Having just completed my first full school week at Parijat Academy, I thought a description was in order. Parijat Academy is located in the back half of the Teron property. Several buildings in the front half house two grandparents, three brothers, three wives, two small grandchildren, and one weaver, 15 boarding students who live too far away to commute to school, and myself and my roommate Sankar who live in the guest house, alohi kor, next to the pig pen. The guest house is built to a higher standard than the rest of the buildings and I have to say I appreciate it. Mostly I like the privacy. Additionally inhabiting the compound are at least three cows, goru, one piglet and several pigs, one obnoxious rooster, at least three chickens with chicks, one cat, and a variety of vagrant cows, goats, and dogs.

I wake up to the rooster around 6:30 and slowly make my way to courtyard for a small cup of sweet delicious Assamese tea, lalsa, a read of the newspaper and rice. School starts every morning (except Sunday) with an assembly at 8:45 where between 200 and 300 students form lines by class and sing songs about their school. The students are then dismissed to their classes ranging from nursery (5 year olds) to class X (15 and 16 year olds). There are 4 classrooms made of bamboo and woven plants walls and the rest are housed in one long partitioned building. Younger classes have one teacher and older classes have teachers that rotate between classes, opposite they way we do it. Teachers make about $50 per month when there is money. Students take science, environmental science, social science, Hindi, Assamese, English, computer, and math classes. Teachers seem to take their time getting to class so sometimes I will pop in and interact with the students…ask their names and see whether they remember “elbow” from the day before. I've taught class 10 to play hangman and class 8 to play girls vs boys "Pyramid." Sometimes I fill in for English classes, grading quizzes and painfully homogeneous responses to questions I write on the blackboard. Recently I have been teaching computer classes to classes 9 and 10 in the new computer room. This will likely be my primary job while I am here. Compared to bamboo classrooms, fifteen brand new computers from a donor in Mumbai seems a luxury out of place, but they will be a huge asset to the school for a long time. It’s difficult to teach when the power comes and goes but I can already see improvement in the students' typing and basic computer skills. 

At lunch I play “dang,” the 5 based cricket-baseball game, often with students from class 7. (I think there are as many outs in an inning as there are batters and I've learned that runners can tag up.) Recently some have bought me small lunch snacks. I don’t know what to make of this but of course I thank them and enjoy new flavors of junk food.

After school is my favorite time of day when I can sit on my porch and read having earned my keep for the day. The sun sets around 4 and I often walk to the market in Garchuk around dusk. Sometimes for 10 rupees we take a cycle-rickshaw from a driver that smells like marijuana. The last few days Uttam's brother Prosanta has been showing me the sights of Guwahati on the back of his new Honda motorcycle...It is more fun than I expected. In the evening I come back and do what I want - play with kids, read, write, learn Assamese words, drink tea, shower, peal potatoes, eat rice, check the internet, and go to bed.