Bodhgaya - Part Two

From Navin first, and later with equal passion from Anuj, we learned about the Shantindia School. Dominique started this school for poor and orphaned children who could not get any meaningful education from the Indian public school system, largely due to lack of funding or real concern. Some of the 250 students now served by the school, ranging in age from about 6 or 7 to maybe 17, had been beggars in the street before. All seem eager to learn, and come to school with bright intelligence and enthusiasm. Some are sponsored by foreigners at a cost of 15 Euros/16 ½ dollars a month, so that their continued education and care is more secure. My understanding is that it all began when Dominique initially met Navin and Sintu some years ago, and sponsored them to go to college. One thing has led to another.

We learned that the public school system, and the private school system in India is often, perhaps regularly, ineffective or corrupt, designed to reap profits for a few rather than to educate. In the face of this dilemma, Dominique, initially through her connections with Tibetan Dharma in India, somehow founded both the school and the guest house. I'm not sure how long the school has been open – maybe 5 or 6 years Nancy thinks – but in this time it has grown to be able to serve the numbers it now does, and three years ago the guest house was built and has begun to generate some income to support it. According to all the key players, parents for miles around clammer to have their children accepted into the school, but, alas, there is only so much room and so many teachers and only so much money and energy to go round, and people have to be routinely turned down. The need is immense, and the solutions are few.

We heard about the importance of learning to read and write and speak English. Without this, anyone's options for employment or betterment later on are severely limited. Local government jobs maybe, at best, for which their will undoubtedly be many thousands of applicants for every position, and probably, the positions will be filled through nepotism anyway. Any better prospects for work or education, including international ones, are eliminated without English, and so the school places great emphasis on this learning now.

Nancy and I spent a half hour at the school, each of us with a different class, trying to understand the developing and thickly accented spoken English and to answer questions if there were any. Where are you from? What is your name? What is your work? (It was especially interesting for me to try to simply characterize what my work has been!) How old are you? Do you have children? Mostly, I think, it was a chance to hang out with kids who are eager to learn, and who have few opportunities to interact with Westerners. In the end, as the result of Nancy's innocent question about whether the kids had ever gone as a group to the Mahabhodi Temple nearby, the youngest were sent home early, and about 100 of the older students were lined up and walked to the temple for an impromptu field trip (Vimeo video link). I stayed outside while Nancy and Sintu and school Principal Ravi took the children inside, where they all meditated together – having been taught a technique by Sintu, who had been taught by Dominique - and stayed for over an hour before walking back to the school. I had my own adventure while waiting for them.

Meet Bikram. About 10 years old, I'd say, and not hesitant about coming over to me, sitting himself down next to me and opening a conversation in pretty well developed English. At first we looked at photos I had been taking that were on my phone. He took control of this device in short order and scrolled expertly through numbers of shots. We exchanged a few words about all this, and then, having now developed a relationship, the ultimate purpose of Bikram's visit was revealed. “Will you buy me a dictionary?” he asked.

What kind of dictionary, says I to him, while to myself  I say, with, in my own defense, only the very slightest flicker of entitled American cynicism, Ah, of course.  English, he answers. Hmmm, I say, not wanting to appear to be too open to this suggestion just yet. How much does it cost? 500 rupees for a big one. Hmm, that's too much, I say. Ok, accommodating Bikram counters, maybe 300 for a small one. Hmmm, I say again, thinking all this over, extending my scam antennae a bit further out. How much can you pay? I ask. Hesitantly now.......50 rupees, he offers. Can you pay 100? I ask, and watch as his face sinks, and as he says, crestfallen, ok, clearly not meaning it for a moment, not because, I think, he wouldn't, but because he clearly cannot. Where do you buy this dictionary?

Just there, he points, into the local main market/bazaar. Hmmm. Ok, let's go there and see.

So we walk into the nearby market and he cruises immediately over to a book seller's stall where he asks for the English dictionary, which is proffered by the seller. It's bigger than I thought it would be, and the price printed on the back is only 255 rupees. I look it over, opening it, scanning the covers at the English-Hindi words of the title. Ok. You give 50 and I'll pay 200. He looks down. He doesn't have it. I remind him that he said he would pay 50. He asks/tells his friend, who has been with us all along, their exchange taking place in Hindi, to lend him, I suppose, 50 rupees, which the friend does, without any real hesitation that I saw. Friend digs into his backpack and hands Bikram a 100 rupee note (why this friend happened to have a 100 rupee note on hand I'm not sure) which he turns over to me. I give the friend 50 rupees, and the book seller 250, and the deal is done. It's a nice, brand new dictionary.

I'm not 100% certain that young Bikram isn't going to turn around later and bring the book back to the seller and collect his commission on a book that will be sold again. So we walk back to our original seats and I ask for the book. I open it to the blank inside page and write in it: This dictionary is a gift from Matthew to Bikram. I hope you like it. STUDY WELL!; under the day's date, October 28, 2015. I hand the book back to Bikram and ask him if he will study, or will he go sell the book back? His friend, the one who loaned him the money, speaks up and says clearly, He will study. He's a good boy. And I believe he is, and that he will. And so in this way I have the blessed opportunity to risk little, close to nothing really, and to contribute what may be a lot to a truly motivated student whose more developed command of English, already considerable, can only serve him well in whatever directions his future takes him. At least that is my hope, and my prayer. In this small gift giving, perhaps I have helped save the world after all.