Re: Beatrix School

Dear Subash Taneja,

Thank you very much for your generous donation to our children. the money has not yet been credited to our account. Normally the transaction takes about a week. As soon as it arrives I shall let you know.

Knowing that the money is on the way I have already bought clothes and the uniforms are being stiched.

I am very happy to know that you plan to visit Puri. Most welcome. In two days time we will have the Rathyatra of Lord Jagannath. In the coming days Puri will be filled with pilgrims.

Our address:

Fr. T.K. Kurian, SVD
Ishopanthi Ashram
Baliapanda Road, Puri
Orissa - 752001 INDIA

With thanks and best wishes

Fr. Kurian

Money transfer for Beatrix School

Subject: Money transfer for Beatrix School

Dear Mr. Taneja,

Greetings from Beatrix School. Thanks you very much for your phone call of this afternoon. I am sending you the details of money transfer you wanted to make.

Sr. Christine is no more in Puri. She is transferred to another place. At present we have two sisters working full time in Beatrix School. Fr. T.K. Kurian, SVD is the Administrator of the entire Institution including Beatrix School. At present he is on his home holidays for about 10 days. Once he is back in the office he will also get in touch with you. Any way I am giving you also his e-mail address so if you wish you may get in touch with him directly.

I appreciate your concern for our children in Beatrix School and I thank you very much for the trouble you take to help them. As you mentioned your contribution if you send will be used for the school uniform of the needy children.

Perhaps in past you had made your donation in Cash to Sr. Christine, but it is better if you send the money to our Bank account directly, which is more convenient for accounting purpose.

Thanking you once again,

Yours sincerely

Enclosure in attachment

Details the way to send money

P. Lalit

(Private Secretary to Fr. T.K. Kurian)

Beatrix School, Puri, Orissa

Nijntjes

Puri in Orissa is famous for its interesting Hindu Architecture, above all the JaganNath temple where millions of Hindu pelgriums come every year for "tirath yatra".


Hanneke's bejaarden knew of her plans to visit India. They wanted to contribute something for India.Something for the children as they have such lovely eyes and smile as see on the TV. Do they have any clothes? or enough to eat? or toys to play with? "They have each other", Hanneke tried many times to explain the social conditions there. Ok, do something ,but, "lets not buy anything but make something for them. "But what? "I know what" added Frida, "last year I knitted a Nijntje for my grand child."
"Wow,what a good idea, lets knit a few nijntjes for the streetkids." The patterns were distributed and soon there was wool every where, in different colours.There were happy faces , big eyes , enormous concentration and very swift hands buzy knitting those useful nijntes for the far away brown kids. A few became 300....and it took more than a bag... infact three bags for the nijntes to find their their way to India.



In Puri we stayed in the historical hotel, built for the railway officers during the colonial period. Nothing ever changed in the hotel ever since.Same room set-up with Victorian furniture , same mosquito nets, same dining room, same dresses for the waitors who always served the same menu and they always wore white hand gloves. Perhaps the only hotel in India where non-veg meals are normal and a vegetarian khana has to be ordered a day before.
Making enquiries from the staff from the hotel we came to learn about a 'lepra basti', just outside the city. Ruben and myself took a scooter rikshaw the next day .In India whenever the city ends the muddy roads begin and the small wheels of our rikshaw had to work very hard to plough through the thick ,dry and stuffy mud. And by the time we got there we both looked very much a part of the mother earth.

The Lepra basti was a a shock.It was very impressive and pathatic to be there.It was a large basti, or colony with more than a thousand inhabitants, almost all of them suffering from lepra.(lepra is not contegious anymore) People lived in kuccha (mud)houses.There were meeting spaces, dispensaries,where patients come for new bandages, two to three times a week, a hospital with separate wards for men and women. And at a little distance across the road was a school-complex with the name of the school on the red wall. The Beatrix School. "Wow, it's Dutch name."But, the school was closed as today was Sunday. And at the basti the atmosphere was quite emotional.The inhabitants were sitting or lying outside their huts- some of them were on the road begging or sitting in a low,wooden "lepra car" with iron wheels being pulled by another one to be moved from one place to another, making the familiar noise which can be recognised from distant .The whole basti smelled of strong detergents or medicines.

The NIJNTJES had finally found their home. The next day we were back. And this time three of us, with bags full of the nijntjes and used clothes.It was Monday and the school was open and full of life. The kids were inside. The doors and windows of the class rooms were open and one could hear the kids like a millions of bees had located one single flower. They all were squatted on the floor in their clean blue and blue uniform. Our approach was noticed and suddely for a moment it was a pin drop silence, and we could feel that hunderds of big eyes staring at us. Even the headmistress noticed the silence and came out of her room."My name is Christina, please come in". Also a Dutch name,thought Ruben.As we told her our story of the Dutch bejaarden of Amsterdam, about the nijntjes and about the clothes, we could feel her interest in us and at the same time she was unfolding her cotton bag and took out some edibles that her mother had made in her village where she spent her weekend. "Please share it with me- my mother will be very happy."How many of these toys About tree hundred." We saw her thinking. "But we have more than seven hundred children. It does'nt matter-we'll give them whenever someone has earned it, either in the sports or in the exams. Would you like to visit the classes?"

