Is this the end?

April 20, 2016

After Ron got home from work and rested a bit, we walked down the street and had prints made of the photos I made of the children earlier today. We walked over to the neighborhood where they lived and one or two of the kids were outside, recognized us and called out for others to come out. We had enough copies for each to have any photo they were in. They were wild with excitement and promised to make sure everyone got their photos since not everyone was present. Some mothers came outside due to all the excitement. One asked me to photograph her baby but we didn’t have the camera with us. I am sure if I went back more people would make that request.

We are supposed to sign lease papers today but finding a time when all parties can meet is akin to herding cats. If it happens, swell.  We can move tomorrow. If not, it will happen some time in the near future.

The same young man, Vijay, cleans our hotel room everyday. One day he mentioned his acne to me. I told him there were medications for acne. He immediately asked ‘what medications?’ I said I didn’t know. I went on line and discovered a list of medications but learned it depended on what type of acne. So I wrote out the list and told him he had to see a doctor first. Because of language limits on both our parts, I asked the manager of the hotel to explain to him that it was critical to see a doctor first but I was willing to pay for the medications once he found out what was needed. The young man’s supervisor, Vinood, spoke some English and offered to get the medications. He told me the ‘boy is very poor and he is from Rajasthan’.  Today Vinood showed up with the medications (three) and I asked how much I owed him. He declined to take any money but I insisted since I had imitated the move. It turned out to cost 300 rupees, about $4.50. I was thrilled Vijay asked for my cell number. I asked him to call me when he needed more medications. Yay team!

Is this the end?

It happened at 1:00. We signed the lease papers and the broker, Anurag, arranged for a car to come and transport us and our luggage to the house at 9:30 tomorrow. Yahoo! In the afternoon we attended a talk about the state of the profession of architecture in India given by the president of the university, Bimal Patel, who has a doctorate from Berkley. We then came back to the hotel, went out to dinner and then returned to pack-up, which only took a short time. Tomorrow Ron will take part of the morning off to help us move and learn the house systems: gas cylinders, water filtration, home theater projection, etc. Everything will be all right in the end….