It might seem that there are a lot of people living in the house here and that it could be busy and noisy, but it's the exact opposite and it is really quiet and peaceful. It's not like it would be back home with everyone working regular hours so everyone getting up in the morning around the same time, going to and coming home from work, being around in the evening and then off to bed. Life is very different here. Pritam and Champa are very early risers and, if working, can be off at 6am. Pritam sometimes goes off to the higher pastures, where he will camp and work for 5-6 days at a time tending crops and animals, either his own or someone else's. None of them hold 'regular' jobs, because here work is done when it is is required to be done and when it is available Work is dependant on the time of year and the weather. As winters are bitter here and people are often cut off due to snow and very heavy rains, as little work as possible is done at this time with the exception of the women who knit constantly, very often unaware that their hands are working furiously while they are chatting away, so most of the work is done in the other months. When the weather starts to improve there are cattle to be tended, crops to be planted and picked, repairs to be carried out and a variety of other jobs - at the moment Champa is candle-making for a woman who makes and sells candles. Then before winter comes around again that has to be prepared for - drying out meat and vegetables for winter eating as they are not available in winter, collecting and storing enough firewood for the tandoor for heating and cooking and generally making the household self sufficient for the winter period. At the moment the apples in Pritam's apple orchard are getting big and in the next few months will need to be harvested, boxed and sent to places over India.
Anyway, I digress from writing about what it is like staying in the house with what may seem like a lot of people. So, Pritam and Champa work on their own land and well as doing other jobs at times, therefore some days you see them around the house but often not. When they are here they tend to be in the kitchen or the garden and, unless we go downstairs, we don't see them.
Laxmi doesn't work as she has the baby so she tends to be around during the day, in her room or the garden, and is quiet as a mouse. Asna, the baby, is really cute and smiley and is the quietest child I have ever known. I only have heard her cry once (Indian children here really don't cry much). It was really bizarre because, when she did cry, Laxmi put her face toward Asna and intentionally cried right back at her. I haven't heard her cry since! Maniraz, her husband, works as a guide for a trekking company so he is hardly ever here at the moment and, when he is, you wouldn't even know it.
Jayne, Guy and Corbin are the same as us and come and go throughout the day. We each have our own area in the house and don't hear each other when we are inside, although we do often meet on the balcony in the passing and stop for a catch up of what we've been up to.
Some days though, when of a few of us women are around, it can be quite sociable sitting about in the garden chatting and laughing - trying to understand what one another is saying in broken Hindi and English, our different cultures and customs and just generally women having a natter. Champa and laxmi laugh at the smallest things so it's always a hoot. They were in stitches the other day because I had on a facepack and I still haven't managed to work out why they thought it was funny as they preen themselves often. They did manage to cause me to crack my face-pack though! Colin plays chess with Pritam, chats to guy about music, travelling and 'boys stuff' or has a laugh with us girls.
In the evenings most of us are around and, if we are not having the occasional meal in the kitchen together, then we are all in our own areas of the house, so you don't see or hear anyone else. With exception of Jayne and Guy in the self-contained apartment, there is only one toilet and one wash-room on the bottom floor for the use of everyone in the house. However, it is really only Colin and I that use the wash-room as everyone else goes to the natural hot sulphur springs at the village Temple to bathe, and I have still to go to the toilet here and find someone else is already in it.
Finally, with no neighbours near the house, the area surrounding the house is very quiet and there is no outside noise.
Anyway, I digress from writing about what it is like staying in the house with what may seem like a lot of people. So, Pritam and Champa work on their own land and well as doing other jobs at times, therefore some days you see them around the house but often not. When they are here they tend to be in the kitchen or the garden and, unless we go downstairs, we don't see them.
Laxmi doesn't work as she has the baby so she tends to be around during the day, in her room or the garden, and is quiet as a mouse. Asna, the baby, is really cute and smiley and is the quietest child I have ever known. I only have heard her cry once (Indian children here really don't cry much). It was really bizarre because, when she did cry, Laxmi put her face toward Asna and intentionally cried right back at her. I haven't heard her cry since! Maniraz, her husband, works as a guide for a trekking company so he is hardly ever here at the moment and, when he is, you wouldn't even know it.
Jayne, Guy and Corbin are the same as us and come and go throughout the day. We each have our own area in the house and don't hear each other when we are inside, although we do often meet on the balcony in the passing and stop for a catch up of what we've been up to.
Some days though, when of a few of us women are around, it can be quite sociable sitting about in the garden chatting and laughing - trying to understand what one another is saying in broken Hindi and English, our different cultures and customs and just generally women having a natter. Champa and laxmi laugh at the smallest things so it's always a hoot. They were in stitches the other day because I had on a facepack and I still haven't managed to work out why they thought it was funny as they preen themselves often. They did manage to cause me to crack my face-pack though! Colin plays chess with Pritam, chats to guy about music, travelling and 'boys stuff' or has a laugh with us girls.
In the evenings most of us are around and, if we are not having the occasional meal in the kitchen together, then we are all in our own areas of the house, so you don't see or hear anyone else. With exception of Jayne and Guy in the self-contained apartment, there is only one toilet and one wash-room on the bottom floor for the use of everyone in the house. However, it is really only Colin and I that use the wash-room as everyone else goes to the natural hot sulphur springs at the village Temple to bathe, and I have still to go to the toilet here and find someone else is already in it.
Finally, with no neighbours near the house, the area surrounding the house is very quiet and there is no outside noise.
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