise money to benefit girl child education in Ramgiri. I scored a few things for my kitchen in exchange for some wine.
Bhub Posse looking fresh after our 14-hour train journey. (Photo courtesy of Paul Drielsma.)
Sarah, Susie and Corey.
The weekend was wonderful. The weather stayed nice and cool with only a bit of sunshine. We had a top notch tour from our guide Jan at the Koraput Jagannath temple. We had a blast checking out the local market that was bustling on Sunday afternoon.
Going up the steps to the Jagannath Temple.
Jagannath (far right) with his brother Balavadra (far left) and sister Suvadra (centre)
Koraput Market. (Photo courtesy of Paul Drielsma.)
It was nice to catch up with volunteers and relax with good food, friends, music and gorgeous scenery. Kudos to Magaret, Jan, Gina and Corey for the lovely meals!
Koraput sunset over the hills.
OAB Update
I finally had a chance to sit down with my new secretary. It turns out that I had already met him a few times but I just didn't know his name. So, it seems he is interested in my job matching software and wants to improve his computer skills. I advised him to employ one of the OAB members to train him on basic computer skills and then I will show him how my software works. I'm trying to get him to utilize people that stay at the hostel so that they can earn and not have to rely on the OAB so much. I'm not sure that it was well received because they would rather have the help for free.
Otherwise things are going well. I have taken on a light project which is reformatting all the computers in the lab and making them consistent. I should be finished soon.
I'm A Botanist
While in Koraput Margaret handed out the last of her herb seeds to us visitors. I have since started an herb garden on my front porch. I even took a short walk around the neighbourhood collecting cow pies to fertilize my plants. I did have some strange looks that day as I was scooping it up into a bucket on the street. Apparently this job is reserved for lower caste people. I even had a guy come and ask me what I was up to. Regardless, it seems to be working because my herbs have been planted for one week and I am seeing some of them spring up. I just hope I can keep them alive!
Day 1.
Moon flowers after 1.5 weeks. The only plant I can not eat.
Arugula after 1.5 weeks.
Song from title: What I Got by Sublime
Hey, if this volunteering gig doesn't work out you clearly have options on another career.
ReplyDeleteOh, the sunset pic is so incredible! I love sunset pics, so am adding this one to my collection. Was this taken from M's porch? It's not quite clear. And can you send me the full-size version?
ReplyDelete