India: Bug Feast

The past few hours have made what is definitely one of the most miserable night ever, mental issues such as nightmares and hallucinations aside. Tonight is the first night that we are not staying at Krishna's place, and are staying in a nearby hotel. All in all, it is not a horrible place. It has beds, a fan, electricity, and running water in a bathroom that could definitely be a lot worse. Unfortunately, my genes suck, and this is not enough. As a matter of fact, I decided at some point yesterday that I am not very genetically suited for the environment. First of all, I have horrible eye-sight. There is nobody on my mother's side that does not wear glasses. I have been wearing glasses since I was five. Another fact is that I sweat a lot. Lovely image, I know. As I have been saying to people, I will drink about five liters throughout the day, and only pee about .5 liters. Finally, I am extremely prone to mosquito/bug bites. Basically, with me around, nobody else has to worry about being bitten because the bugs will go directly towards me.

Why do I mention all of this? This has become the perfect formula to having the most miserable night in existence. And yes, melodrama can be fun to play around with. So, it being about 2352C here with 512% humidity, I am lying in bed as sweat trickles down my forehead in almost a steady stream of disgustingness. The fan hovers more over Emily's and Anu's bed, but that was my choice because the other bed is close-by to a plug, and I didn't want to be caught awake at 6 in the morning with nothing to do; the battery to my laptop is completely shot and does not turn on if it is not plugged in. I thought that I was going to be able to handle it, but apparently I was extremely wrong.

Shortly after falling asleep around 1:30 in the morning, I woke up around 3:30 or 4:00 and have not been able to fall asleep since. I have been sleeping in practically no clothes and in my sleep-sheet, which is basically a bed sheet sewed into a very light sleeping bag. It seems that even that is too much. I was extremely tempted to just sleep on top of my sleep-sheet to try and access the little air I could feel from the ceiling fan. Still, I was hesitant since I attract bug bites better than a pile of dung attracts flies, and I already had a couple new bites on my arm in the couple of hours that I was asleep. Beautiful imagery, I'm sure. So, I spray on bug spray with about 98% DEET, which is strong enough to melt the plastic coating that is on my watch, and pull myself out of my sleep-sheet. About an hour later, I have about ten new bug bites from head to toe that are currently swollen to the size of quarters.

And so that has been my night. And now it's 5:30 in the morning, and I wonder how tomorrow night will turn out. Thank goodness I caught about an hour or two of sleep back at Krishna's place yesterday evening as Emily has procured us a flat for June 1st. ...Hopefully. I'm crossing my fingers, but also not counting on it since she has not signed the papers for it yet. Though, this time it seems more promising than the last time before the rug was pulled out from under us.

So yesterday, after the frustrating juxtaposition of our working on laptops and the slums propped up right outside the college canteen, I made my way to meet Suneeta at the Vidya Vihar station to go to Sion and meet with SAHAS. We went over the epidemiology questionaire that Suneeta will be conducting in the new slums in the Sion area before we try and implement any business or marketing plan. This business/marketing plan really is not to push for our water-filtration product that is currently not even properly developed yet, but it leans towards the side of education regarding hygiene and safe drinking water such as hand-washing and using chlorine in your drinking water.

After the meeting, I just went to the internet cafe and dealt with some e-mails with some people from HaloSource trying to obtain more contacts for further technology development, and also for some pointers regarding quantitative cyst analysis. Apparently it is possible to quantitatively test for cysts without something such as PCR or immunoflourescent antibody tagging, but unfortunately, the person is still in India and won't be able to be able to put together some literature for me for a little while.

Next, I got to meet Emily, Anu, and Nick had arrived by then for lunch at the Cream Centre. How I managed to arrive at the Cream Centre from the internet cafe is beyond me. Apparently I know my way around the convoluted, twisted, and unlabelled roads that is Mumbai--as long as you don't ask me and make me think how I did it. After exiting the internet cafe, I just started walking, took a few turns, and ended up at the correct destination. Thinking back, I am not even sure exactly how I had arrived there, and I cannot seem to make a mental bird's-eye view map. In fact, I think that even looking at a map, I would not be able to tell you the way that I had taken.

Afterwards was bumming around at Genesis Labs at Somaiya College and drinking really tasty chai while soaking in the air conditioning. If all goes well, I will be able to go with Ajit to buy filters and other lab supplies this coming Saturday. I really want to go before the rains hit, which is supposedly going to be by the beginning of next week.