The kids welcomed us in theis classes. They sang for us. They talked with us in Oriya, Hindi and some English. "What would you like to become when you are big?"was our general question to them. "A doctor."was answered by the most, "so that we can help our parents". "Are all the kids from lepra parents? " "No,no , they are all mixed. About 300 from the basti here and the rest from normal parents from the village here. As you know, lepra is not contagious."

We were very emotional and exited and felt happy for the oost-oever bewoners. "Shall I call them outside so that you can give them the toys yourself. Let them hold it once and let them feel it. Then I'll keep them in my room for the time being."

Back in Amsterdam I think often about the other four hundred kids who have not earned to keep the Dutch Nijntjes.

Wish DICK BRUNA was there to watch this.

Narinder Singh

Narinder Singh of the 'tie and dye'works could not see me today as he was going to Ajmer with his wife, father and two sisters. Picknic? I asked. No, family matters. What family matters? He explained to me the next day when I visited him. His sister got married two years ago. It was a good Indian wedding with all the traditions. Her husbands family is also 'Punjabi Rajasthani'. Living in Rajasthan ever since the partition, just like ours. But those people live in Ajmer. Two years after the shadi we get the message from Ajmer that the husband's family do not want her, in other words they rejected her as a part of their family. "Thats why we went to Ajmer with our family". I was still curious. "First we went to a place near Ajmer to see the holy 'babajee'- whome we believe as a spritual person. Many people go to him for the answers.Mostly he knows why one has come to visit him.Babajee can predict the future and every thing you want to know about a person, only if you believe in him truely from your heart". "We showed Babajee her(sister) photograph. He predicted that there was an death in the family, specially with the future of my sister. Her husband's family want to murder her. We all were absolutely shocked and sad and completele hurt. Our heart is still full of grievences. Even now while I am telling you this. We all drove to Ajmer to my sister's house and brought our sister back to our house in Jodhpur now. And now she is with us." "We have a combined family system in India as you know, and always help each other- like I have 4 brothers and we all live together in one house with our wives and children". "What now?". "We are going to invite our whole clan.From all over Rajasthan and some from Punjab. But not at the same time- to explain this situation to them and purify our cause and our sister of all the blames. Our clan will mediate and persuade the family of her husband. We shall keep working on it as long as it takes, until the boy(husband) comes to our house - bids excuses and takes her back to Ajmer respectfully". "Fortunately she doesn't have any children." "Raju, get some Rajasthani chai. Subhash jee, here are some nice colours. If you unfold the "tie and dye" threads, you can see the real colours inside ........

Bhgesri and Rajni Bishnoi

"'My name is Bhagesri and she is my sister Rajni.'But please please do not write our name on the post. Only his(husbands)name and babajee's(father) name.
We were on our way to Balotra from Jodhpur when we saw a small suzuki van full of school kids.There must be at least 20 of them propped in the van,most of them looking outside and happily enjoying their way to the school.We decided to follow this van and ended up in this village called 'dhava'. People were curious to see us and I was more curious to know how the houses are from inside.





"Can I look inside?"Within no time we were surrounded by almost half the village."Who lives here?"was answered by a young smiling energetic woman. 'We', was the answer. 'This is my sister and this is my mother and this is her mother and here are our boys ', and this.......and it went on.
They were Bishnois people.Pure vegetarian.Worship all living creatures and trees or living nature is their God.





Someone came with tea, as we were their guests.My request if I could make their pictures was greeted with a beautiful positive smile.
I took some pctures but I could feel that the sisters were not very satisfied as something was missing.One by one they went inside.First came the eldest, modestly covered with colourful golden jewellery.'Now I feel like a woman.'And afterwords the younger one with the same jewellery.'If we knew before that you were coming we would have covered us fully with gold from top to bottom.'














'Only His name and the name of the post-office.We will get the post.


Subash Taneja,Rajasthan, Jan.15, 2008

Motor cycle Mandir (shrine)

Travelling from Jodhpur towards Rohet Garh suddenly our driver pulled over and stopped near a large tree.This tree was decorated with thousands of colourfull 'wishing threads'. 'eek minute sir, I just come."Sir,would you also like to see the motor cycle wallah mandir?'







Behind the tree was a sort of samadhi, a square platform,about 4x4 meters and 50 centimeters high, with a kind of grave in the middle. All decorated with flowers and a colourful sheet. A kind of road side shrine.On side of the shrine stood a motor cycle, covered with flowers.The flowers were fresh and fragrant. People kept coming with flowers to offer to this shrine. Most of them were drivers, taxi drivers, rikshaw drivers, truck drivers motor cycle drivers.
'The story of this place is like this, sir: that the raja of the nearby state had only one son, and this son was crazy about motor cycles, specially powerful and fast ones, the ones you have in Europe' and he went further in his half hindi half rajasthani, 'long ago he met with an accident at this very spot, and got injured very badly that he knew that he won't survive this. He lied there bleeding heavily and begged the people gathered around him not to move him and when he dies he be burried at the very spot. The body was
taken to his town by the Raja and his people to be burried / cremated at the family burial grounds.












'And after that day there were daily accidents at this place.Even when people were careful accidents were taking place as if some mysterious power took over.'

'Some day a passing by holy man made a small shrine there and egged the Raja to re-burry his son at that place and make a shrine.Ever since all the passing drivers stop at this place to pay respect to the 'spirit 'of the lost one.

'And sir, as long as I come on this road, I have not heard of any accident on this place.' He said his prayers, so did I and we drove further towards Rohit Garh.

Jan.12.2008