Peora, Nainital (India Part 2)

Finally getting around to this.

Perhaps I’ll say a few words about what I did here before the photos all appear.

Spending my winter break in India, I volunteered at a non-governmental organisation, Aarohi located in Peora. It’s a village town up in the mountains of Nainital, and the organisation there provides healthcare, schooling by funding through donations and their own ‘livelihood’ programme. I stayed in a homestay, with a local family. What impressed me the most is the perseverance of the community, the tenacity and joy of the people. In my time there, I took some photos of them, as part of of beefing up their future publications, newsletters (e.g. corporate material), and photos for their instagram account -> hopefully, if I have the chance to go back I would be able to devise a better plan for marketing and sales, or perhaps for some academic research on my own.

Nonetheless, the photos are a tribute to the place, and many stories find themselves deeply rooted in the photos; and perhaps, would be better explained by the captions.

morning, off to school (for them), off to work (for me). this was a fog that greeted me every morning, on my hike up. my hike up was roughly half-an-hour long up, and twenty minutes down.

cleaning in the morning

classroom, just before class.

a morning assembly of sorts, this was a special assembly, that I have yet to discover why.

studying after school.

three generations of women, the women of the homestay I was living in

mother, firewood for the colder evenings.

daughter, hot water, and heat. she usually prepares the meals after school.

grandmother, sitting. she’s usually sitting beside a fire by time i get back (the temperature dips significantly)

elder son, playing cricket. this is when i first learnt the basic rules of cricket. they were using a makeshift ball of sorts.

younger son, studies and stays outside the household in the next municipality of Almoura. came back for the winter break.

switching over back to Aarohi, golden bottles of Almond oil that they retail

a lady at work, dripping liquid gold into bottles

a similar view, sifting some almond powder (i think?)

drying flowers, and talking.

squaring the soap bar by hand

a rest day for me, but a work day for the women.

a scene to catch on my rest day

the father of the house brings me for fish shopping (for christmas and the new year), waiting for transport and watching a card game

buying fish, i still have no idea where this fish comes from. perhaps Nainital?

back to work, injections. this was to prepare these women for tubal ligation, temporary form of vasectomy encouraged by the government for family planning.