A FULL DAY'S WORK - February 5, 2019

Yesterday, after the afternoon pooja (prayer ceremony) where we dedicated ourselves and our project, all led by a Hindu priest (Pandit ji) we did not have much time to actually get dirty and work in the "pit" to begin the construction of our tenth water catchment dam in India.  The local laborers were already in place and working hard, so by the time we arrived, following breakfast at our hotel, as well as perhaps a one-hour drive to the dam construction site, we just had to more or less observe and then choose the area where we "fit in" to the rhythm of moving boulders, smaller rocks, basins of sand, basins of massala (mixture) down the line and deposited (dumped) where we were told.






The lines stretched from the piles of massala mix (sand and dry cement) over to the edge and then snaked its way down to where Prakash was teetering on a couple of larger stones which had been tossed down into the pit.  If was a bit of a shock to me  to learn that most of the women from the nearby villages, who were working with us (or rather, we with them) were in their mid-fifties.  They were very strong and seemed tireless - guess it is all about pacing oneself.  Could it be, "everything in moderation? or was it more like the tortoise and the hare - the work was all going to get completed, but might actually take a day or two longer and yet, it would get completed!

Several of the Rotarians from the Rotary Club of Delhi-Megapolis, along with their wives, joined us at the dam site and donned their purple tee shirts (ROTARIANS ARE DAM CRAZY!) as well as their painters' gloves and infiltrated the passing lines, either to pass along the full basins, or to help retrieve the empties and send them back to the head of the line for re-fills!  Some of the village women who were working with us, broke into song and it was delightful for them to provide a musical cadence for us to step up our game.  At one point, Manoj Srivastava (president of the RC of Delhi-Megapolis) cajoled me into singing my rendition of the old Harry Belafonte favorite - There's a Hole in the Bucket, dear Liza, which others on the team soon learned that the ssong contained more than a dozen verses!  This is always a bit of comic relief and generally enjoyed by all.  

LUNCH TIME and it was wonderful having a crew from the hotel where we are staying to drive out to our dam site and to bring us "home-cooked" meals for lunches the days we worked.  There may have been an occasional beer or two shared amongst the Rotarian group!  

During lunch, Dr. Katambari, director of the PHD-RDF (Punjab, Delhi, Haryana - Rural Development Foundation) with whom we have worked for some ten years on these dam builds, arrived to welcome us, to encourage us, and to thank us for our efforts.  In a presentation ceremony, where both Sanjiv Saran and I received awards from PHD-RDF, Dr. Katambari extended her remarks, not only to us, but also to all of the villagers gathered, that the ROTARY DREAM TEAMS are the ONLY group which helps to raise the funds, but also to come and actually provide labor to the construction of each dam. and she indicated that other groups could take a lesson from us, and to experience the delight in actually rolling up our sleeves, digging in the dirt, carrying heavy rocks, and getting to know the village laborers, to the point of being invited into their homes for tea and biscuits, simply because these people could tell that WE CARE!   

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