July 19

We started off the day with a healthy Indian breakfast. The group also enjoyed some popcorn made by Isabel and George (who doesn’t love popcorn at 8 in the morning?). After breakfast, we made our way over to the school to finish up any last minute touches on our community service project, and to spend our last day in Kotri with all of the students. Thankfully, the hard rainfall from the previous day didn’t ruin our murals too much, so only a few quick touch ups were required. We spent the majority of our time at the school with the kids. We sang songs, had dance parties, took pictures together, and made giant bubbles with dish soap that the kids would chase down and pop. It was a bittersweet (and soapy) morning spent at the Kotri school. After saying goodbye to all the kids, the group made its way back to our Kotri home. Here, we ate lunch together. We had maggi (ramen noodles), chapati, rice, lentils, vegetables, and of course chai. After a fulfilling lunch, we spent the afternoon cleaning our rooms and packing our bags in preparation for our departure the next day. We also took this time to roam around the village together, saying goodbye to the families we have befriended during our stay in the village. In addition, we retrieved our tailored outfits and embroidered chunnies that we have been working on, alongside with local artisans, for the past 20 days. At around four o’clock, two local women came over to Kotri Raola to help us get dressed in our new, traditional Indian outfits. It was so nice to see the group come together, especially after putting in so much hard work into these special outfits. After getting dressed, the group assembled in the courtyard. What better way to celebrate our time spent in Kotri than to have a dance party with all the local villagers? (If you can’t tell by now, the locals love dancing, and so do we!) Because we were the hosts of the party, we had to kick it off with some Indian food and traditional dances. The food consisted of samosas, kachori, peda (small, round Indian sweet), and namkeen (Indian trail mix). The villagers were pleased with our dance moves as well. The group has had two dance classes, which were led by local women, so our dance moves were on-point. We performed a traditional Rajasthani dance, in a circle, to the beat of live drums. We really know how to kick off a party! The moment we finished our dance, all the kids jumped up to dance with us. The group danced to Hindi music with the locals for a couple of hours. Even the rain couldn’t stop our dance moves! After our party was over and we said bye to all the friends we have made, the group went back inside for dinner. For dinner we enjoyed a group favorite, puri (thinly fried dough that is traditionally served as street food). Alongside puri we ate rice, chapati, masala chickpeas, and vegetables. In case you don’t know, half birthdays are very important to this Putney group, so we all enjoyed chocolate and pineapple cakes to celebrate Grace and Alta’s half birthdays, as well as all the work we have accomplished for the school. Just when we thought the night was over, our leaders encouraged us to have a dance party of our own. The group danced together, this time to some American music. We showed off a mix of our Indian moves and American moves, all while still wearing our traditional Indian outfits. After our second dance party, we washed up and got ready for bed. It was an incredible and eventful last day in the village.