Driving Miss Crazy!

I woke up this morning with a mosquito bite, smack dab in the middle of my upper lip. I looked like a juvederm treatment gone bad.. Perfect start to a day of picture taking. ;)

We left Lucky's around 6am to try to beat most of the crowd to the Taj and to get to see the famous sunrise hues. Everyone else had the same idea. They had separate lines for Indian women, foreign women, Indian men, and foreign men. Simon appropriately noted this was one of the few times he wished he was an Indian woman... Their line was significantly shorter.

Everyone told me that the Taj looks just like the pictures and several said that they were underwhelmed by the monument. I could not disagree more! I was struck with awe after turning the corner and seeing it in the distance! Just like the Eiffel tower and "the David", my mind could not fathom the actual size of the structure without seeing it with my own eyes. Breathtaking! I'll post pictures on Facebook, but they will look just like everyone else's pictures, 2-D and boring. Go there, people!

After hanging around the Taj for a couple hours and snapping some of my standard "look at me, I'm in front of something important" shots, we headed back to Lucky's for breakfast. Everyone ordered the American breakfast... I made sure to make note to my America-hating companions about their succumbing to the US's worldly power. They weren't as amused. ;)

Next stop was the Agra fort. Again, pictures don't do it justice. Massive... And entirely poor use of resources (marble)... But I guess that's what history has going for it. Between these two monuments, I have become very intrigued by Shah Jahan (the builder of the Taj for his FAVORITE wife and a co-constrictor of parts of the Agra fort). If it's marble, it's Jahan. Sadly, this man lost his wife at a young age, built her a massive monument that took 17 years to construct, then was held captive BY HIS SON, in his own fort, with a view overlooking the monument of his dead lover. Sad day. And then the British came and all went to hell... Gotta love colonialism

I had some time to kill before heading out, so Lucky took me down to the south bazar for some henna that I've been wanting. Some guy on a street corner came highly suggested from Lucky's wife... She was correct. He seriously finished my entire right arm in less than 15 mins. I was too broke for both arms, so I settled with one. Pics to come.

Lucky came back to pick me up on his motorcycle. I braved the one-arm grasp ride (to not smudge my henna) through Agra on his bike. While I consider him a good driver for Indian standards.... There were a couple moments when I feared for my life... Or at least the skin on my legs.

On that note, let me explain to you the details of driving in India:
1) the only necessary supplies you need are a working horn, gas pedal, and headlights that can flash. Rear-view mirrors, road lines, brakes, helmets/seat belts... These are all obstacles getting in the way of traveling from point A to point B in the most aggressive manner possible.
2) if you are passing someone on the left, honk. If you are passing someone on the right, honk. If you want someone to move over so you can pass them... if you want someone to go faster than they are going... if you see a pedestrian too close to your path... or if you are traveling 40+ MPH in the wrong lane with a car coming head on as equally as fast.... Honk. Sometimes flashing your lights is necessary as well, but I'm unsure as to when this is the case.

Thus, you can hear the excitement in my voice as I tell you that Lucky suggested I take a taxi to Delhi from Agra (a 4 hour trip). He "knows a guy" (just like everyone else in India), so he got me a good deal on a driver for the trip (about as much as it would cost to get to O'hare from my apt in Chicago), so I took him up on the offer. Things started out safely, but eventually became nothing short of riding in a demolition derby on the highway. There were a couple times when the driver slipped on his seat belt. This terrified me... What could be ahead that he knows about that I don't?! Oh, and the buckle to MY seatbelt was nowhere to be found!

I tried to just close my eyes and take a nap, but my 19 year old driver (and self-proclaimed new best friend) found it necessary to learn everything about my personal life possible. The obvious question, "are you married" always makes me want to lie... But then I would have to make up a series of lies afterwards that will inevitably follow... So I just told the truth. This was followed by "you not married?! everything ok? No problem?". No sir, there's nothing wrong with me. ;)

Alas, I made it to Delhi in one piece, although some of my dignity may have remained in the car. After getting through security I ran into Sheetal (a friend from med school that was also studying in India, but in a different part of the country)! We sat, drank, and discussed our adventures.... And I realized how excited I am to be going home to see my friends and family. What a fantastic end to an even more fantastic trip! Thanks for reading, and I'll see you back in the good ol' US of A!

Lucky Day!