I want better genes. :\ Oh well. I need to go take a shower soon or something so I can get started on doing more emails, fill out some documents, and call a bunch of labs.

Oh well. It is now 6 in the morning, and I have Jonathan Coulton's "Chiron Beta Prime" playing happily in my ear. Hopefully I can stay functional and lucid enough for the day. I do need water, though. I am pathetically dehydrated, and there is no more water around.

Hm. Another thing. I realize that for each day, I write about two pages single-spaced. I have no idea if this is a lot or a little. I'm not really used to writing about my day for others. Still, the main reason that I am doing this is because I don't want to be answering 2342 e-mails/chats that ask "So how is India? What have you been up to?" In general, I hate those e-mail updates and it is odd writing about my day for people, but I am lazy, and by the time that I get to talk to people back at home, I'd prefer not taking the entire time explaining the same thing over and over again. I don't mind having personal e-mails, but trying to explain the background of everything I am doing becomes tiring. In fact, I still don't think that most people know exactly what the Haath Mein Sehat project is, but oh well. I feel slightly conceited typing up pages and e-mailing them to people because I believe that they want to know, you know, every minute detail of what has been going on with me. Oh well, I'm sure I'll deal with that somehow.

I was thinking that my Indian name can be "Priya," but I am hoping for something more awesome.

This is Edith, all sweaty and itchy all over.

Photos:

Workin' hard at Krishna's.

India: Lazy Hazy

I have just done a ton of crunches and some push-ups and took a nice cold shower, and feel so much better. It's interesting how different people become in different settings. Or rather, perhaps it's just me. Usually I'm the complete spaz and the one who wants to eat everything. Yet, since I have gotten to India, I'm definitely the quiet one compared to Anu, and I just stay in my "business/work mode," and practically stay that way for most of the day. Not only this, I'm actually wearing bright colors and I take long showers (and by long I mean 25 minutes including undressing-->dressing). Hey--if it's 35C all day and night with a billion percent humidity, a cold shower feels ridiculously good after an entire day and night of sweating. The water heater in this apartment doesn't work, but it doesn't really make a difference seeing as the cold water is actually almost lukewarm to me.

So apparently we are not able to get the nice flat that we thought we were going to be able to get by tonight. Yesterday morning, we received a phone call from the broker who told us that, the other day, while the owners were working on the papers that we were supposed to have signed last night, they randomly changed their mind, saying that renting it out for 3 months to us was not worth it, and so the flat went to somebody else almost immediately after that. So tonight, we are staying at some random hotel. So hotels randomly around the city NOT close to the airport are something like... comparing it to Motel 5 would be like comparing Motel 5 to the Ritz. They have a toilet, and they have a shower that I think might work. It does have electricity, though. I guess we'll figure that out tonight.

Yesterday was sort of a lazy day for me, I suppose. I had finished my reports and e-mail updates back to some other members of the group, and now I need to wait for their reply before moving forward. So, others slept in, and I wrote my reports. We got out just in time for lunch: roti, green peas masala, paneer tikka masala, and dahi potato puri. It's probably not so good that I am craving fake Americanized not so spicy tikka masala from Na'an 'n Curry. Afterwards, Emily and Anu went to some colleges in other areas of Mumbai to talk to the principle about recruiting more people for our project (that is currently now in junction with Krishna's Mahendi for HIV/AIDS-affected people), which, as I later find out, turned out extremely well.

While they went off to work, Krishna and I went shopping so I would have some clothes that I felt comfortable wearing in places like Behrampada. It's amazing how here, I feel uncomfortable and indecent even in my t-shirts because they feel so tight, and don't go down past my ass, but back at home, I will wear a deep v-necked halter-top and feel compeltely comfortable. So I obtained a couple more kurtas and another salwar kamis pants, and now I am compeltely broke so will not be buying anything for a while--a long while. I do have an idea for an entire salwar kamis set, but I don't believe that I will be able to get that anywhere, seeing as the colors that I want and the patterns on the fabric are basically dull and completely plain compared to anything else here. We'll see how that turns out.



The bus back was a ridiculous 1+ hour bus ride standing all the way. Unfortunately, after sitting for 30+ hours on the plane, and now walking everywhere and standing in the same place for over an hour without moving is taking a toll on my kneee. My knee has been giving me problems on and off, but nothing so major the past couple of months. However, with all of this traveling long distances and staying in the same position for the entire time, my right knee refuses to function, and trying to sit down and stand up is a pain. Oh well. So the bus ride back was annoyingly crowded, but I suppose you can't expect much else. The bus also stalled at some point, and wouldn't start up momentarily, which made me extremely nervous.

