The Dogs of SEARCH

This is just a fun post about the dogs I came to love at SEARCH. Before coming to India I knew there would be lots of stray dogs, but I was told at the school health clinic not to touch any of them. I still would not touch a random dog I saw on the streets, but SEARCH had a few campus dogs and after awhile I couldn't help but pet two of them. I grew very fond of a couple of them.

I kept thinking about how these dogs were born, raised, and lived in India. They look just like the dogs at home, and all over the world, but these are India dogs! I think it's cute that you can assign a nationality to a dog. Or at least my mind did. If the dogs talked human language would they speak Marathi?

The campus had six resident dogs and a few frequent visitors. The six resident dogs were two Doberman type dogs, two German Shepard type dogs (one with short hair and one fluffy) and two little white Pomeranian type dogs. The frequent visitors included one short-haired brown and white dog and a pack of brown dogs.

The four big dogs (Dobermans and German Shepards) were a pack. The rat pack is what I called them! They went everywhere together and took naps together! It was soo cute! The pack of three stray brown dogs were also always together lying around and running behind the research building in the afternoons.

I named the brown and white dog Puppy. He was the first dog I pet and took a liking too. I felt bad for him because Bhagyashree told me he was a stray and that the rat pack didn't let him hang out with them. Poor Puppy. One day I found him hiding in the back of our bathroom. He was also very scared of people, so he ran away that time. But other times I was able to get him to sit for some pictures. Here is Puppy:

The pack of brown dogs on the research building porch:

I never got any photos of the little white dogs, and I'm still not convinced that there are two of them because I never saw them together at the same time, but I've been told that one has a red dot on its forehead (yes, they gave the dog a bindi) and the other one does not. I've collectively named the white dogs Winkles.

I named the doberman dogs Tootsie and Mootsie. The non-fluffy German Shepard unfortunately never got a name from me. That is because my favorite dog of all was the fluffy German Shepard!!! When the monsoon started, I would often find him sleeping outside my door at night. He has the saddest puppy dog eyes ever. By the time I left SEARCH I really loved this dog and felt a bond with him. I named him Buddy. Sometimes Vimaltai would let me feed chapati to Buddy and the other dogs. Even when Rushina and I switched rooms he would still sleep outside our door. On our very last night at SEARCH, even though it wasn't raining, I found him there. I think he came to say goodbye because I never saw him on our last day. I will miss Buddy. Here he is staying out of the rain outside my bedroom door:

Resting in the mess hall during dinner, again trying to stay out of the rain:


On Wednesday, August 11th, Kelley and I went on a walk. The dogs were hanging around the front gate and when they saw us they decided to join us. All four of the big dogs! In fact, they led the walk. We went up to the lake that we always go to and the cutest thing happened- the dogs starting swimming in the water. Buddy was the most enthusiastic, probably because he is fluffy and gets really hot compared to the others. All the other girls thought the dogs smelled really bad, but I insisted (jokingly) that they took baths. And see, they did take baths, in the dirty lake water.

Leading us down the road:

Sniffing out the grass near the lake:

Wading into the water:
Swimming! (I recommend clicking on the photo to enlarge it and see how fun Buddy is having).


On one of our last mornings Ama told us that all the dogs actually have names. I guess Buddy's real name is Hera or Hira, or something like that. But, he will always be Buddy to me. Awww. I will miss all the SEARCH dogs.

Good Memories

As I near the end of my stay at SEARCH (only 48 hours left!) I am reflecting on all the good memories I have made. Although I have put in a fair amount of research time and working hours, the moments that will stay with me are those moments spent with all the other interns I have become friends with here and all the opportunities I took to explore the world around me, whether that be a newborn infant in the village, or haggling in town to buy some fruit, or the insects crawling in the grass after a rainstorm.

