Dear Wify,
Greetings from Ura.
The term “chilled to the bones” is applicable to this place, because the wind literally chills deep into your bones. The mornings are frosty white, the evening’s chilly dark. Summers are almost non-existent, while winters are literally cold. The barren landscape is riddled with stones, while the smoke from the homesteads paints the skies above the valley. Somewhere at the base is the village of Ura, with the local school hugging its side.
These past few days I spent here in Ura, I have found out that people have a love-hate relationship with this place. Some will certainly say that they love this place. Some say they have adjusted to this place. But there are some who will be blunt and say that they hate this place.
I am here on official duty. I know most of the staff here and am in the process of getting to know the unknowns. The community seems kind and people smile at me when I meet them on my occasional traverses across the dusty track that connects the school with the highway.
3G is nonexistent here and the local are adjusted with the Edge or GPRS data reception. The school has wifi but the signal gets lost among the many walls that separate me from the port. Every home has a Bukhari, and those who doesn’t have, installed electrical heating. So, the meager Altitude allowances that the government metes out are justifiable.
So I went around asking why they do it…. Why they choose to stay here, to work here, to settle here…in this unforgiving land.
I feel for these people who have to travel all the way to Chamkhar for all their shopping, or to fuel their car….and even to withdraw their salary from the Bank, where it is deposited. But me, I’m returning to my Jakar by the second week of December. Ura is a good place to visit, but not to work for long.
With Love,
Hubby KK.
Greetings from Ura.
The term “chilled to the bones” is applicable to this place, because the wind literally chills deep into your bones. The mornings are frosty white, the evening’s chilly dark. Summers are almost non-existent, while winters are literally cold. The barren landscape is riddled with stones, while the smoke from the homesteads paints the skies above the valley. Somewhere at the base is the village of Ura, with the local school hugging its side.
These past few days I spent here in Ura, I have found out that people have a love-hate relationship with this place. Some will certainly say that they love this place. Some say they have adjusted to this place. But there are some who will be blunt and say that they hate this place.
I am here on official duty. I know most of the staff here and am in the process of getting to know the unknowns. The community seems kind and people smile at me when I meet them on my occasional traverses across the dusty track that connects the school with the highway.
3G is nonexistent here and the local are adjusted with the Edge or GPRS data reception. The school has wifi but the signal gets lost among the many walls that separate me from the port. Every home has a Bukhari, and those who doesn’t have, installed electrical heating. So, the meager Altitude allowances that the government metes out are justifiable.
So I went around asking why they do it…. Why they choose to stay here, to work here, to settle here…in this unforgiving land.
“Children rarely get sick in cold places because compared to warm places, bacteria cannot thrive over here. So I stay here for my children”
“I was compelled to come here. But now that I have stayed here for three years, I kind-of have adjusted to the weather”
“You have never seen Ura in summer. It is beautiful. The colors are warm”
“Somebody has got to work here. It might as well be me; else someone else might have to suffer like me”
“My DEO sent here. I don't hate it but I am looking for a transfer”
I feel for these people who have to travel all the way to Chamkhar for all their shopping, or to fuel their car….and even to withdraw their salary from the Bank, where it is deposited. But me, I’m returning to my Jakar by the second week of December. Ura is a good place to visit, but not to work for long.
With Love,
Hubby KK.
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| [During one of the sunny days, when it is still winter in the shade.] |
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| [And the sun burns your skin...] |