Children dancing to the beat of a madal drum
Uttargaya Secondary English Boarding School, Betrawati, 2000

[text below from a postcard I wrote on September 26th, 2000]

"...most of the students were already mentally on the two-week Dashain festival that starts in a couple of days. At lunch, I asked Kove, one of the teachers, if there was school tomorrow—I had so far heard differing accounts. He checked with the office and then told me it was still undecided.

After lunch I stuck around and noticed that of twelve rooms, only one or two had teachers. In the second-level class all of the kids were singing in Nepali while one boy danced at the front. I joined in and they all burst into laughter. From the "nursery" class I heard crying, so I went down there. Danuze, a small boy who speaks no English, was in tears. I squatted down, speaking in soft tones knowing that my words wouldn't help, but perhaps my voice would. He stopped crying and I think I may have gotten a smile once I started acting goofy—"Look at my hand Danuze... it's HUGE! It's the biggest hand I've ever SEEN!

The bell rang and all of the kids started yelling excitedly and running out the door—their little backpacks hopping up and down as they went. I followed them out the door and watched as they all ran across the field. It would seem there was no 7th period today and no school tomorrow. I'm going to miss seeing them all over the next 2–3 weeks..."

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Quartet on a hay-filled porch

Radhika in front of a small shop

Children dancing to the beat of a madal drum