India Week 8: Diwali, Pondicherry, Sari Shopping, Parrot Astrologers, A White Peacock, and A Minor Health Scare!

Hello again!


It's been a busy few weeks since my last post; India celebrated Diwali, I had to go to the hospital, I traveled by bus to another city, visited a beach here for the first time, had my fortune told, and had my scuba diving plans ruined by a cyclone....

My work here is busier than ever! I'm trying to finish up my first project, I'm in the middle of conducting a study for my second project, and getting started on a third!

I can't believe it's already been over two months! Where did the time go?! This post is going to be mostly pictures, I'm not feeling terribly witty or verbose at the moment... just tired I guess!

Before I delve into the play by play, here are some miscellaneous photos of daily life from the past few weeks...

My favorite housekeeping sister likes to braid my hair, the other day she put all these beautiful flowers in it as well :)

Temples built up the mountainside 

Procession 

Quite the load

Man-made lake used for bathing, washing clothes and praying

Men on one side, women on the other

I have no idea how she does it!

Your typical roadside stand

The motorcycle situation here is still baffling to me. The traffic flow is so erratic, speeding along, and then suddenly slamming on the breaks when a bus or a rickshaw pulls out in front of you, and swerving to avoid the potholes. And no one is wearing a helmet!!! Entire families fit onto one motorcycle, the record I've seen so far is five- a man, woman, and 3 children!

She's sitting side saddle and not even holding on!

Cricket and clothing lines in the dry riverbed  

The city

One thing I really love here, is the attention to detail. There are beautiful little touches like this all over the place, but if you rush through you'll miss them!

Some of the dogs here break my heart, especially the puppies! I wish I could take them all home.

This little guy was so sweet! He sat with me the entire time I was on the beach, he just wanted to play :) Poor thing had some kind of growth on his upper lip. 

A lot of the dogs look like this little fellow, bad mange, open sores and scars. I think my next project in India will be trying to take care of the stray animals here. 

This is me picking out a sari, you walk into a shop and they ask you to sit while they pull out different colors and designs from the shelves. Even if you know which one you want, they still insist on pulling out a dozen or so and laying them out in front of you.

Thor is in India! I don't know why, but I was really surprised when I saw this poser, so I had to take a photo. 

 As I was taking the photo above, this elderly man in his... what is that actually? A tricycle? Anyway, he got really excited and started gesturing to himself very enthusiastically. I should have known, he wanted me to take his picture! So I did, and then showed it to him. You might have thought I just told him he'd won a trip to the Bahamas or a new car the way he was smiling and shaking my hand!

The Butterfly 

I was walking back from lunch the other day, when I saw this gorgeous blue butterfly sitting on the ground,  falling over onto it's side, right where it could get stepped on! So without really thinking about it I crouched down to try to move it, or help it or something. But as soon as I tried to help it into my hand, I saw that the end of it's thorax was crushed. There was no helping it. 

But as I looked up for the first time, I saw that everyone around had stopped to see what I was doing... my first thought was "oh god... I look like a crazy foreigner". Then this very, very old man with a cane and huge coke bottle glasses leaned over and started speaking very gently to me in Tamil, as if he was trying to break the news of the butterfly's situation to me... 

But then as I stood up, his tone changed he started speaking very dramatically and emphatically, pointing at the butterfly with the end of his cane, and gesturing with his free hand. I still have no idea what he was saying, I have a feeling he may have been telling me a story from the gestures and the pointing, but it was a strangely special moment for me. I think perhaps because that old man understood somehow that I was trying to help the butterfly. 

I didn't have my camera that day, but I have seen him walking a few times since. We haven't spoken again, I don't think he has recognized me, but I always think about that butterfly, and the story he was trying to tell.

Safety (or lack thereof) in India

At home if there’s a giant hole in the sidewalk and somebody falls in and breaks their leg, the city will be out millions. Here if there’s a giant hole in the sidewalk and somebody falls in and breaks their leg, they better hope they can pay for the doctor visit and that they won’t get fired while they’re recovering.

This guy climbed the telephone pole like a monkey to service the power lines, with no safety equipment or anything. I’m staring up at him in shock, taking pictures, and no one around me can figure out why im so interested in what the man from the electric company is doing. 

This guy was jack hammering concrete with no shoes, no helmet and no ear or eye protection….

New Friends

I have been fortunate to meet some wonderful people here!

This is Stephanie and I with our tailor, he has made almost all of the clothes I've been wearing here in India.

Pooncholi has been an amazing friend to me, she has known my mentor at SEVA for over 20 years. Anytime I need help with something; buying a sari, finding a safe place to buy fruit, seeing an elephant, you name it Pooncholi is right there offering to help in any way she can.

