AND SOME MORE WORDS
I would like to add some words about some of the
great people I spend time with in Makaibari:
There is Rajah, the mountain man, the owner,
manager and creator of what Makaibari has become
in the last decades.
He is a bit like a locomotive engine of the train.
He seems to be always loaded with energy, ready
to give lectures about everything, encouraging
and inspiring everyone he meets.
I spent hours in his office, drinking tea,
listening to what he had to share with me,
watching how he received his employees and
did his work.
Even when I didn't understand what he told others,
because he spoke in Nepali or Bengali, it was
entertaining to watch his play of the features
and see the reactions of the listener.
In the beginning I had been in the plantation
with him twice. He showed me the tea, birds,
plants, butterflies and how every spot of green
is different.
Looking at the forest, there is just green,
trying to find two matching greens the eyes
started to dance and then there was so much
variation.
Rajah is a great person, hilarious and serious,
loud and sometimes silent, very open and honest,
he most of the time frankly speaks out what he
thinks, needs company and needs solitude.
He seems to have a deep understanding and a good
perception of what is happening around him.
Another human being I am very thankful that
I could meet is Dev. He is an assistant manager,
he became a very good friend of Uli and me.
Thanks to him we got to know a lot about recent
happenings,
Indian society and living with it, the kind of
insider news that help foreigners to understand
a lot of things much better, but usually are not
considered worth talking about.
I feel a lot of respect for him. I never met
anyone who is so much concerned about living
the good way. Getting to know him I realised
how much strength and independence is needed
to be good and not to blindly follow what you
are told to do,but to do what feels right.
This is difficult, one has to be much more
alert and concentrated.
He impressed me very much with all the good
intentions and love he has for his surroundings.
He spent a lot of time with us girls and people
started talking about us.
He didn't mind, but
it was sad, when one evening another man didn't
reply on my 'Good night' anymore.
I can't imagine that talking with friends is a
reason for not being respected by others anymore.
Then there are the people who cared for me and the
other guests in the guest house. The four ladies,
Radika, Sabita, Mona and Lalum and the two old men
who were the guards.
The ladies were cooking in turns three delicious
meals every day.Once I got used to the food I ate
and enjoyed a lot of it. Often European travellers
in India loose weight and so I was asked how much
weight I lost. I could surprise a lot of people by
telling them that I actually gained a little weight.
Sometimes I joined the ladies in the kitchen.
I learned some things about Indianand Nepali
cooking and it was always really nice to talk
to them.
They spoke a little English. Often I underlined
what I said with acting and that made all of us
laugh. We usually laughed a lot together.