It is interesting to me that I came to SEARCH to do public health research, to learn more about India, and experience a taste of my future in global health, but in all honesty the parts that will stay with me the most are the ones spent in the evenings watching movies and doing crafts with the other interns. Is that a bad thing? Perhaps it was the nature of this particular internship or epidemiology in general, that it's not very hands-on in the field. Perhaps if I volunteered with Doctors with Borders or the Peace Corps I would have more memories of meeting the people in the villages, playing with children, and comforting those that are ill. Most of my memories from SEARCH though will be similar to those from college and grad school (except with a bit of constant amazement and the shared experience to lament about bugs, snakes, the food, and the monsoon.)

From mid to late July we had my favorite girls nights, the ones that I will remember the most, and perhaps what I will remember the most from my whole internship. Aditi is a huge fan of movies, especially romance movies, and we watched several back to back. We also watched many episodes of Friends (yay, tv!) because Aditi has every episode from every season on her computer. On some nights we would even attempt spa parties with nail polish and mud masks and even massages. It felt sooo girly! During movie watching we would knit and make bracelets and one night we even shared a bag of sour gummy worms that Rushina had brought with her. (I of course was given permission to take the largest share after I confessed my deep addiction to all things candy and gummy!) In some small way, I feel guilty that I came all the way to India to do public health, yet the most satisfying part of my trip was sitting around with a bunch of other girls (women?) my age and having girl parties before bed time.

Sometimes I think we were all just experiencing a bit of cabin fever (or rather SEARCH campus fever) and the smallest things would give us the sillies. On the Sunday evening after the field trip with Ama, huge lightening and thunderstorms occurred. Now, it's been raining pretty much every day since my second week here, and heavy rains at that. We are used to everything being wet. But on this particular night the thunder was incredible! I swear it was hitting trees within a kilometer of the SEARCH campus, at least it sounded like it. We all started screaming like little girls and huddling together outside our bedroom doors watching the rain pour down, trying to estimate how far away the lightening was, and guess at what it could be hitting. We all decided to run into Sona and Bhagyashree's room for safety. We were bored and had nothing to do so we started playing with the webcam on Sona's new laptop taking silly group photos of us making funny faces and using the backgrounds and special effect features that came with the webcam software. You would think that a bunch of mid-late 20-year-olds were above gathering around a single laptop taking dozens and dozens of silly photos, but we weren't.

The rain that started that night actually lasted for four days straight. It never let up. It rained constantly. Most afternoons and nights it rains very heavy here. But usually by the next morning, the ground will quickly absorb the rainfall because it went for months and months without seeing much water. During the four-day heavy monsoon rains though, the ground had no time to absorb the water between storms, it just kept coming. Eventually on Thursday, August 5th there were huge amounts of flooding around campus. Fortunately, the guest rooms that I stay in are elevated and protected, but it was very had to walk around campus, and unfortunately some girls that live in more permanent housing experienced flooding (several inches). Their bathrooms overflowed too. I felt so bad for them, they had to babysit their rooms all day making sure their belongings weren't damaged. It was even worse because Sona, Bhagyashree, and Jessica had just moved from the bedrooms in our guest house building to their new homes. It figures that the day after they move all their stuff into their more permanent houses, it ends up flooding. Finally, these past few days we have seen a bit of sun again (along with warmer weather).

Anyway, new friends and rain rain rain. Together, these sum up most of the memories I will take with me from SEARCH.

Day 50...and Almost Done

Wow...how did I get to this point? I can't believe I have reached this point. As I have been saying for awhile, there seemed to be a really long beginning, a very short middle, and the last few weeks have all felt like the end. Now, the days keep passing quicker and quicker.

I have had some mixed emotions about whether or not I will miss this place. I had initially imagined that I would meet people of all different ages from around the world, but most of my working day and evenings are spent with the other young American and Indian interns. I will definitely miss the girls here that I have gotten to know: Sona, Bhagyashree, and Aditi. I am happy to have had this experience at SEARCH, getting to learn about the organization, seeing the villages and the rural area, and living in a developing country. However, since we have not spent that much time in the villages interacting with the people who benefit from SEARCH, there is not much that is pulling at my heart strings. I think for the most part that I will be ready to leave at the end of this week.

This past Sunday, August 8th, I took some time to appreciate the campus and took a nice morning nature walk on my own. The photo above is from that walk.

