No photo yet to accompany this – typically, I forgot to take one – so in the meantime, a snap from the Spoken English class this morning. Two people who had come to the one class some weeks back reappeared today, and contributed little. But actually, just about everyone was floored by the discussion I initiated. I asked them about Nepalese attitudes to relations between boys and girls, and how they thought this might affect their future, and while none of them thought there would be any arranged marriage for them, not one of them had anything to say on the matter; they really had not given it any thought, and now that the matter was raised, they seemed to think such things would sort themselves out. Which in its own way is refreshingly innocent.
We did go on to a couple of subjects: corporal punishment, which they disagreed upon violently – not on whether it does, or should, exist in schools, but whether it was dished out equally harshly to boys and girls. And politeness, which they seemed to assume was a national characteristic, while I pointed out road behaviour, which was anything but, as well as casual rudeness – butting in in queues, not acknowledging gestures of consideration, such as giving way on the pavement.
So far as rehearsal for the production was concerned, today was Pujari day. We had finally recruited a new Pujari – the Friar Laurence equivalent, so today was entirely given over to taking him through his scenes. Madan, the boy in question, certainly looks the part, but the fact that he speaks not a word of English does give me some problems, all the more so when Khushi is not really acting, as I hoped she might, as my voice in Nepali. Nonetheless, we did manage, in the time, to get through almost all of his scenes, and the various people he had to act with were all there… which in itself was both a relief and something of an accomplishment. And actually Madan grew in confidence and delivery throughout. I could scarcely ask for more in the circumstances.