What a wonderful weekend to cap off my time in India! We boarded the train last night at 6pm and arrived at Mathura at 4:15am. Although the rail system isn't quite as nice as "the Darjeeling limited" portrayed it to be, I didn't see a single rodent on the train. It was interesting to go to the bathroom in a hole through which you can see the train tracks passing by.... Don't think I'd want to walk the tracks in this country.

Ram surprised us at the station in Mathura by having his brother pick us up in an SUV. Best surprise car ever, according to Alice.... I have to agree. As we traveled through the town, in the dark, to our first temple of the day, I thought to myself, "holy f**k! I'm in the trunk of an SUV, in India, with a group of people from all over the world that I had no idea existed 2 weeks ago!" At this point I realized that my life is fantastic!

We got to the first temple, the birthplace of the Lord Krishna a tad bit too late, so we had to sight see for a couple hours until it opened again. We went to 3 other temples, including a garden where Krishna used to take his love. The place was swarming with monkeys! I seriously feared having my face eaten for the first 15 minutes. After a while, the monkeys just became cute to watch. They are in the process of taking over that town!

We returned to the birthplace temple at 6:30am and were finally allowed to enter. We browsed to look at the architecture and history before the ceremony started. It began with singing/chanting and culminated in the opening of 3 shrines, one at a time. Each time one opened, the crowd fell to the floor and sang in harmony "hare krishna". It took my breath away. Some of the others found it creepy, but I found it wonderfully inspiring. Extremely spiritual!

Next on our trip was a visit to Fatehpur Sikri, an ancient sandstone Mughal town completely abandoned. The architecture was amazing! After seeing all the extravagant buildings and rooms the king had made for his harem, I'm beginning to think my boyfriend needs to step it up a bit (and I haven't even been to the Taj yet)!

We made it to Agra just after noon, but with a full 8 hours behind us already. Ram has a friend, Lucky, in Agra who owns a restaurant and guest house, and who agreed to let us stay for the night. After a quick shower and nap, Ram came to take us to his house in a village just outside Agra. Perhaps my favorite part of the trip thus far!

The entire neighborhood under the age of 15 came over and just stared at us for a couple hours; us, not knowing their language, and they not knowing ours. We managed to entertain to some degree, although the shadow animals made with a head lamp only lasted so long ;). The power went out at least 3 times while we were there, so we spent half of our visit by candle-light. Ram's mother and sister in laws made us a spectacular authentic Indian dinner! It was very interesting to watch them make chapattis by hand over a fire fueled with cow dung (very resourceful). While we may not have been able to express our gratitude in words, I hope our empty plates made a strong enough statement!

And now I'm back at Lucky's, exhausted, and ready to wake up at 4:30 for the Taj at sunrise!

Chalo

Chalo = "let's go" in Hindi (one of the 3 words I learned in 2 weeks)

Today is my last day in Udaipur. I'm sad to say good-bye. Such a short trip, but I have truly begun to see charm in the daily life of the people here. The majority of my day thus far has been spent recovering from the past 2 days of Holi celebration. The color, which has not completely washed off my skin, stands as a reminder of the craziness of the celebration.... my lethargy, however, is a reminder I could do without.

We packed our bags and stashed up on food for the 12 hour train ride to Agra that starts in just a few hours. The Taj Mahal is amongst the few amazing sites planned. I'm excited to get to see some more of the countryside, and I've been putting on my game face for the potential of rodents/insects on our sleeper car. Game face go!

Sitting on the roof today, drinking our instant coffee, talking about my visit and contemplating future endeavors in travel, I realized the amazing friendships that have been formed over my trips abroad... and Udaipur has been no different. I will miss these girls (and Ram, of course)! I'm promising to send real coffee from the U.S.

Happy Holi

Today is the eve of Holi in the Hindu religion. It is a spring tradition based on celebrating the escape of Prahlad, a devotee of Vishnu, from the fire that the Demoness Holika carried him into (think shadrach, meshach, and abednego). Tonight we went down to Jagdish Temple to see the burning of a special bonfire, known as Holika Dahan (burning of Holika) or Chhoti Holi (little Holi), which has a center made of a wood that does not burn, for symbolization. Unfortunately, my phone died so I couldn't get any footage of the actual burning... There was a lot of fireworks.... And indian men groping the few white girls that braved the Old City to watch. We actually were interviewed by local tv station.... Famous!