Marie and Haley left this past Sunday and Rushina and I will be next. Kelley, another student from UNC, just arrived this past Thursday. People come and go so often at SEARCH, and each time the dynamic changes. It seems so long ago that Miriam, Kate, Brenna, and Amy were here.

I know I have written very very little about the research internship aspect of my time here but there are several explanations. First, the work that I do here is technical and statistical based. I sit at a computer and run data analysis programs. I occasionally make a chart or a table and meet with a staff member to ask a question. I haven't reached many major conclusions yet about the association between smokeless tobacco consumption and preterm birth and low birth weight. Second, we are not out in the field directly interacting with people. We are not clinicians and we are not making any direct changes. We are doing research. This is the nature of being an epidemiologist in public health. Finally, there have been a lot of organizational issues that I can discuss in another forum that have made progress on projects difficult, not just for me, but for all the interns.

As I get closer to getting home, I am thinking more and more about the things that I miss. I cannot wait to take a shower where I get to actually stand under the water. In fact, I can't wait to be in a comfortable bathroom with rugs beneath my feet and counters that are not filled with bugs and moths! Also, new addition to the lineup, I saw a rat in the bathroom last night.

I am getting really excited about the new school year, and have started to think about my class schedule and work schedule and I've done some planning for a grant writing course I will be taking.

I am looking forward to wearing whatever I want, and having a blessed laundry machine that cleans the stink and dirt out of my clothes. And my poor poor personal items. They are all getting wiped down with massive amounts of clorox wipes.

I cannot wait to see Ben! I am looking forward to sharing our apartment together and cooking together and just lounging on the couch together! I haven't sat on a couch since I left the states! And tv...tv...I miss you so much.

I am looking forward to wedding planning and all the family trips and visits that will be required this Fall! I am getting excited about wedding dress shopping!

And most of all...what I have been dreaming about more than anything...is the big Italian dinner I am having as soon as I touch down in Chapel Hill!

Field Trip with Ama

I thought we were done with field trips on Sundays, but we got lucky on Sunday, August 1st. We made a regular trip into town, had lunch at CityHeart and did some shopping. Then, Marie, Haley and I went to the ice cream store while Jessica and Bhagyashree continued shopping. We were going to meet up in a bit and all share a taxi back to SEARCH.

As Marie, Haley and I sat outside the ice cream store enjoying our snacks, a SEARCH vehicle drove up and we saw that Ama (Dr. Rani Bang) was inside. She started waving to us and calling us over. She introduced us to her sister and her sister's husband. They were going to see a temple. Ama invited us along, but we were unsure because we were supposed to meet Jessica and Bhagyashree and we felt bad leaving them behind. Ama really encouraged us to come, saying that there were only three seats in the van anyway- perfect for the three of us- and we needed to come. We left a hand written note at the ice cream store for Jessica and Bhagyashree and we went off with Ama. Before leaving, she kindly treated everyone in the car to ice cream (so we got two ice creams in the end!).

We headed South in a direction I had never been. The scenery was beautiful. In addition to the driver, Ama, her sister and husband, there were two other SEARCH staff with us. We ended up driving for at least an hour. At one point we got out to enjoy a beautiful river. We were actually at the point where two rivers meet to become one river called the Pranahita. It was really lovely to see the river because just a month or so ago most of the rivers were semi-dry and you could see the riverbeds. Now, because of the monsoon, they are flowing with water.

A photo of some goats being herded across the bridge that crosses the Pranahita:

Here is a photo of us on the river bank. I like this photo because it is one of only a few of me in India with my hair down. From left to right: me, Haley, Marie.

We got in the car and drove a little further. When we got to the location of the temple we were close to the river again so we got out of the car to take a look. It was sooo beautiful! Probably one of my favorite moments since being in India. Of course, my camera decided to lose all its battery power at that point, so I have to thank Haley who shared her camera with me and let me have the following photos.

We got there during twilight, at the end of dusk. Everything was soft blues and purples. There was a canoe boat just sitting along the shore. We got an amazing photo of the canoe and the water, but unfortunately my blog won't let me attach it despite trying for two days. (One of the reasons it took me so long to make this post). Here is a different photo in its place of us standing in front of the canoe.