I had my first home cooked authentic South Indian meal on the traditional banana leaf at Pooncholi's home with her family

Pooncholi and her husband have a charming little shop in Pudamundipum, I know I can always count on her to tell me what a good price for something is, everything I know about haggling, I learned from her.

Pooncholi putting the traditional jasmine flowers women wear in their hair here in her daughter Sophia's hair

Her daughter Sophia is 12, such a sweet girl! Her parents work very hard to send her to a private school; she wants to be an engineer!

Pooncholi's husband Vajyan has also been so kind and helpful to us, he's been our unofficial tour guide in Madurai.

Diwali 

Diwali is the biggest holiday in India, its like Christmas in the US. Diwali is celebrated by lighting small clay lamps filled with oil to signify the triumph of good over evil. These lamps are kept on during the night and one's house is cleaned, both done in order to make the goddess Lakshmi feel welcome. Fireworks are lit 24/7, Especially by children. People wear new clothes and share sweets and snacks with family members and friends.

I was invited to spend the holiday in Tirunelveli with the family of my supervisor, it was absolutely wonderful. Great people, great food- all you could want for a holiday celebration! 

People decorate the doorway of their homes with these beautiful, intricate sand designs

My first Sari :)

The crowd in the market- because of the tradition of buying new clothes for the holiday

Peacock Temple

Vijayan took Stephanie and I to visit this temple with hundreds of peacocks because he knows how much I love animals!

The peacock is the national bird of India, and is greatly celebrated here as both a cultural and religious icon.

A peacock seated on the washing line of the temple caretaker 

A peacock displaying to a peahen (hidden by the shrubbery on the right)

Beautiful surrounding mountains

I was fortunate to see the famous and illusive albino peacock while I was there!

You can just see his pure white tail feathers through the forest. Seeing the white peacock is supposed to be a very auspicious omen! 

Mountainside Temple

After the peacock temple, we visited this ancient temple carved into the mountainside thousands of years ago.

I thought this man might be the temple priest or something because of his all orange outfit, but when I inquired I was told that he "sits at the temple quietly". In other words he his a spiritual man who lives at the temple and spends his time praying and meditating.

Carvings inside the temple, notice the detailed scripture carved  into the walls

I believe this carving is of the dancing Shiva

Pyramid carved into the floor

Elephant carving in the floor

I kept trying to imagine the person kneeling in this same spot thousands of years ago, chipping away at solid rock to reveal this tiny detailed flower.

It's incredible to me that this writing is still visible after so much time

The monkeys here were very calm and peaceful, nothing like the marauding packs that terrorize children for food you hear about in other places.

The guard at the temple assured me they are friendly monkeys, so I sat down to watch them for awhile!

These little babies were fascinated by me, they crawled down the vines above my head and made little cooing curious noises to me

This man arrived with his bag full of banana chips, and one by one, each of the monkeys took a chip from his hand.

After all the monkey horror stories, I was surprised to see how polite they were when tempted with food!

The good news is, it wasn't typhoid!

It finally happened, after months of carefully monitoring the sources of my food, only drinking sealed bottled water, and peeling all my fruit and vegetables before eating them... something got through. I started feeling off on Monday afternoon, but by 10:00 Monday night, I knew something was very wrong. I was feverish, sweating, shaking, and loosing every ounce of liquid in my body. In between trips to the bathroom I consulted Web MD, and like every practically every Web MD user, quickly diagnosed myself with the most treacherous disease on the list; typhoid. I called my supervisor in the morning and was quickly escorted to the hospital, Thank goodness I only had to make it down the block (one of the perk of working at a hospital I guess) I could barely manage the walk across the street I was so weak! 

The doctor ruled out typhoid, and instead diagnosed me with severe food poisoning and dehydration. I wasn't convinced at first, because I couldn't imagine how food poisoning could be so severe! But they admitted me to the hospital and ordered several rounds of fluids and antibiotics. I was so well taken care of, as soon as they brought me to my room there were three junior and one senior nurse there with me.

This IV placement was particularly traumatic for me, for those of you don't know, I HATE anything to do with wrists, i'm not sure why exactly, but I have for as long as I can remember. So when the nurses came in and started cleaning my wrist for an IV, I about lost it (the dehydration probably didn't help my mental clarity much). I was holding onto my wrists, and I kept asking them to put the line in my arm or my hand instead, but they couldn't understand me! I must have seemed crazy, pointing to my arm, speaking frantically in English, and continuously tugging my wrist out of their grasp. I guess they must have decided I was afraid of needles, because they called the head of the floor. She sat on my bed, held my hand and said "Do not be afraid, it will not hurt. I am here and God is here". What could I possibly say to that? So I surrendered and let them put the line in my wrist. Even though a few weeks have passed, the skin on my wrist where the needle was inserted still feels odd, kind of tingly. 