Afterwards, everyone celebrates Holi by throwing colored powders all over everyone (see my Facebook pic for a visual). We will continue the celebration through tomorrow (the actual day of Holi) by day drinking of alcohol and bhang (Wikipedia it!) and throwing colors all over each other some more. Indians know how to throw an awesome party!!

Frustrations

Frustration. Frustration with the heat. Frustration with the Internet not working. Frustration with eating daal everyday. Frustration with bathing out of a bucket. Most of all, frustration that I am getting frustrated by these things.

I have been to developing countries, I have lived without air conditioning through the 115 degree Italian summer, I have hitch-hiked in Costa Rica, and I have camped in a tent in Juarez for a week, so why are these subtleties bothering me so much now? Have I grown too accustom to the American life or am I just getting too old for this? I guess I need to step back and figure out how I want my time in India to be spent. Do I want to experience the best of India, or do I want to live the life of an Indian? It is unauthentic, in my opinion, to bring an American life to where you travel, as you should see a country in the viewpoint of those that live there. Yet, I sit here writing on my iPad, connecting to the world via Facebook,.... And complaining.

My mom made some comment yesterday about me sacrificing my comfort to help others. While I understand her intentions, I disagree. I am capable of helping the less fortunate in my apartment in Chicago. I can live in a luxury high rise and write a big check for some NGO. By coming here, I am sacrificing my comfort to help myself; to better understand the culture and strife of individuals across the globe. To see the world from their prospective. In the long run, I will go home a changed human being, but they will continue on the same.

Strangely, I'm not as frustrated anymore.

Sunday Funday

Sunday is the one day a week that Indians don't work (although the amount if work they do during the week is debatable). Typically, the office at seva mandir is empty until 10:30am, then there is a 2 hour power outage everyday to conserve energy (usually starting at 11 or 12), and then chai breaks happen at 3, and then most are employees are done by 4:30-5. But alas, Sunday is the day of rest.

We decided to go to a royal cemetery this morning after enjoying our watermelon for breakfast. The "cemetery" is, according to Ram, the place where they took royalty after death. Indians don't bury their dead, they cremate them, so the location at which they were cremated, a structure was built in their honor (a cenotaph). They are almost all made out of marble and are beautiful. Upon entering, we were told there was no photography, unless of course we wanted to pay the guard ;). We chose to take our pictures secretly. We found one of the largest monuments and sat on the steps in the shade for a while and just hung out(or as Ram says, "just chatted with some white chicks").

We sought shade because the heat is slowly creeping in. When I first arrived, the days were similar to our spring, and the nights were chilly enough to require a heavy blanket to sleep. Now, only a week later, it's reaching ~97 degrees when the sun is up, and the mosquitoes are beginning to bite. Perhaps I should be a little more diligent with my malaria meds.

After the trip back to the dorm, I took a short (well, maybe I should say "adequate") nap to keep myself out of the sun and to enjoy a lazy Sunday. Then, I made my first adventure alone down to the Old City. I first went to Jagdish temple which is right in the center of the old city, and it appeared from all the color on everyone that they were already beginning Holi (again, I'll eventually get a post about the holiday). Inside the temple, people were playing instruments, singing, and dancing. I took a video and put it on Facebook.

After the temple, I roamed around the city looking for some gifts and souvenirs, and then made my way back to Fatehpura circle where I live.

A couple mistakes/typos/incorrect ipad autocorrects from previous posts:
5 rupees = 10 cents
Colander was supposed to be coriander

Weekend!

My goings-on in the past 2 days:

Last night, Alli, Alice, ram (local employee of seva who lives at the dorms), and Eva (PhD student from Lithuania) made dinner. It was nice to finally get to help out with some of the food preparation, and it turned out quite delicious! I'm sure that adding cumin, colander, and turmeric in any combination to any food would probably end up tasting the exact same though ;)

I slept in today (imagine that), and got some Thali for lunch (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thali). After getting home, we then went through the complicated process of getting train tickets to Agra for next weekends trip to the Taj Mahal. Apparently the tickets to Agra are sold out, so we had to get tickets to a city on the outskirts and will have to take a bus into Agra. Fortunately, the city that we arrive in is the birthplace of Krishna, so we will get to spend an afternoon seeing some sights before hopping the bus. The real issue came with finding train tickets home. This doesn't affect me because I will be hopping a bus to Delhi to catch my flight home, but it posed a problem for the rest of the gang. We had to personally all go down to the train station to figure it all out, but alas, we succeeded (with much help from Ram).

