Wednesday, February 8, 2017 ~ A Day in the Life of a Ranthambore Community

After breakfast we went to a school at a local village. When we arrived, all of the students were seated in lines outside on the second floor. They sang their national anthem, and the principal made some announcements. Then a few 1st and 2nd graders came up to us and recited poems. Next it was our turn.

We sang “America the Beautiful” for them. Then Ranvir asked me to show them my puppet. Cha-Cha-Cha sang her theme song, “My name is Cha-Cha-Cha from California.” We spoke a little, then sang “Love Surrounds Us Everywhere.” Next, Theo impressed the students when he juggled with his juggling balls. After that, the students were dismissed to go to class.
We each could visit any classroom. Most of us visited all of them. Approximately 35 students were crammed into each small classroom. The classes ranged from kindergarten to ninth grade. The children were very excited about my puppet, so I even got out my peepers. The fourth grade teacher was curious about how I did ventriloquism, so I wrote down my website URL where he could get instructions in the Arts In Education section. I told him that puppets could even be made from socks. Ranvir and the principal went into several classes with me, and I went into some alone until I had entered all of the classrooms. English is their second language, so communication was more difficult with the younger students. My puppet seemed to bridge the gap, though.
After leaving the school the bus drove us to a cooperative where women and men are trained to make handcrafts. Their work is beautiful. I bought a large gorgeous red silk shawl that two women had spent eight months embroidering! It has pictures of animals of India embroidered all over the scarf. After we had finished making our purchases, they served us a delicious vegetarian lunch. Just before we left, I bought a hand embroidered tote bag. This visit was one of the highlights of the trip.

When we got back to the hotel, I went into the hotel gift shop to buy some of the items that I was considering yesterday. They gave me even better prices than yesterday.
We had the rest of the afternoon to relax and pack. Our big suitcases left on the bus later in the afternoon to be driven to the next city. We will take only our carry-on bags early tomorrow morning when we ride the train.
Tonight I hope to see the tiger documentary before dinner.