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383   

Sun. March 20.

narrow troughs in the ground about six to 8 inches wide in all running the length of the street - right in front of the houses & shops. I saw several men, unselfconsciously squatting there, relieving themselves, They the trousers are a wonderful convenience & a good way to solve the problem - I should say, for lack of better means. In Rangoon I had seen the street water pumps for the people, here only the troughs of water for the animals. The men & women bring buckets to draw water from the same trough & sit about it washing their clothes while the bullocks & horses drink. Everywhere, I saw the cows & bullocks being washed & refreshed by their owners. These (sacred) animals sit about casually in every conceivable spot. Details - young girl with hennaed palms, man combing his long hair & knotting it on top before putting on his turban, the lacquer men use in their beards to hold the form of the face & head - 


384  

Sunday, March 20

women drawing water at the village well - rarely beautiful, with large clay pots on their heads, bodies half naked, faces covered, with wide dam skirts - [[image - drawing of woman's clothing]] the children, too, with smaller clay pots on their heads. Color & form everywhere. Women laborers at construction work, carrying piles of bricks on their heads, heroic looking figures. 

It was a glorious trip, & I got back to the hotel at 5.30 tired & elated. De Costa (Erick) came with his wife, Lila and two year old daughter - Bobo (Sirota) to call. They drove me to the Old Fort again & inside this time. There is the old building of the former kings - 400 yrs. old, where one of the kings slipped while walking down the stone stairs & broke his collar bone. Inside the fort, houses have been built for refugees from Pakistan. Luxurious, compared to the basha huts, being done away with in Rangoon. Also, the sight of the poorer Indian, being able to sleep wherever there is a spot of shade