On the way home we stopped for some coffee (a delight I have missed greatly), and bought a watermelon on the walk back to the apartment. Tonight we plan on going to Fateh Sagar lake and eating some momos (wikipedia it!). Apparently all the cool kids go to Fateh Sagar after dark to hang out. My first time being cool... Super excited!

Project

Well, yesterday I went to talk to the person in charge of the health unit at seva to figure out what my project will be. It was presumed that I would take over where juleigh nowinski and jesseca sheng (other UICers) left off, which would be going into the villages to the health camps and making sure that the workers there were doing their job correctly (blood pressure, hemoglobin checks, referring when necessary, etc). However, next week is Holi week (an entirely new blog post to come in the future), so no one is going to be going out into the field. I was super disappointed! I asked what I could do to help out while in Udaipur, and Rudra (my coordinator) gave me the task of composing a booklet to give to the villages with information on preventing infant hypothermia and asphyxia, including parameters on when they should refer to a hospital. I'm excited to be contributing in a manner that is sustainable, but it is daunting to know that if I mess this up, it will have lasting effects (including possible infant death)!

I've done some research thus far on hypothermia and realized that it is far more common than I expected (mainly because it is getting so hot here couldn't imagine anyone being cold). I have found some practical methods of preventing it, but am reaching a dead end on how to know when to refer, simply because I'm not sure about the availability of thermometers in the rural areas. The sensitivity of simply determining hypothermia by touch is 25% for mothers and 34% by health care workers.... Not exactly a method I want to endorse.

Here's to hoping I get things figured out and will be able to help save lives even after my return to the states!

Udaipur

I guess I should talk a bit about my life outside of work, eh?

I live with (and have befriended) Alice from the UK and Alli from Ottowa. Other girls working at the organization but living at different sites are Amareth from New Hampshire, Christa from Seattle, Sophie from Amsterdam, and Sara from Montreal. We have all hung out quite a bit since my arrival and they have helped me much in getting food, clothing, cash, transportation.... and in seeing the sites of the town. Unfortunately, they have all been here for months already, so most of the things I'm wanting to do/see, they have already done/seen. Hopefully I can find some time to go on my own to get through my to-do list.

As far as the food goes, I have unfortunately not had an appetite since I've arrived. I'm not sure if it's the time change or what, but the thought of food makes me nauseous. I even bought Oreos at the store the other day, and couldn't even eat those :(. I have tried to eat some though, including some fantastic Indian cuisine (and some less fantastic). I'm unsure of what the name is (or the contents are) of majority of what I eat.... I just kind of take what people give me. The chai here is absolutely amazing though. I can get some outside the dorm on the street corner for 4 rupees (<1 cent) and most places you go will offer you some to enjoy (including the tailor where I went to get my kurta).

Speaking of kurtas, they are the longer shirts that most Indians wear with leggings or jeans (a more casual alternative to the saree). I bought three and a pair of leggings for less than $20. Another must of the indian attire is a scarf. I brought one from home, but have also purchased one here and plan on buying many more to take home. They are absolutely gorgeous (and much cheaper than the j.crew alternative)

To get around town, we generally take an auto rickshaw or a "bus" (a very slightly larger rickshaw). Seva mandir is on the northern side of the city, so we have to take the bus down to the old city where most if the shops and tourist spots are located. The bus is 5 rupees (~1 cent).

In general Udaipur is a very dirty and crowded city. It indeed has some charm and beauty, but for the most part I just feel like I need a shower all the time. It's almost as though they gave up on cleaning at all because of the immense amount of dust and dirt that accumulates in a short period of time. There is trash everywhere and cow shit scattered along the streets (which makes looking up at the buildings while you walk quite difficult). My mother wouldn't last a day.

Perhaps the thing that surprised me the most was the number of cows wandering the streets. It's just so odd to see a cow digging through the trash as opposed to a dog or rat. Traffic stops for them and they roam around as they please: downtown, in the alleys, in the villages, EVERYWHERE. Also, I was walking home from CCC yesterday and saw a family of pigs just wandering down the street. I'm in a city, people!

My favorite thing by far has been my car rides out to the villages. India is a beautiful country! There are miles of fields, speckled with a few Indian women in their brightly colored garb. School children in their uniforms walk along the road, and the occasional toddler runs around in the streams completely naked.

I guess that summarizes my time outside of work as of now. I'll try to do better at being a little more attentive to my readers ;). Miss you all!