Another thing that I have been failing to mention is just all the beggars here. Yesterday had one of those moments that are ingrained in your mind forever. If anyone has spoken to me about Kenya, I'm sure that you hear about the image of the boy on his mother's lap the first day of work visiting the slums. Yesterday, at the Vidya Vihar station, the ticket office on the other side of the station was locked, and sleeping right in front of the locked gate on the steps was a small, emaciated child wearing a wife-beater and shorts. I suppose that I have gotten more used to the begging along the streets, but I still have that sinking feeling where my heart feels like it's being clawed at by harpies, and pieces are falling into my stomach one by one.

Ooh! Yellow flegm! I think the pollution and the dust might even be getting to me, and I think that I have a higher tolerance than others in general for it. Looking back, it's not like living in Taiwan whenever I visited my cousin and aunt in Tainan was that much different with regards to cleanliness on the streets. Regardless, Taiwan is still more comfortable than here in India.

I can't believe that it has been almost a week since I have left. Then again, part of that could be because technically, I have only been in India for half of that week since I was in the airplane for half of that time. The days are moving by pretty quickly in some ways in the fact that I am pretty much constantly doing something--either taking the train, bus, ricksha, or the occassional taxi, typing up personal or project reports, having meetings, doing some research, crashing, being around other people, and for the past few days, talking to people online back at home while everyone else is asleep (though, that is practically stopping right now since we have been using Krishna's laptop and internet and flat for too long). But still, sometimes the thought of how many more days can feel daunting when I think about all the different things that I have to deal with here: the frustrations, the uncomfortable feeling of standing out like a sore thumb, the politics that is Indian culture, not having fresh watermelon and berries to drown in, etc.

Oh well. Today requires a meeting with Suni at SAHAS regarding the epidemiology study, e-mailing important people, some research, and calling some professional labs or graduate schools to see about water quality testing. Also, Nick is arriving today. We still be staying at the lodge/hotel tonight... we'll see how that goes.

According to the newspapers, the monsoon is starting to hit early this year. The rains have hit Kerala on Monday, and there have been slight showers in the morning now. ...I really hope we get a flat before the big monsoons hit. The monsoon is expected to arrive in Mumbai next week. Great.

Lesson of the day: In India, wearing kurtas + churitas or salwars >> wearing any t-shirts + pants from back at home. Also, DON'T SCRATCH.

India: Chubby Bunny Indian Style

Hm... okay. So apparently I'm still incapable of sleeping past 6:30 in the morning, but that's okay. The past day (and a half?) has been filled with all sorts of excitement of different varieties.

So the day before, after leaving the partially-cleaned haunted house, we returned to Krishna's place and felt lazy for the rest of the day until around 8:00, when Krishna took us out to a nice mall to get some shopping done--I got two kurtas and one salwar-kamis pants and one other pair of some pants whose name I currently cannot seem to recall (note: spelling could be COMPLETELY off) that I feel more comfortable wearing around, especially (a) since it's extremely hot and humid here, and (b) when walking around in the slum community, considering Behrampada is a Muslim community.

Afterwards, there was food that took forever to reach our table, and then at 11:00 while waiting for a bus, a man asked us if we were waiting for a bus for China or Japan. Krishna should have just let me say "Actually, I'm going to France" or "Yeah, I'm waiting for my bus back to Kenya," and then bust out in some French or Swahili, respectively. Then there was the amusement of returning and our attempting to surprise Emily for her birthday along with Abijit and Viru and Surbi. We stayed up until 3 in the morning or so sitting around and talking. One highlight of dinner was the point when Krishna realized that this "one weird thing in the canteen" from last summer that they had talked about was actually Anu. It was a beautiful moment.

Emily's birthday in India.




