t r a v e l u s t: 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.