November and December events

 November/December Events

Since Divali some of the resident’s rooms have been repainted. Their walls are all being done in a soft yellow colour but they have a choice of lilac, mushroom, sky blue and pista for the interior doors and wardrobes. I remarked that in Bihar I had noticed that many kirana shops painted their shelves lilac and was told that it is a colour that is reputed to keep mosquitoes and flies away. I was also informed that lilac is the colour of the goddess Laxmi so is associated with prosperity  - useful if you have a shop!

We have a new resident in the Awaas goshalla. A girl calf was born at 1.30am  on 28^th November. She is creamy white and very pretty. When I walk around the track in the mornings I say hello to her and she turns to me, moving her ears at the sound of my voice, which is higher pitched than her usual male visitors. I have called her Anandi.

I mislaid my ATM card one day, between the badminton court and the dining room. I was not worried as it was obviously somewhere connected with me, I searched my sheaf of papers and emptied my handbag without finding it. Oh dear, another sign of my advancing years! It was only when using my phone much later in the day that I noticed that I had tucked it so safely in my mobile case that I couldn’t see it! I thanked the staff, who had been searching in rubbish bins and all around the building, by giving sweets in the traditional Indian manner of celebrating.

Besides painting doors the garden has occupied quite a lot of my time and that of Lahu and the ‘garden girls’ Vimla and Sangeeta.  Many residents had asked for a garden with flowers and grass and I offered to design a garden for them in an English style. Obviously the garden had to be accessible to all, so I incorporated a solid path of concrete hard mud which would be able to be used by people in wheelchairs. The rest of the garden was an arrangement of winding paths, connecting seats, flower beds and grass.  

The final phase will be to install a pond with fish and a fountain.The whole thing had to be done on a shoestring and I was pleased to contribute to the cost of plants we bought from a nursery near Pune. Some potted plants were removed from other parts of the Awaas grounds and cuttings were taken for future use. The one luxury I bought was what the nursery man called a ‘Christmas tree’. It is indeed evergreen but not like the pine trees we use in the UK and Europe. However, like the evergreen Christmas tree introduced into the UK from Germany, by Queen Victoria, it symbolises the everlasting presence of God in our world. We will be making decorations for the tree in the art class and our electrician is fixing lights on it, as well as on the fir tree we have in the angan. After the plants were in place it was time for grass. Buying turf was out of the question so we tidied up the lawn at the back of the building and cut turves from it. These were arranged in a patchwork fashion over most of the designated lawn areas. Devaji assures me that it will be greened up in 7 days and then made in a fortnight by spreading red soil on it. We will have to make some adjustments to the beds when the grass has taken root so as to cover the whole of the planned grass area.

The initial digging had to be done with a pneumatic drill as the whole area had been compacted by the cows and baked by the sun. A mixture of gentle watering and digging, hacking, pickaxing and bashing, finally produced a workable soil. Stone paving slabs were removed from a path behind the lemon garden and enable access around the flower beds and lead to seating places. 

I have plans to make cushions and paint the swinging seat when it has been repaired and welded in situ. It will be painted green. Being an English garden in a natural style there will not be any colours apart from the plants and no fancy coloured paving and brickwork.

The next new addition to Awaas came yesterday with the arrival of a replacement for the vehicle which takes the residents to Lonavala market twice a week and is the workhorse for the ashram. Newly blessed and prayed over it was photographed by Prakash Gupte and others. It has seat-belts that work though these are rarely used in India.

Deva has been working wonders with the spare ground in the orchard between existing trees and those that were literally drowned in the almost 6 months monsoon that we had this year. Vegetables of many  kinds are growing nicely and still more are planned for.

Some of the regular walkers on the track that surrounds the orchard and vegetable garden.

Now we are about to start preparing for celebrating Christmas.

There are two trees to decorate and a programme to arrange for the week between Christmas and the New Year.

Your suggestions welcomed!.