I used to hate doing laundry. And just looking back at that sentence makes me laugh. Ha! Did I really hate trekking a pile of clothes the short distance from my bedroom to the laundry room, shoving them in the washing machine, slopping a cup of soap inside and pressing the start button? Really??? Because now I hand pump water into a couple of buckets, carefully measure out my rationed detergent, let the clothes soak for a while to get some of the grime out and then scrub each individual piece. Then I rinse each piece at the hand pump, wring it out as best as I can, hang everything up on the makeshift clotheslines and pray for sun and no rain. Two days later, everything is dry. Mostly.
I’ve realized that the simple life, A.K.A. village life, just isn’t that simple. You want tea with milk? Go outside and milk the water buffalo. You want to go to the bathroom? Get your shoes and coat! Walk to the squatty potty, lock the door with a stick and try your best not to touch anything – it’s not exactly sanitary in there. Flush with a bucket, throw your T.P. in the overflowing T.P. trash and wash your hands at the hand pump. But make sure you keep your currently washed-hands away from your mouth for the rest of the day – the water is not safe for consumption. You want to take a shower? I’ll give you three words: cold bucket shower. Use your imagination to fill in the details.
Maybe you want to get a job and earn some money? Physical labor is your only option, no office jobs available at the moment! You can try your hand at basket weaving, goat herding or sugar cane planting/harvesting. I should mention that women do all of these tasks in saris, which are basically yards of fabric draped around you and the skirt part reaches to your feet. Oh and the children are involved too – they work just as hard as the adults.
Maybe it sounds like I’m complaining about life here. Well, I may have been at the beginning of the month. But I’m learning. I’m learning that village life is not a hardship or a trial to overcome. On the other hand, it is not a simple utopian lifestyle that everyone with a smartphone should secretly crave. It’s not dreary, but neither is it magical. It is just life.
My first reaction to the so-called “simple” life was discomfort. I secretly thought, “Have I regressed back to an ancient civilization where every little thing is hard, time-consuming and inconvenient?” The answer is a definitive “NO”. I haven’t time traveled at all. I’ve just entered the lives of another people. I have breathed their smoky air, walked their stony roads and even worked alongside them in their communities. I have lived their lives.
And will my life be different after this month? Well, I don’t plan on giving up my washing machines or western toilets forever – but I think I will be a little more thoughtful. I don’t need those things – they are only tools I use to live my somewhat simpler life. And I might think about the simple fact that life is a gift, no matter what kind of life we live.
