41 Degrees in the House

My roommate checked a thermometer on Thursday and it was 41 degrees in the house. This means that it is probably a similar temperature outside. Compared to the midwest, the winters here are quite mild. However, a lack of central heating makes for a different kind of extreme cold.

Last weekend the weather turned sour. As if we didn't have a rough enough monsoon (the worst in 50 years, apparently), we've been blessed with a week's worth of rain, hail, sleet, slush, intense thunderstorms, strong winds, and, ultimately, snow! The latter is a recent development, while everything else has been present since Sunday morning.

A shot from my classroom after the clouds cleared for the first time in a few days.

Emily and I walking to school after overnight snow.

Mussoorie covered in snow.

Himalayan roads + Indian drivers + no 4-wheel drive = terrifying

Bikes!

Instead of central heating, we have three options: bukharis (woodstoves), electric blow heaters, and gas cylinder heaters. None of these is particularly efficient, and all are currently in short supply. Since December, wood and gas have been elusive, not to mention expensive. So, the best option is an electric blow heater. Well, at least it was until we received an email this week saying that we must turn off all heaters until further notice. Apparently Woodstock's grid can't handle them. So, now it is hovering around freezing outside, and only a few degrees warmer inside, and we have no source of heat. Thankfully, there is priority for wood to be delivered to heat some of the classrooms. Mine is a lucky recipient...

The bukhari in my classroom. I spend my day keeping it going, which can be difficult when I am only provided with logs that are 8 inches in diameter, no kindling, and no matches...

The bukhari is literally in the middle of the classroom. This would be a liability anywhere else...

Frozen fingers aside, it has been a fun week. Woodstock students go berserk for snow. Many of them have little or no experience with it and find endless satisfaction in throwing snowballs.

I think this 8th grader needs another growth spurt!

Elementary kids passing through and stopping for a snowball fight. (Taken from my classroom).

Looking out from the art room.

These sophomores are supposed to be in class!

Also, I was pretty excited one morning when I found sleeping monkeys! I've always known that monkeys sleep in trees, but I've never actually witnessed it. This is mostly because they rise and set with the sun, so it is difficult to spot them in the dark. On a particularly gross morning, I not only saw them sleeping, but they were definitely sleeping in! It was at least a half hour past sunrise; they must have had a rough night with the hail and wind.

A bump on a log....

Class Night 2011

Once a year, Woodstock reserves a night for all the advisors and students of each class to plan an activity. This year, I got to run frantically around the bazaar with my Grade 12 advisor group for a photo scavenger hunt. It turned out to be really fun and also exhausting. We had 2.5 hours to find the following 26 items. We got all but one.

Setting off on our adventure!

1. An advisee in a tree.

2. An advisee making naan.

Um, TAWA naan...

3. An advisee feeding a cow.

Can you believe that from 5pm to 10pm there was not a single cow between Woodstock and Library Bazaar? Where did they go!?!

4. An advisee brandishing a weapon.

Yes, a three-foot sword and helmet!

5. Three advisees in a rickshaw.

6. An advisee giving a ride to a rickshaw driver.

7. Your entire advisory group on the ferris wheel.

We submitted this video for the hunt. Extra photos for your viewing pleasure. NOTE: this is a man-powered ferris wheel. Pay attention to the guy spinning it in the video!

8. An advisee in the mouth of a lion.

9. An advisee riding a horse.

10. An advisee petting a giraffe.

11. An advisee couple wearing traditional Garhwali clothing.

12. One advisee shaving another advisee.

13. An advisee carrying a heavy item.

14. Four advisees performing as a group of street entertainers.

Attempt 1.

Attempt 2: Singing a Nepali song to the Nepali porters

15. An advisee autographing books at Cambridge bookstore.

16. An advisee wearing something outrageous.

17. An advisee holding a baby. Bonus for singing a lullaby.

18. An advisee achieving "hero" status on the test for Strong Men.

This is the one we didn't get. The Strong Men test is a machine that some man brings out onto the street that tests how strong your grip is. He was taking the day off.

19. Your entire advisory group forming a pyramid. Bonus if it's on the top of a building.

Asking a local man to take a photo of us on his roof is a funny interaction.

20. Your entire advisory group with a foreign tourist.

We found an Austrian couple to pose with. They were confused.

21. An advisee holding windchimes. Bonus for dancing with them.

22. An advisee in a Halloween mask.

23. An advisee on an escalator. Bonus if you get a 'pink lady' to join you.

This is the only escalator in Mussoorie, and perhaps within a 200km radius. It is at the aquarium and there are no photos allowed, so we took one from the street.

