Desert village school

Imagine YOUR children playing on a playground like that...

The rate of literacy in India is very low. In 2001, it was only 65.4%, in some states like Bihar much lower. In particular in rural areas and for girls it seems to be unnecessary to go to a school

The governmental education system is bad and corrupt. Teachers do other work at school time since they are underpaid. There are rural initiatives where villages organise their own private schools. However, altogether the literacy rate is slowly increasing

After I arrived, the teacher changed the lesson. He started to count, slowly, in english. After each word, the children repeated the number... in Hindi

There is a well in the middle of the school yard, and some women use it to fetch water. The water wells in some villages are still separated according to the castes.... you do not want to have your water polluted by somebody of a lower caste, who throws his bucket into your well.

In the streets of Jaisalmer

There are lots of children in the streets who do not go to school... but do want to get a pen.

I usually have a package of postcards from at home... I show them and sometimes I give one

Even in the morning, the sun can be very hot in the middle of the desert

People sit in front of their houses, do little jobs, talk or just observe people and animals passing by

For them, this is not a hot but a mild and pleasant spring day

The holy cows are everywhere in the streets, but also dogs, camels,chicken, goats, rats...

In particular the dogs can be a real nuisance. What seems to be sleepy animal during daytime can become a ferrocious mouth full of teeth in the evening, barking and inviting his friends to snap at your feet. After a short while you learn that walking in sandals is not a good option in the evening.... they are not useful to kick the dog closest to you. And without a good kick he will not leave

In contrast to other Radjastan cities, the houses in Jaisalmer are rarely blue. They are built from sandstone blocks

Unfortunately the sandstone is very brittle and erodes away quickly. This makes the Jaisalmer fort one of the most endangered Unesco monuments. The insufficient sewage system in combination with the much increased water use due to tourism causes erosion of the monuments

A lot of the the doors are colourful and beautifully carved

Market life

Jaisalmer is surrounded by county side. Although desert, there is irrigation and the farmers come into town to sell their stuff

Bad and dried out veggies are carefully sorted out and given to the cows

The morning's first merchants arrive

Women come from the country side to sell vegetables

From time to time a hungry cow has to be chased away.

Reusable garbage is collected and brought away... on the head. There is still enough left over, it seems, but the streets are actually cleaned every morning

A type writing and copying center... since a big part of the Indians are illiterate, these people are also necessary to write official letters (remember the writer in Trojanov's Weltensammler?). The type writing machines are of the type you probably have one to get rid of.... if you go to india, take it along and give it the first friendly person you meet... he will sell it

Milk is brought from the country side in milk cans mounted on motor cycles

Big containers are made from aluminium and sold in the market

In the quiet, dusty desert morning light, the shops are still closed. Only the odd motor cycle disturbs the peace. Indians start late.... you can walk around undisturbed

A big part of the jaisalmer population lives on tourism. In particular the fort area is full of tourist stores. In the morning there is hardly anybody there and the merchants still wait for clients

These maharadja dolls are revertible.... if you turn them around, the dress falls down and revelas another head... of the maharani, the maharadjas wife

Looking and waiting....

The vedic verses teach that life is built up from 3 phases:
Bramacharya, the teaching phase
Grihasta, the phase of marrying an raising children
Vanaprastha, the phase in which the man, after he has fulfilled his duty as head of the family and serving the society
retreats into solitude to dedicate himself the study of philosophy and the holy scripts and to meditate intensively
(From: Alexandra David-Neel)

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Men in the streets of Jaisalmer

 

To deprive a man of his natural liberty and to deny to him the ordinary amenities of life is worse than starving the body, it is starvation of the soul the dweller in the body 

The main purpose of life is to live rightly, think rightly, act rightly. The soul must languish when we give all our thought to the body

 Men can never be a woman's equal in the spirit of selfless service with which Nature has endowed her.

   

Man's nature is not essentially evil. Brute nature has been known to yield to the influece of love. You must never despair of human nature.

 

Unwearied

ceaseless effort is the price that must be paid for turning faith into a rich infallible experience

(Gandhi)

dirty laundry (1)

Washing in the street....

Repairing clothes

Repairing shoes
When you enter a temple, you have to take your shoes off. When I entered the Jain temples in Jaisalmer, a guy walked up to me and pointed at my, admittedly, worn out sneakers. I always take old stuff with me and then leave it behind for somebody else to use when I go back. The guy really wanted to repair my shoe, for 200, than 60 rupies.... a price he probably would earn in a whole day for 5 minutes of glueing. So I said no. Suddenly he grasped one of my shoes and disappeared. Another tourist next to me says... "There goes your shoe". But, no worry, he'll come back, I thought, because he wants to get the money. So I visited the temples, and indeed, when I came back after quite a while the guy was standing there waiting for his money. I put on my first shoe quietly, than grasped the second one from his hands.... He complained, but I finally gave him 10 Rupies and he probably was still satisfied.

Only few days later another guy came and found that my shoes needed repairing again   

Drying

Ironing

Holy cow

Like in most Indian cities, cows are in the street everywhere. They are holy, but they are owned by somebody and their milk, hide and shit is used

The reason behind the cows becoming holy is probably because they were so useful. If they would not have been declared holy, the people would have killed them and afterwards they would have lost their milk, cheese and the burning material

However, the whole thing became much more radical because of the British. After the big rebellion of 1857 they increased the tensions between Muslim and Hindu for their purposes and installed the Brahmin caste, the  priests, as local substitute rulers. To increase their power and in resistance against muslims, they started the "cow protection societies" and created a "cow shed fund". Until then, the sale of cows to non-Hindus and slaughtering was allowed

The muslims retaliated by slaughtering cows in more provocative ways. In 1893, 45 cow protection riots caused 107 death in different cities.

Gau Mater's (mother cows song):

Living, I yield milk, butter and cure, to sustain mankind

My dung is used for fuel

Also to wash the floor and wall

Or burnt, becomes the sacred ash on foreheads

When dead, of my skin are sandals made

Or the bellows at the blacksmiths furnace

Of my bones are buttons made

But of what use are you, O man?

The bulls were also necessary as work-force, and the animals in the streets took care of most of the garbage, which at that time was mostly organic... the food was served in leaves and eaten by hand

Nowadays you frequently see cows chewing plastic bags and digging in garbage cans.