(Photo courtesy of Anu)

Then, three and a half hours later at bright and early 6:30 am, we woke up, showered, and then by 7:30, headed off. We took the 308 bus to meet up with Suni, another member of the Haath Mein Sehat project. She is our "summer intern," and she is a graduate student in public health at Berkeley. She has been putting together questions for an epidemiology study for some base-line data in the news slums in Sion that we will be working in. She has been to India before, but she only knows a small amount of Marathi, and she has never really travelled around the city outside of the protective family bubble. Then, we headed over to the ITC Grand Maratha Sheranton to meet Duane Dunk, a representative of HaloSource. HaloSource is a company that has been working on a bromine resine that kills bacteria and virus through direct contact of the water with bromine-coated polyester beads. Duane really loved to talk, and the meeting ended up lasting for about two hours; I didn't mind so much seeing as we were sitting in an amazing dining room with tea being served to us on platters and with the air conditioning smothering us with cool air.. Long story short, they have some interesting technology, and they are also connected and working largely with a couple large names that we want to work with: PATH, which has received a ton of money from the Gates Foundation to work on safe water and water-related illnesses, and EurekaForbes, the leading name-brand water filter/purifier in India that targets middle-class citizens. Duane seemed extremely impressed by some of our own knowledge and technology development, and also by our experience in working with the Indian culture, especially in the slum areas of Mumbai. This was an amazing find, and this meeting was inspiring for me to push myself to look for more technologies and to ask for samples to play around with for the next couple of months.

At 11:30, Anu, Suni, and I made our way towards Behrampada in the Bandra district, while Emily went to look for other places to live other than the haunted house in Dadar. We took the train, which was slightly full, but otherwise, none too eventful. There was a three-legged dog hobbling around that caught my attention at the ticket counter. The beggars become extremely uncomfortable at times, but sometimes one of us have crackers on us to give to them, which makes it a little better, I suppose. Regardless, I can't help but feel extremely guilt-ridden every time I walk by and wonder why I am unable to just completely change the system and the infrastructure of the world so abject poverty did not exist. One can dream, I suppose.




(Photo courtesy of Suneeta)





We arrived at Behrampada, and was amazed that we did not become completely lost in the process. First, we visited the house of Sumeena, who is the head of the Jai Maharasha Mandel.




(Photo courtesy of Anu)

The Mandels are the womens groups in Behram that consist of women pushing for more rights, independence, and other issues such as domestic violence, women's rights, HIV/AIDS, etc. We had begun working in Behram with the Mahila Mandels three years back, when the people in the community had claimed that clean water was one of their biggest issues that they have to deal with. That was fun, and we stayed around drinking chai, playing with her daughters, and talking about what has been happening for the past few months. We are scheduled to return on Thursday at 4:00 to attend one of the Jai Maharasha meetings. Next, we visited a couple more women, and are scheduled to return on Friday at 3:00 to go visit Naseema's daughter who has just been married, and also June 10th to visit Zakira again.

The dynamics of the politics of the slum, and just Indian culture will never fail to surprise me. First of all, Naseema has always been an interesting lady regarding her qualms with others. She had apparently sent an invitation to some of the Indian students that are working on the Haath Mein Sehat project to her daughter's wedding, and is extremely upset that they did not show up. Also, since both Anu and Suni are India, I was the token "foreign chick," and that was apparent when Suhti and Murdu (note: the names are most likely completely off save the first letter) showed up at Zakira's place to help us translate. I don't particularly mind since they helped us find the last house that we were looking for. I do not know how to even begin to describe Behram. It is literally just rooms stacked up on top of each other somehow, with wires and random lane pipes running throughout everywhere, not to mention the garbage and sewage that you attempt--and fail--to avoid splattering over all of yourself. The smell also leaves much to be desired. The heat does not help, either.





Around 2:30, we had to leave because we had our own respective meetings back at Somaiya college, and the three of us figured that taking the train would not be the worst idea in the world, considering how much an auto-riksha would cost, especially in the middle of the day.

So we were wrong.

No, we were extremely wrong.

The station at Behram was extremely ridiculous. Being fairly tall relative to the rest of the population, it was slightly easier for us to keep ourselves standing. Unfortunately, for Suni, being 4'11", life became suddenly extremely hard as she was being suffocated by the crowd that engulfed us. Trying to get onto the train was ridiculous, and the three of us barely made it on before the train started moving again. The closer the train got to Dadar, one of the large transfer stations, the more jam packed it became. I did not know that cramming so many people into one area was physically possible. In general, the train lurches around enough that you have to hold on or sit down lest you want to be thrown to the floor, or just straight out of the train door. Before reaching Dadar, it got to the point where first of all, there was almost no light entering the train car, and second of all, you did not have to hold on because there was no actual room for movement when the train did lurch. I was pushed up against this woman who was carrying her son in her arms. I believe that she was telling me that if I was going to Dadar, that I did not have to push because she was going there too. Unfortunately, I did not have a choice because this fairly large woman was behind me and pushing me so hard, that I did not have any autonomy over my own torso and limbs. The poor child looked as if he was about to die. Suni, being on the other side of the car that the exit was on for Dadar, was fairing about the same. By the time we stepped off of the train, she had one of those "I think I just saw a ghost" looks on her face. It was a bit exciting, to say the least. Overwhelming and something that I do not care to experience again, but exciting nonetheless.

