Post 8- Elephant's tail

             If 2018 had an unpredictable weather profile, 2019 started with a point to prove. We have not had such a snow fall for years and snow-rain profile till now has been anything but funny. We also got a fair share of the blessings from top. As a result, the work that had been kept up despite all the hurdles, came to standstill at a time when we were almost there. Yes, it was like fabled elephant's tail getting stuck in the eye of a needle even after whole of elephant has somehow managed to pass through the same hole.

                 Despite all the logistical hurdles and unpredictable weather, we were able to push on...

 The first block had its roof readied and walls mud-plastered even while it rained around us; rainy season dragged on like never before

As the first block was getting readied and an adhoc rain harvesting contraption was put in place, the work on the upper floor of the second block began by the time it was early autumn

Upper floor of Block No 2 (two storeyed) was constructed after onset of winters

Cafe-cum-Kitchen had its roof completed despite numerous issues with voltage and huge amount spent on hiring, lugging and running a gen set

 The cottage block, constructed in a traditional wood-stone /kath-kuni way (duly modified though) took lot of time to come up. Work started on its roof after cafe roof was finished

What started as a snow shower,.....

 ......ended up as a three feet deep white cover and.....

......many times over!!

The complete main structure has a 1.5 storeyed building, a double storeyed and a three storeyed one

                    Two months of work was lost and that too at a stage when external structure was almost ready and internal work had just about begun...

One of the washrooms

The pseudo stones (tiles) in shower area

              For a casual observer, the time being taken is much on higher side. But the ground reality is that remoteness of the place means no outside labour (only five locals have been employed as labourers- by design -and none from outside- by compulsion since no one wants to walk up daily to work when work is available elsewhere too). Then one mason, one team of welders-cum-roof makers and such like skill holders and that's why all this delay.

         All the tiring effort, slogging and hard work as well as frustration gets forgotten when one climbs a flight of stairs and finds such views from windows and ventilators.........

Hanuman ji Tibba greets us on 24x7 basis