I was there for almost an entire day, and they took fantastic care of me. Nonetheless, it is still a really unsettling feeling being in a hospital away from home, especially when the nurses speak a different language! I was never sure if they understood what I was saying or not, kind of a scary situation when medication is involved. But everything turned out fine, I was able to go back to my room for the night, they had me leave my IV in and return the next morning to make sure my condition had stabilized. I had a killer headache from the dehydration, and I slept most of the week, but other than that  everything turned out fine! Still don't know what it was I ate or drank that made me so ill, but I am twice as vigilant now.

They kept bringing me coconut water to drink- right out of the coconut! I think it's kind of like the chicken soup of South India. 

Pondicherry

I was given the opportunity to travel to Pondicherry, a city about 6 hours from Madurai, to meet with some doctors at the Aravind Hospital there about my project.

I realize that I have not really given a good explanation of WHAT my project is yet, so I suppose I should remedy that!

For the first project, I a creating a framework for measuring areas in the treatment process where patient compliance is an issue, and then proposing ways to measure those problem areas. For example, in the treatment of cataract, ~20% of patients do not return for their scheduled follow up appointment after they undergo surgery. So I am working on writing the protocol for a study to find out why!

My second project, is a study I am leading myself. We are measuring whether patients understand everything we would like them to about their disease, how its treated and their role in its care, once they have finished their initial visit to the hospital.

Now back to Pondicherry! Affectionately called 'Pondi', it used to be a French colony, so there are a lot of bakeries, French restaurants, and you can even find decent wine there! 

I took a 'sleeper bus' to get there, it kind of reminded me of the knight  bus, from Harry Potter, all beds, no seats! Left at 10:00 pm and made it to Pondi by 6:00

The city itself was quite beautiful, very old, and very green. And possibly my favorite part... SIDEWALKS!!!! Sure, it was broken in some places and taken over by the odd cow in others, but for the most part, real honest to god sidewalks! 

Madurai or Pondicherry... somethings don't change

Need a TV from 1998 or a used remote??? 

Any spice you want, this is how you buy it, from a giant burlap bag! 

Market for fresh fruits and vegetables

The Beach

The other cool thing about Pondicherry, is that it's along the coast. So I finally got to visit a beach in India!! 

Fishing boats

The fishermen have no use for the shells and crabs that get caught in the nets, so they toss them all in huge piles like this one!

There were lots of puffer fish that got in the nets as well :( 

The Cockroach

I held a cockroach once, at the Oregon Zoo, when I was 10 or so. I thought I was pretty cool for being able to hold such a notorious creature. But let me tell you, the cockroach, in it's native habitat, and where you least expect it, is a beast of a different color entirely....

It was almost 8:00pm, I was in my room at the Aravind guest house in Pondicherry, the housekeeper had already left for the night and there were no other guests, so it was just me there. I had almost worked up the resolve to do a Pilates workout, I laid down a blanket to serve as a mat, got my ipod all ready to go, the only thing left was to actually DO the workout. I was sitting on my bed, checking over my workout playlist over for the third time, when I noticed movement near my blanket/workout station... a COCKROACH crawled out from underneath it! The awful, high pitched noise that I am ashamed to say came from me after this discovery can only be described as sounding like a cross between an angry cat and a mouse being trod on. Not my finest moment to be sure.

The stupid creature continued it's happy jaunt around my room; running into walls, scurrying in circles, and randomly jumping into the air (much too high for comfort). All the while I sat motionless on my bed, looking around for any kind of weapon within reach.

Finding no obvious weapons, I did the next logical thing... I messaged everyone for advice.

"There's a cockroach in my room! I don't know what to do with it!!"

Mom: "Neither do I, Grandpa killed one with a shoe once... it was a heavy shoe. Google it"

Dad: "Step on it." Not likely, that would require getting close to it... 

Boyfriend: "Glad it's not me!" "Chase it out with a broom or something" No broom...

Steve: "In Hawaii they would fly into the walls and hit the floor, and when you turned on the light... they were nowhere to be found" ...THEY CAN FLY?!?!?

Thanks for the help guys...

Eventually I waited until the vile thing ran close to my bed, and hit it 20 times with the bottom of the trash can. Despite the fact that I was slamming a metal can on top of it and it could have made a break for safety under the bed or the cabinet at any time, it just kept running in circles! Eventually it did make it under the bed, and I left it alone because I was sure it was dying. Parts of its body were visibly mangled, what could possibly keep going after all that?? A cockroach, that's what. I was keeping an eye on it from my spot on top of the bed using a hand mirror aimed under the bed, the thing barely slowed down for a minuet, then it was back running around. It actually ran BACK out to where I was hitting it before, so I hit it a couple more times with the trash can, until it scuttled out the door of my room. The triumph of having forced the enemy to retreat from my territory gave me a rush of courage, and I stormed after the beast into the hallway. My battle rage took me as far as covering it with a bathmat and jumping up and down on top of it, but I wasn't brave enough to look under afterwards. I retreated to my room and shoved a towel into the crack under the door.