I think we finally decided that it was like playing Chubby Bunny with marshmallows, with the people as the marshmallows.



Unfortunately, trying to find the right train to transfer to in order to reach the Vidyavidhar station was another 20-minute excitement that involved asking about 34,612 people, each giving us a different direction, climbing up and down 231,702 flights of stairs in 152C weather and 100% humidity, and finally boarding the correct train. We were not even completely sure that it was the right train, since that car happened to be one of the few cars that did not have a map of the stops posted on the wall.

Still, we finally arrived at Vidyavidhar station, and Suni and I went to Genesis labs to talk to Annette, Ajit, and Vishal, while Anu went back to Krishna's to pick up Emily to meet Hetal to talk about the budget. I had really missed being around Annette, Ajit, and Vishal. Maybe it is the molecular biology background, but they are my favorite people to hang around with all day while working; don't get me wrong, I love working with all of the students, but somehow working with these three have been the most fun. We sat around in the air conditioned lab meeting room, and talked about the future plans of water quality testing, both for E. Coli and other coliforms, and for testing for cysts. Since Ajit was leaving Genesis by this weekend, leaving only Annette to really do all of the work, we decided that moving water quality testing to either SIES College in Sion, or a professional lab, was the best move. On that note, Ajit is most likely coming to America! He will be doing his graduate work at UT Dallas, which means that, at some point, I need to go visit the oh-so-exciting city of Dallas. If he obtains his visa, then he will be heading over in August. Screw formality in my writing--I'm completely stoked!

Next, we discussed other issues that they could help me with, such as finding other cartridge filters to possibly test for. They will be calling vendors on Princess Street (yes, that's right, Princess Street), and seeing what can be done. Annette also had the contact for EurekaForbes, which just made me want to explode with happiness. ALSO, ANNETTE HAS AGREED TO OBTAIN A LAB COAT FROM GENESIS LABS FOR ME. It will be awesome, and life will be great. It will be like a souvenier, only a geeky one that I would actually wear in the future. :)

That being done, Suni and I went to find Anu and Emily; we discussed the rest of the week, then went home where I crashed for the next hour or two.

Then there was a lovely shower, people, dinner, and sitting around having girl talk until 2 in the morning. We are forever grateful that we did not have to stay at the haunted mansion last night.

Today should be a more relaxing day. I will be stopping by Genesis Labs to pick up my lab coat, look over results from water quality testing, and just to hang around until the afternoon, where I might tag along with Anu or Emily or Suni to either SAHAS or work on the education program.

Unfortunately, my stomach has been extremely queasy and is currently in pain, and also my legs look like there is a mini black diamond mogul ski-trail made onto it. Only, the moguls are extremely red and extremely itchy. Oh well. It's hot, and it's only 8:00 am. Time to type up a real report for the project.

Lesson of the day: You will be sweaty, dusty, and extremely dirty. Deal with it.

India: Summer Heat

So. Currently, I am sitting in the haunted house dripping with sweat, and when I say dripping I actually mean I'm literally dripping with sweat. You can see the pool of sweat that has gathered at the front of my shirt. Lovely picture, I know. Now add to the picture a dark light, a musty kitchen with small table with a bright orange plaid cloth over it, and the smell of the loo next door. Yeah, now THAT is a lovely picture, I'm sure. So I am sitting here at the beautiful Gateway laptop Mike had acquired for me, while two maids are cleaning the place. The kitchen seems to be the only safe haven while the two women clean--all the other rooms are so engulfed by dust (and who knows, the ashes of the late Madam Gadgil? ...Okay, probably not. I should probably be slightly more respectful, but it's kind of fun, to be honest.) and cobwebs that you can't even see across the room at this point. The short and dainty but strong women are covered in a film of dirt. So is our luggage.