24. Your entire advisory group in one car.

25. An advisee begging for change.

26. Your entire advisory group being "Luminescent!"

The Class of 2011 has chosen the name "Luminescence," hence the photo.

Walk to Happy Valley

Today I went for a long walk just for the sake of walking. No errands, no plans. Two friends and I left school at 1pm and returned around 7pm. Our destination was Happy Valley, the Tibetan refugee neighborhood on the far side of Mussoorie. Although tiring, the fresh air, beautiful scenery, and smiling faces proved to be rejuvenating. A few snapshots:

Happiness is not something readymade. It comes from your own actions.

~H.H. the 14th Dalai Lama

Monkey Tidbits: This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things

1: On a Sunday morning last December, I made toast and went off to visit Devan, a friend from WCB who had recently joined Woodstock staff. As always, I shut the door behind me. An hour later Devan and I came back to find my roommate Lauren frantically searching the house for the bag of brown bread. I immediately joked that a monkey stole it and then recalled that Emily (our third roommate) had made toast after me and then went back to bed, so perhaps she had the bag in her room. When she awoke, she swore she had put it back in the kitchen. More frantic searching. Finally, Devan recalled that we passed a monkey in the tree while we were reaching the house. And, the monkey definitely had something in its hands. Lo and behold, upon further inspection we find the evidence near the tree.

Photo credit: Lauren

So here's what happened: Sometime while I was at Devan's and my roommates were both upstairs the naughty monkey opened our screen door, walked through our living room and dining room, found the bag of bread on the kitchen counter, and walked back out without leaving a trace. The best part, he remembered to close the screen door on his way out!

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2: After hearing many rumors, I have finally found a legitimate news article regarding the relocation of rhesus monkeys. Last fall was particularly grim with hoards of the ugly brown monkeys who are notorious for troublemaking. What to do? Well, capture them! And let the womenfolk rejoice!

Monkey relocation in full swing in Mussoorie
Thursday, 13.01.2011, 04:59pm (GMT+5.5)

By Sunil Sonker
Mussoorie, 13 Jan: Under the aegis of Nagar Palika, Mussoorie, the monkey relocation drive is in full swing after persistent complaints by the residents of the town. The monkey population, which has soared to an alarming level, has become a nuisance for tourists and residents and relocation is considered the only option to solve the problem.
According to Rohitash Sharma, EO, Nagar Palika, the monkeys are being trapped with the assistance of a team that has come from Mathura, led by a professional trapper, and till today many monkeys had been caged and released in Mohand and Doiwala forests during the past few days.
The residents of Mussoorie, especially the housewives, are happy with this drive, as the monkeys harassed the womenfolk even more.
However, the scientists are unhappy and are apprehensive about the whole relocation drive carried out by the Nagar Palika authorities.
According to the monkey experts and scientists, the methodology of relocation is not foolproof and has major shortcomings. The experts, under condition of anonymity, said that relocation was a temporary option and a long term solution needed to be looked into regarding this. They also said that mass awareness and banning of human feeding was the answer to the problem.
People were of the view that decrease in forest cover was a major reason for the monkeys thronging to urban areas, particularly as they are social animals that thrive in urban centres. They further added that the Alpha male ought to be captured and sterilised, which would help in controlling the population of these monkeys.

-Garhwal Post, January 13, 2011

From my searching, I also found the fun fact that a monkey catcher falls under the employment category of a Civil Construction Worker.

Click here for the photo credit and also for a suspiciously verbatim article from the last monkey capture in October 2008. Maybe Mussoorie should start thinking of a more sustainable solution...

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3: Last week, I walked home to find a pile of folded clothes sitting on a chair outside the front door with this note from one of my 10th grade students:

Ms. Onkka,

I was staying next door with the Wilkins, when the monkeys decided to steal your clothes of the clothes line. They were scattered all over the yard and even ended up in a tree...but I think I retrieved everything.

They need to be rewashed...I'd be guessing.

~B

When I saw her in class, she added that the monkeys were trying the clothes on.

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4: This morning I awoke to the sounds of the large langur monkeys apparently holding track-and-field tryouts on the tin roof. Turns out that due to the relocation of rhesus monkeys, the langurs are enjoying more territory for playing and a new favorite spot is our yard and rooftop.

Smart monkeys can turn on the spigot in the backyard.

Not quite smart enough to think about water conversation though.

Good thing neighbor Howard comes to the rescue!

But where did the water go?

Found some!

The damage from the morning:

Knocked over flower pot and clothes drying rack.

This chair was literally picked up and thrown.

Broken rain gutter #1

Broken front gate

Broken rain gutter #2