| « Previous | Home | Next » | wompen 27 May, 2006 |
 photo: sue lindley wompen... wompen... the sound floated over the river as we chugged slowly through the backwaters: a gaggle of children were running along the riverbank parallel to us; waving, smiling and shouting out this strange refrain, 'wompen', as we passed. we smiled and waved back. all along the river people of all ages stopped and watched our progress: young men digging silt from the river bed by hand and loading it onto flat boats that, to my eyes, already seemed dangerously low in the water; women slapped their washing onto the rocks to extract the last drop of water; others washed their silver or brass tea sets, carefully buffing them into a high shine; and all along the way people swam, bathed and smiled. wompen... the small boy came up to the boat as we stopped and waited for lunch, a big smile on his face, 'wompen?' he asked repeatedly. and then it clicked, ONE PEN was what they were all asking, the children we saw as we travelled. and later it was confirmed: the area was not poor enough for any real begging, everyone was fed, but they did have problems with things such as school supplies; all the kids wanted was a decent pen to take to school and perhaps boast about how they'd gotten it from a western tourist. this little boy got his just reward and we got our photo. | |
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Posted by suelindley Archived under: india, people |
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