So yesterday, I was working on the backstory of this apartment, or "flat," as they call it. Apparently Ashok Gadgil's mother had died about half a year ago or so, and basically everything has been left as is. They had a tenant here, but heresay is that he was bad news. Anu believes that this man was a money launderer of some sort. Very exciting. Point being, her pile of shoes were still in the corner, along with a bone vaguely resembling an ulna--thank goodness it was plastic, a dirty plate was in the sink, and there are calenders sitting around dating 2007, 2006, 2003, and yes, ladies and gentleman, 1968.

We probably had a little too much fun playing mindtricks on ourselves and trying to decipher what happened to the late Mrs. Gadgil and who this mysterious "bad gentleman" was, but it made trying to clean up the place more exciting, to say the least. Basically, in a two-second soundbite of the day... "Oh my god, is that blood in the toilet?! Maybe it was Mrs. Gadgil's... ...but she was probably in menopause... ...I feel like I know her personally already... ...He was definately a money-launderer, a cocaine-dealer money-launderer! ...The dusty old suitcases lined up on top are discerning, and so is this bone in the pile of shoes... Maybe we won't be sleeping here tonight. ...Or ever."

...And wow, the phone just rang. That's not slightly disturbing at all. And, of course, Anu has to pick up the phone to see who it is. Perhaps it is the ghost of the late Madam Gadgil telling us to get the hell out of her place!

Or it could be something about financing and loans. That works too.

Shady, shady!

Anyhow, last night was kind of interesting. So I took a nap from 8-10 or so at night while Anu, Emily, and Krishna tottered off to go find the first ever rock concert to be held in India. Then I just bummed around until everyone returned around midnight. Unfortunately, the internet was shot, and most people wanted to sleep in the next hour anyway. I was tired enough, so I figured that I might as well. This meant that I would be awake by 4 in the morning and couldn't go back to sleep. I somehow managed to get some sleep from 8:00 to 8:30 in the morning, and perhaps a couple of minutes sometime before 9:30, but that's about it.

Since then, I have been planning meetings, and figuring out what I will be doing for the next couple of weeks. Ajit is leaving Genesis Labs, meaning that water quality testing might have to be done elsewhere, meaning that I need to train more students and other labs how to do membrane filtration and chlorine demand testing. I am also meeting Duane from HaloSource to talk about their chlorine and filtration products, and possibly network with them even more. They are a company that seems to be working on low-cost safe water projects and have networked with PATH and also another student group in Seattle, Potters for Peace program in Nicaragua. Additionally, I will be visiting Behrampada (the slum that we had originally started out in) just to see what has been going on. I can use my wonderful only two Hindi phrase I know, "App se milkar bardi hushi hui," it was very nice to meet you, and "Mera nom Edith hai," my name is Edith.

As for the rest of today, I am definately taking a shower at some point soon after I get back to Krishna's place, I need to work on a flyer, and I need to study the notes from Mike F. regarding HaloSource so I know what I'm going to be talking about tomorrow at 9 in the morning.

Tomorrow looks like this:

9:00 am - Meeting with Duane from HaloSource

11:00 am - Go to Behrampada

Afternoon/Evening - Meeting with Genesis Labs at Somaiya

As for the more personal feelings about this trip, right now, I'm torn. Sometimes I feel like I can conquer the world and stay here forever. In retrospect, I will probably be more proud of myself for being able to stay so long. Still, right now, there are so many other things on my mind right now, and also the prospect of extreme happiness and comfort when I get back ( i.e. Mike and my own apartment and the ability to go swimming, rockclimbing, kayaking, etc.) that makes me really want to be back at home. On one hand, I still want to be able to get stuff done. Right now, in the right mind-set ( i.e. not at 4 in the morning stuck with my own mind), I have many things I want to plan for and get done while I'm here. On the other hand, I don't know if mentally I will be able to stand being here for too long, and I don't really want to be here during the monsoon season. I suppose apprehension is a really big problem. I'm sure that if I really were here during monsoon season, it would just be something to laugh about in the future. As Michelle's friend says, "Adventure is discomfort remembered." It's true. It's exciting to be able to talk about experiences to either (a) share with others who have been in the same situation, or (b) share with others that have not had the same experience and give them a wider view of the world. In other words, it makes story-time more fun. We'll see how it turns out. To be honest, I don't even know if it's really the monsoon, but it might even be Erin that sort of drives me away from wanting to be here. I do want to be around a little when Mike is around, but even then, I don't think that's enough to counteract that horrible nasty feeling of inadequateness that Erin makes me feel. I don't know how she does it, but she's good at it. Oi.

