Regardless of regular school attendance or classes in various cultural, sports or scouting groups led by adults, children and youth of the estate also participated in other activities and entertainment organized spontaneously. They filled their daily lives and often constituted quite an attraction. The most interesting ones included trips to nearby villages such as Kira, Hadiana or the nearby town of Balachadi, and in the case of older youth – trips to the city of Jamnagar. The favorite activities of the youngest were also collecting peacock feathers among cacti, searching for red berries growing on thorny bushes, picking fruits from wild fig or date trees, bathing in the sea…

During the monsoon, when the weather did not allow for sports activities in the estate, the boys would necessarily amuse themselves with various games. These were mostly games of skill, e.g. a game of pebbles, a dangerous game-game with penknives, a peculiar game of postage stamps on a table top, a game of throwing buttons or steel wires against a wall… Especially in the latter, some boys, in the heat and passion of the competition, were able to lose even their own buttons from everyday trousers or shirts, or simply stopped having anything to write with, because this game was associated with a certain risk – the risk of losing the collected collections (such as the collection of buttons). The salvation was then barter. Lost buttons or steel wires, lost to friends, could be “bought back” with peacock feathers, collected berries or dates, or some other useful item. The more inventive boys made playing cards from cardboard, secretly constructed slingshots for shooting, and – in defiance of prohibitions – dangerous firearms from materials available in the estate.

Most of the youth participated in tidying up and planting flowers and shrubs in the alleys between the blocks. The almost ritual activities of the estate residents also included greeting and receiving the numerous guests visiting the estate. An interesting activity of some of the youth was also taking part in voluntary work in a mini-farm set up by Alfred Burdze, who was a teenager at the time. As a bird and animal fanatic, gifted with an extraordinary sense of organization, the boy ran a large livestock farm in the estate for several years, which significantly “supported” the estate kitchen.

It all started with two small ducklings given to him by Maharaja Digvijaysinhji. Soon the multiplied pair turned into a flock of several dozen. Then the resourceful boy set up a large henhouse and, using kitchen waste, started raising pigs. Apart from this breeding and its practical aspect related to providing food products, the team that had managed to form around Burdze’s enterprise (and to help him at the same time) started to tame local pigeons, squirrels and peacocks. The crowning achievement of the enterprising boy (who drew some profit from his breeding) was the taming of a mongoose. He liked to walk around the estate with it. He secretly kept the scorpions he had caught locked up, to the delight of the initiated, arranging fratricidal battles with them from time to time.

But although everyday life in the settlement was dominated by various activities of young people and children, it is worth mentioning that they were not the only ones – apart from adults: the commandant, Father Franciszek Pluta, school teachers, or guardians who organized their charges’ time – who constituted a group of residents. After all, several dozen people serving the settlement in Balachadi came from among the indigenous Indians. The Indians performed various service functions, from manual workers and craftsmen to music teachers and doctors. The most numerous group among them were workers responsible for maintaining cleanliness in the settlement. Another group were local craftsmen, providing simple shoemaking, tailoring, carpentry services, etc. Both of these groups were recruited from the villages closest to the settlement. The third group were Indians, who performed the functions of kitchen boys. They were brought to the settlement by Maharaja Digvijaysinhji from Goa – a former Portuguese colony in India. In addition, two musicians from the military unit in Okha were staying in Balachadi, leading a local youth orchestra. The settlement was also served by three Indian doctors: Dr. Kirit Ashani, Dr. Anant Johsi and Dr. Tawinder Singh. The first two were residents of nearby Jamnagar and were sent to work among Polish children by Maharaja Digvijaysinhji, the third was appointed to the settlement by the Antimalarial Institute in Delhi. In addition, a very important function in Balachadi was played by Narry Marshall, a Parsi by origin (a follower of the ancient Iranian religion – Zoroastrianism, also known as Zoroastrianism), who was responsible for, among other things, finding local, reliable food contractors and conducting all financial settlements with them. Bahan, the caretaker-assistant of the estate commander, Father Pluta, also enjoyed great sympathy in the estate. All the Indian workers were very good, dedicated workers, many of them learned to speak Polish quite well, and the children and youth from the estate and the Polish staff had great sympathy for them.