Key time - big plans - last month

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As we speed towards our last month in the weird, wonderful, wacky and warm city of Kolkata and west Bengal, we are approaching a number of key moments. Sculptures are coming to key stages, projects are nearing completion, we have a number of trips planned, Calcutta children are keen tin whistlers and our two are starting to love their school.

1. The big sculpture will get its first coat of paint on Tues 3 April. The total design work is complete, I think. For the interests of Sheamie and of course every one else, I have two quotes that spread around the four sides of the base.

One is the perhaps most positive quote to be stated by any Irish man this last 30 odd years, Bobby Sands, 'Our revenge will be the laughter of our children'. A quote that looks forward to a happier time for the next generation. We had some crack translating those sentiments into Bengali. See pic. Every man and his Bengali dog had there own take on how it should be written, even after it was modeled in clay I was convinced that I had to take it off and change it. The English version is on one side and the Bengali on the other. It is impossible to photo the English version yet because the workshop is too narrow. But for anybody that wants to learn Bengali I have included a pic of the Bengali version (still in its raw clay state).

The second quote is from Rabindranath Tagore, 'On the shores of the oceans of the world, children frolic'. Originally written in Bengali it was translated by Prof. Tukki from Seagull. Tagore was/is Bengals father of art and literature, Nobel Laureate, who was awarded a knighthood but later returned the award in protest at the Julianwalabag massacre (over 400 innocent Indians) by British Soldiers.

I was invited to the Santiniketan University, established by Tagore, and toured round Tagore's house. The ethos of the entire site is about learning in and from nature. Some of the class room seating is arranged in the shade of large trees, there is a forest nearby and generally it is an outstanding spot and the most uplifting spiritual experience I have had since coming here. See pics.

While at the Uni I was also taken on a tour of some of the tribal villages, met a local tribal sculptor and drank a load of sweet spring water from a traditional well. The tribals still build their homes (huts) from clay and use rice straw thatch, and dress differently. The village felt much cleaner and healthier than anything in Calcutta, but there is probably more poverty. Still one of my most amazing weekends since arriving in India.

The sculpture will be located in Loreto Sealdah School after completion, where the children will paint on A4 boards and write their hopes for the future. These boards will then be hung on the struts between the strands of the helix.

Toraigh and Dara are progressing well in this challenging school. Where there are now a number of Kolkata children who can play tunes on the tin whistle. We hope to somehow engage a music teacher to continue the music classes after we leave. Many of the teachers have acknowledged the fact that these children never get the opportunity to play/experience music or own instruments. We will be leaving approx 28 tin whistles with the school in the hope that the small beginning that we have introduced will grow. This is a much longer term project that we have not figured out yet.

Brenda, from Conway Mill, if you or any one else is reading this, thanks for the help via the phone in setting up the projection system in Santiniketan. The students and lecturers were a bit blown away by the fact that people from Belfast were in live contact in an effort to sort out there technical problems; so a big Slainte.

We are off to Dehli on Wednesday evening to meet up with some friends, be tourists for a few days and hope to take a day trip from there to the Taj Mahal. More on that when we return next week. Shona will be putting a report up soon about her projects etc and Toraigh is currently writing a blog for her class in St Patricks and St Brigits in Ballycastle. Both Toariagh and Dara say a big hello to every one, schoolmates and friends and relatives.