Shishur Sevay

The vet has come to Kolkata to talk to me, as Bubbi has some health and infertility problems.  But as an aside, I learned that she is afraid of bugs.  I had asked if she was getting fresh grass, as I’ve learned that although everything may look green in the fields, there may not be much grazing space.  The young man taking care of her said they cut grass for her and bring it to her….   A few weeks ago they took Bubbi out to graze in a field.  As they were standing there, she saw a large bug, probably a dragon fly and became terrified at the sight and dropped to the ground.  When she got up all she wanted to do was to go home…. and not go out to the field again.  So now she has her fresh grass brought to her.

I was planning to post on this blog a story that my children are all "spoiled" and now it seems my cow is spoiled too!  It seems to run in the family, as this was true of my two kids, one stomach baby, one adopted, and now my kids here and my cow.  Let there be no doubt that I am an indulgent mother, and I do not discriminate.

What do I mean by spoiled?  In the following pictures, Sonali is being soothed.  One of the massis (caretakers) tried to put her down, but she prefers to be held.  So, she started crying, and the caretakers went into "indulgence" mode.  Sonali loves her thumb, and loves to have cloth waved across her face.  At night we hang a strip of sari over her because she loves to reach for it and wave it across her face, or suck on it, along with her thumb.  So, in these pictures they are trying to soothe her by waving the cloth across her face…..  It was just a moment of realization for me of how spoiled my kids are, and how I actually enjoy that.  There is something so special about taking a baby who barely seemed to be aware of her environment or people, and helping her become demanding of her needs being met.  It just feels good, good enough for me to be this way, and good enough for me to have staff who will indulge the children too.

As for Bubbi’s health problems, she has a recurrence of nasal polyps (associated with infertility), which she had when i first got her.  So we will treat again for that, and then put her on vitamins and on some other meds the vet recommends as her uterus is "boggy" and retroflexed.  (I feel like I’m back on the GYN floor of the hospital.)   We are also discussing the matchmaking aspect — what breed, crossbreed, insemination, etc.  It’s OK if she doesn’t get pregnant, but I want her health to be good, and it would help the family if she had milk and anyway there is always something life-affirming about babies of any species.

News on the Shishur Sevay front — aside from cow news:

1. Chicken pox has passed, with eleven of twelve girls getting the pox — but the four little ones only getting some rash and no fever at all.

2. The school year is over and our girls have passed with high marks.  We have begun preparing them for the next year during this month interlude.  We are also having fun…  I’m so proud of them!

3. The handicapped children will start school 15 April, as starting was delayed 2 weeks by the school. It is exciting.  I used to laugh at the mothers who mourned before their kids started kindergarten.  Now I am one of them, worrying what it will be like here without them all day.  My current life gives me lots of opportunity to laugh at myself.

4. I have submitted the renewal of license forms, and I believe after a preliminary meeting that there will be peace with the government.  I have cleared the air with the critical official.  I am the eternal optimist.

5. The government (different department) has asked us to take more children.  We have agreed to take three more orphans when the government is ready — presumably end of this month.  We can then start them in the same in-house program as our slower students and teach them here until they are ready academically and socially to go out to school.

6. Bubbi lives not far from where we took our non-orphan to live with her mother.  The young man here today said he ran into them a few days ago at the market.  They knew each other from our visits to Bubbi and the exchange was friendly.  Our girl is looking good and happy to be with her mother.  I really don’t think she misses us.  Orphans are different, and she wasn’t ever one of the group.  She had a mother who wanted her; her mother learned that she wasn’t as bad a mother as she thought.  It is so amazing that they ended up within a circle of places and people I know here.

I write this on a Saturday afternoon.  The girls are in class, one hour of math, and then one hour of games with the teacher, a Saturday treat for her and for them.  A little while ago I looked up and saw the physiotherapist working with Sonali.  I couldn’t resist taking a couple of pictures — her hanging cloth, the people who care about her, work so hard to help her reach her potential, to be the most of who she can be, and the happiest that is possible for her.  Remember, she was the quietest of the four we took that day — the one I held and at least reassured myself that she knew what human touch was — that some part of her sought tough and comfort.  Now she pulls herself up, sits, cries when she is hungry, cries when she is put down, laughs when she hears our voices — and learned to train us to meet her needs.

Happy Baby