Friday, February 1

Friday, February 1, 2008:
This morning we got up early to get to K.K.’s house around 7:15. There we were served breakfast and then loaded up to the two vehicles to head to Cattuck. We drove along the highway which at times resembled more of a old county road in need of some serious repair work. It was about a four hour drive which gave us a chance to talk with each other. We enjoy the host family stays but it is nice to have some time together as a team where we are not feeling obligated to try different foods, and visit with them.

We arrived at the hotel around 12:30 and were greeted by a number of Rotarians and of course presented with a bouquet of flowers. After getting to go to the bathroom—we were all more than ready for it after the road trip with no stops; we went to our host homes.

My host lives in what is called a “joined family”, which means his extended family, his mother, his wife and their children, and then his brother and his family. I think there home consists of three floors—each family lives on a different floor, the main level has a kitchen and eating area where they often all eat together.

After arriving to our host family’s we all tried to get on the internet—we hadn’t been able to lately and were quite eager to check our email. Susan and Tom were able to get on but the rest of us weren’t, I think in part due to the sea cable that is broken and according to the news it will take 10 – 15 days to repair. It is hard to imagine being without internet access, but we are learning that although India is quite savvy technology wise, not many homes have internet access, and if they do it is usually dial-up and very, very slow!

After having lunch with our hosts, who it appears have been instructed not to serve us real spicy food, we went to visit an “Old Persons Home”. This is the only home of this type in Cattuck and one of the club’s projects. There are two separate buildings, one is for those who can not afford to pay and the other one with nicer accommodations is for those can pay. There are currently 15 residents who can’t pay and 1 who can afford to pay. The total capacity in both is around 40, but they have not even come close to that. There is a growing need, but the “joined family” system that is commonly practiced in India takes care of their aging relatives.

The area around the home was very desolate, Cattuck is bordered on both sides by rivers which currently are quite low, and so there were empty, sandy river beds around the home. They had a small garden to grow some vegetables but the sandy soil is not very conducive for good growing conditions.

After our visit we went back to our host homes and changed for the joint Rotary meeting. We have been very surprised at this visit that when they say the meeting starts at 7:00 p.m. it does—what a change, and how does one know if the stated time will be adhered to or whether it will be an hour or so later? The meeting was efficiently run and this time we were served hot soup instead of tea beforehand.

After the meeting we went home with our host families for dinner. The two kids in my host family had already eaten (around 8:00 p.m.) and their mother and father typically eat around 10:00 or 10:30. It was obvious that I was quite tired so my host had dinner with me around 9:30. All the travel and different home stays is catching up with us, but all are eager for us to see and meet many different people.