27th February

I have news on the little violins that they are finally ready and available and I will pick them up in Kolkata on Monday. That will make make life so much easier for the three little ones and we will be able to move onto bowing with them.

The weekend seemed a busy time in the vegetable garden. The previous weekend all the potatoes and been dug up and put in the store room. So this weekend it was dig and turn the soil over ready for the next crop.

This Sanjay using the mechanical rotavator they have. The other boys were digging manually.

The potato field being prepared for next crop.
The cauliflower patch I showed you earlier is now bare. They have all been eaten but the cabbages are now looking good and the tomatoes are swelling nicely that were growing either side.

The mustard crop that was in flower as I arrived has also been harvested and at the weekend after it had dried the children prepared the mustard seed from their pods.

Joydev with some of the seed they extracted.

They grow dal on bushes here - whether there will be enough left to harvest I'm not sure as the girls pick the pods and eat seeds inside raw. But along with rice it is staple part of their diet.

And the egg plant crop as done well, it is frequently on my menu.

The other occupation which takes up time at the weekend is they all do their own washing. So here are Shanti and Moyna doing their washing.

 And a bit later Anita doing hers

And here are lines of washing

The same tap and step is used for washing the pots and children also all wash their own plates there too.

My washing is done by a washerman that comes and collects washing three times a week from the compound. One weekend though he obviously dried it near a fire as my pyjamas came back smelling of smoke! - clean and ironed but smokey!!