Anyhow, it's 4:30 in the afternoon at this point, and the wonderful smell of dust and the loo lingers in my nose, and probably will for the next who knows how long. I think it might be time to head back to Krishna's soon, and to work on some things. I'm not sure how that's going to work tonight, seeing as Krishna's roommate is returning tonight, if I remember correctly. I'm still dripping with sweat, and there is work to get done. I'm still not eating properly, but we will see.

I have also taken a ton of pictures. Yay.

Covered in sweat.

Lesson of the day: Learn to wipe everything clean with only three squares of toilet paper.

Photos:

For some reason, seeing "Horn OK Please" on the back of trucks always tickles our fancy.









The haunted house of the late Madame Gadgil.



Uh... a bone amongst the abandoned shoes...



Oh yeah, and did I mention it was hot?

India: Round 2, Let's Go.

So. It's finally been almost a day since I've landed in Mumbai. ...It's been an interesting almost-24-hours to say the least.

The flight over wasn't so bad. We stopped at Hong Kong, I watched the cleaning crew clean up and felt extremely guitly, and then got a cute little green circular sticker that said "Transit." We continued on to Singapore, where I had about a 9-hour layover. It wasn't so bad, seeing as they had amazingly comfortable chairs, gorgeous orchid and fern gardens, and free internet. Granted, the free internet was only available in 15-minute spurts, meaning that every 15 minutes I had to either play an awkward game of musical chairs--only with no music and with no chairs--or look around guiltily while I ignore the massive message on the screen letting me know that I had overstayed my 15-minute welcome. Still, it was pleasant, especially compared to the London Heathrow Airport; I didn't have to feel like I was too poor to be there. Finally, I boarded the plane, and slept my way all the way to the Mumbai Airport.

Transit sticker when I had a short layover in Japan.



Banners hanging in the airport saying "Welcome" in different languages.



The beautiful orchid gardens in the Singapore airport.



The moment I stepped off the plane and the warm stink of India hit my nose was the moment that it hit me that I was half way around the world and that it was time to get back to the working mindset.

To be honest, it has been extremely hard to prepare myself mentally for this trip. I'm not sure if it is because I am burned out, or because there have been so many other things on my mind recently, but I have not been able to find myself too excited about this trip. Perhaps part of the reason is that, the few weeks before I left, I had found an amazing group of people to be around all the time. The guys at Pixar have made me feel extremely welcome and completely loved, and for once, it's great to have a group of friends that actually know each other and hang out together, where, at the same time, I don't feel like a complete outsider. Sometimes I do, since they start talking about Pixar projects and begin to talk technical language that I can only dream to comprehend, but I guess that's what happens when you get a bunch of Pixar interns together in one room; it's bound to happen. Another reason is just this whole... my major thing that's looming over my head like the beautiful thundercloud that it is. The thing is, I am sure that if I were back at Berkeley right now, I may not even be getting that taken care of. Right now, I feel that I would probably take care of it immediately, but that could be just a result of me being here in India instead of back there in Berkeley. Another part of the reason is that right now, I'm holding on to the strings of the beginnings of something that could be amazing, and right now, I fear that these two months will pull too hard at these delicate fibers and they will break. I have a feeling that if perhaps if it were six months down the line and I felt as if I had a stronger grip on it, then I would not be so worried. Great timing, as always. I guess the final thing is that I am just slightly tired of working on this project, or any project for that matter. In the long run, I still want to work in public health and public policy--both work on the ground and also work on the higher levels, but I guess right now there are just other things on my plate that I have to deal with, i.e. my own mental well-being and happiness. It sounds strange and foreign coming from my own mouth, or in this case, my fingertips, but the past couple of months have made me feel that I can actually say it and even believe it.

That being said, here I am in Mumbai, ready to get cracking on the work I have to do.

But, of course, first things first, and one of the first things to do is to move into our flat and exorcise the ghost of the late Madame Gadgil. Yes, you heard me correctly. The story goes something like this. So we were frantically looking for a place to live, and by "we" I mean Emily and Anu. Ashok Gadgil, a professor at Berkeley, offered his mother's apartment. The back story behind this apartment is that she had been living in it, and then she died.

I guess I'll continue updating this entry tomorrow... everyone is planning on going to sleep soon.