CCC

The Internet at seva mandir doesn't work that well, so I haven't been able to post until now. My apologies to the 3 people who read this ;)

Yesterday I went to the Comunity Care Clinic (CCC) for HIV/AIDS patients. The clinic has 10 beds and sees both inpatients and outpatients: generally inpatient at first diagnosis and then outpatient for acute complaints. Usually, the patients present to their local village doctor with a presenting symptom and then are sent to the ART (anti-retroviral treatment) facility. From there, they are started on meds and sent to the CCC for a 5 day stay of monitoring drug reactions and extensive counseling. When I was there, they had 2 patients, a 14-year old infected at birth, being treated for oral thrush, and the other newly diagnosed without complaints.


After the 15 minutes it took to "round" on these patients, I spent the rest of the afternoon fielding questions from five 20-something Indian guys, including "are you married? when will you get married? Do your parents arrange your marriage? How money do you make? Can I see your iphone? Can I look at the pictures on your iphone? How much does an iphone cost? Can we be Facebook friends? Can I have your email address? Can I have your phone number? Will you come visit us if you ever come back to Udaipur?". I now have a dead iPhone battery and 4 new facebook friends, one of which opened a Facebook account right at that moment, just so we could be friends. Indian men are a strange breed.

For some reason my iPad won't let me post pictures to this blog, so I'll just post them on my Facebook page.

Universal healthcare

Today was day 2 of clinics in the village, but this time I went to Kojawara. The hospital there was very nice, and so was the other doc that was working there. I learned quite a bit about malaria and dysentery as well as some odd practices of treating cystoceles (apparently gaining weight prevents your bladder from prolapsing).... and even more about the ailments of constipation. I love the fact that this doc keeps saying "you won't find this in the books, but this is my treatment".

Yesterday there was a strike across India by what appears to be the equivalent of union workers. Since the busses weren't running, we had a very slow day at the clinic yesterday because no one could get there. I was hoping for a little more action today, but alas, we had 1 patient... And it was a hypertension follow-up.... Something as routine in the states as mcdonalds. Hopefully I'll get to see some interesting stuff while I'm here.

I did get into a lengthy conversation about health care with the other doc at the village hospital. He was telling me about how the government runs their healthcare system, as they view healthcare just as necessary as the police force. He asked about our system, "so the very poor have coverage, and the very old have coverage, and the rich can afford coverage, but what happens if a person has little money and no insurance and he gets cancer? Who takes care of him?" He was shocked and disappointed with my answer. I began explaining to him the new healthcare bill that was passed in the US, and he seemed amazed that it was just now a policy.

Tomorrow I work in the health clinic at seva mandir for patients in udaipur and surrounding areas with HIV/AIDS. I'm excited to see this clinic in action. As for now, I think I'm going to clean up to take a trip down to the old city for a nice dinner with my roommates!

Val, meet India.... India, meet Val

The gentle sound of a mosque call for prayer and the distant scent of campfire woke me from my sleep this morning before the sun rose. ah, I'm in India! It was my first day to go out into the villages to take a look at the healthcare system since I arrived (the past 2 days have been more or less getting accustom to going the the bathroom in a hole and having all dairy products at room temperature). After an hour long jeep ride into the country side (stopping every mile or so for wandering cows, goats, and a few monkeys), we made it to the remote village of kochla (which I tried to google last night unsuccessfully).

It was interesting to read Jessica Sheng's blog about her experience with the villages and the local doctor I was shadowing, because or experiences (and thoughts) were very similar. Like Jessica, I was amazed by the ability of this woman to diagnose only on physical exam. She could look at a patient and tell me that she had riboflavin deficiency or anemia and felt confident enough to give supplementation without any additional tests. Apparently B2 deficiency is quite common out here. She also explained to me how she performs many antenatal check ups without any if the fancy equipment that we use in the states. We're all just spoiled.

While I was impressed with many of her physical exam abilities, I also was a little apprehensive about some of her claims. Apparently she believes that constipation is the root of all ailments (including miscarriages and diabetes) and she doesn't seem to have any respect for the fact that although OB/Gyns are specialized, they still understand that systemic diseases exist and know to look out for them.

I didn't realize that I was supposed to bring my own lunch (which I'm not sure where I'm supposed to get said lunch), so thankfully the doc was ok with sharing hers. I'm beginning to realize that maybe I'm not a HUGE fan of REAL Indian food.... well, at least not anything with dairy.