When I went to look under the mat the next morning, I kid you not its antennae were still twitching...

It occurs to me as I am writing this that I have spent an inordinate amount of time discussing my irrational fear of insects in the course of this blog... and I feel the need to defend myself.

1.  Until my encounter with the cockroach, large (okay medium) sized moths were the only creatures that sent me into a panic tail spin. And ive figured out the common denominator, both life forms are really, really stupid and unpredictable. They seem to head right towards you when all logic should send them scurrying away from the giant screaming thing!

2.  Moths just should not be six inches across. They just shouldn't. I think we can all agree on that one.

3.  cockroaches are nasty.

Temple 

We stopped by this temple because Vijayan recommended it to us, and as soon as we walked into the entrance, it became clear why. The colors and the architecture were breathtaking! 

The ceiling 

Another view of the ceiling 

Women who are praying to become pregnant cut a piece of their saris and tie it to this tree. 

Entrance to the outdoor shrine; you can just see the statue of the dancing Shiva carved into the mountainside.

The Astrologer 

Every time I walked in the market during the day, I would notice men carrying little wooden cages with green parrots in them. At first I assumed they were pets, but as it turns out, the men carrying these birds are Astrologers, and the little birds help them make their predictions. My friends in the market arraigned for me to have a reading, 

Before I continue, I would like to share a little of what I have learned about the Hindu religion. While virtually every religion can be found in India, 81% of people are Hindus, and it's influence permeates almost every aspect of the culture here. The Vice President of India once said, "Hinduism is not just a faith. It is the union of reason and intuition that cannot be defined, but is only to be experienced." And I think he's right, even if you dont know about Hinduism, you can feel it here all around you. Hinduism has no founder, no single scripture and no common set of teachings. The question of God is an individual quest, rather than a predefined concept.  It's principles are very difficult to comprehend in our Western concept of religion, I am still having a hard time grasping certain parts of it. 

I was accustomed to thinking of Hinduism as a polytheistic religion (having many different Gods), but it's not really that simple. To the best of my understanding, Hindus believe there is one divine force (Brahman) that supports and upholds all life, Brahman is a connected but distinct concept from that of "God", which they believe is the force that continually creates, sustains and destroys the universe. And it is this force that many Hindus worship. They believe it takes the form of many different gods and goddesses, thousands to be exact. (See how this can get confusing?). Hindus believe in a cycle of life, death and rebirth that is governed by Karma, but Hinduism is practiced differently depending on factors like region and social class. Which Gods/Goddesses are most significant, as well as their names and roles vary depending on the area of India.Hindu beliefs and practice vary greatly between families and individuals as well, for example, many people have specific Gods and Goddesses whom they feel a significant connection with and pay particular reverence to. Most families have small shrines in their home that are the center of family religious life. There are many different denominations of Hinduism, classified by beliefs about God, and which Gods/Goddesses are considered the most significant. 

Each God and Goddess is associated with a particular story or stories that define what the deity represents (for lack of a better term), which of course varies between denominations, regions, and individuals. But each deity is associated with certain symbols and aspects of life.

The parrot is the sacred vehicle of the Goddess Meenakshi, who is usually depicted holding one in her right hand.

Now back to my reading...

The elderly astrologer arrived and laid down his mat on the floor, then he took out a stack of red envelopes, each about the size of a playing card. After blessing the cards, he opened the parrot's cage and gestured to the little bird to come out.

The small green bird first stood in front of him while he told it my name and the date and time of my birth.

Then the bird began pulling cards from the deck and tossing  them to the side, until it found the one I guess it felt was appropriate for me, at which point it took the card over to the astrologer in it's beak and handed it to him.

 The card the bird pulled for me was Saraswati, the goddess of knowledge and learning. Then the astrologer told me that the weight of my academic work was a heavy weight on my life, that Saraswati was already in my heart and mind, but I should pray to Lord Ganesha for luck each morning to ease my burden.

Saraswati

Ganesha

So there you have it! Life advice from a parrot

That's the adventure as of this week!

This weekend I am planning a trip to the neighboring state, Kerala, to visit a wildlife preserve there and go on a safari with some new friends. The most exciting part however, is that there will be elephants there for us to interact with! 

Thank you for all of your kind messages, emails, and care packages! These last two months would surely have dragged on and on without them! 

One thing I wanted to mention, if there are any pictures, places or stories you would like to know more about, please send me an email or a message! :)

I am thinking of you all and sending my best wishes.

Namaste,
Katie