The gods must be crazy

Sonam Wangchuk

19. September 2008

Day 5:
It's 10 at night and its raining cats and dogs. No that would be too mild for the present rain in this Bardiya district with a famous national park by the same name, so shall I say it's raining elephants and rhinos?

Weather gods are not happy with us, I have not seen such rains in the monsoon months and we are well into the month of Asoj. Our Guru ji who has a very very strong French accent and normally has an air of monk-like seriousness around him goes ' So wat hapaaan? you wer sooppose to be over with monsoon rrains ha!'

Work was again disrupted for a few hours today. Still we managed to put all the windows back and add five courses of blocks. It sounds more than it is because with all the windows in place there are fewer blocks to be laid.

Thunder and lightening

It's 5 in the morning and it's still raining, only this time it is accompanied by storm, thunder and lightning. One thing is clear that the weather gods are not cooperating. And we were told from Asoj it does not rain-- yes, wat hapaaan?

Mark Twain famously said 'Everybody complains about the weather but nobody does anything!'

What is worse is that its hard to know whether the weather gods just don't want us to build, have some instructions from above, if they are just jealous or are they doing it all to extract some chiya paani ko kharcha (palm greasing/bribe). One thing is for sure that if it is the last one then they are not going to get it. See! it is us, people, who spoil them, we just grease their palms at the drop of a hat and then become victims of our own ugly creation.
Jokes apart I am worried how we can continue the work....

To console myself I remember this Urdu couplet that has always given me strength-

Falak ko zid hai jahaan bijliyan giraane ki
Hamein bhi zid hai wahin aashiyan banaane ki.

A crude translation would be:

Where the skies (gods) insist they would strike thunder and lightening.
It is there that we too insist we shall build our home.

The weather gods must be crazy

Oh my God! Its 6.30, I just went outside and it is a flood-like situation out there, the neighbour's courtyard and the nearby park are all under water. And the rain is only increasing. Gods must be crazy! And angry. Could they have read my diary?! I should submit this diary as it may not remain funny anymore and besides it will not even be Day 5 anymore.

And you there! What are you doing reading diaries on web sites when other people are drowning? Come on! Its time you start organising some flood relief!!!

Today's tip: What happens to earth blocks in the rain?

Talking of rains you might be wondering with all the rains what happens to earth blocks. Earth in nature is unstable in water but when you add sand and 5% cement or lime, it gets stabilised and water does not have the same effect that it has on raw earth. Cement particles together with the sand particles in the mixture make a kind of solid jail around mud particles, in a way that they do not let the mud move. While the compression strength of wet CSEB blocks is slightly lower than that of dry ones, it is still very strong even after weeks and months in water and at Auroville they have kept one block dipped in water for 12 years.
Sorry weather gods! You can't do much there.