Then we decided to be adventurous and get in the canoe! I wished I could stay there forever. It was so quiet and serene.

Then we walked up from the river to the temple we had come to see, Shahpur Temple. This is my favorite temple I have visited (I believe my fourth one now). We were there at night time so it was lit up and beautiful! It was also the cleanest temple I have seen. The floors were shiny and glossy.

Another reason I really liked this temple is that it had all sorts of different levels and staircases and balconies. At one point I wandered out on one of the back walkways and came to this balcony. The gray-white of the temple contrasted against the deeply blue sky and the black branches of a tree:

After awhile we headed home. Since it was a few hours since we had started out on our journey we were pretty hungry. We stopped at some road side stands and Ama (or perhaps her brother-in-law) bought us chai tea and a bunch of different kinds of Indian snacks, similar to the kind I had first had on the Air India flight. My favorite was Moohn Dal, little dried lentils, and a peanuty tasting snack mix.

We were very lucky to be at the ice cream store when Ama came by. It turned into a fabulous field trip with some of my favorite memories.

Side Note: This has happened several times, and I just want to note, the date of the blog entry is when I started writing the entry, not when I finished it and posted it. So that is why, for example, this entry says Monday, August 9th, when, if you checked yesterday, it was not up yet. Just some clarification for those readers who check my blog often enough and wonder why they don't see a post until a day or two after the date of the entry.

Chatagaon Market

This past Wednesday, July 28th, Vimal tai invited us to join her on her weekly trip to the market. Chatagaon Market is setup in a woodsy area to the east of Shodhgram. It's about a ten minute drive away. Because it had rained very badly in the morning, the market was smaller than usual, but I still really enjoyed the field trip. It felt good to accompany Vimal tai on her errand to purchase fruits, vegetables, and ingredients for all the meals she cooks for us.

Chatagaon Market is essentially a farmer's market and not all that different from the ones I've been to back at home. Each farmer setups in a tent. Fruits, vegetables, and spices are the main goods being sold, but there are also a few "plastic and junk" stands selling cheap jewelery, plastic items such as combs, mirrors, and children's toys, and some basic home goods like soap dishes and shower caddies.

Here is a photo of people milling around the market once it became crowded. You cannot see in the photo, but all the way around the market in the trees stood armed policeman in camouflage. They are there to protect the market from Naxals in the area. It was my understanding that we were completely safe while at the market- otherwise SEARCH would not have let us go- but there was some sort of three-day political "bandh" going on at the time- certain businesses in town had to shut down for a few days and there was a curfew- don't ask. We were safe.

Here is a photo of a large vegetable stand. One thing that was different about this market compared to the ones I've been to in the States, is that the farmers sit on the ground amongst their fruits and vegetables. There are no fancy chairs or benches. Also, they use balance scales with mass weights, not the kind that you would see in a supermarket with a pointer. Each time someone wanted to buy something they put all the vegetables or fruits onto one side of the balance and played around with the weights on the other side of the balance to get an approximate idea of how much there was. Sometimes young kids were given this job.

Some women picking out tomatoes. One of the things I love about India is how colorful it is. The saris worn by the women seem to come in every color imaginable. When driving along the roads, now that the rains have come, there is always so much green- the grass, the trees, the rice paddies. But always, amongst all the green, you will see the colorful dots of villagers working the land.

Vimal tai picking out some sort of green vegetable.

There was one huge spice, garlic, onion, and herb tent. Here is one of the men selling his spices; I think chili powder and the ones used to make curry.

Another man selling us garlic.

Here I am before leaving the market. You can see my beautiful, new, green outfit. At the market, I bought a pair of cheap gold earrings with green beads for five rupees, roughly 12 cents.

Shramadan Special

As mentioned in the post "The Typical Day", we have shramadan every Wednesday and Saturday morning at 6:15am. This was ok when I was jet lagged and waking up naturally at 5am, but now it's become a big pain!

Here is a photo of the plate bell they hit when it is time to wake up for shramadan. The guy in charge hits it over a dozen times; unless you are the deepest of sleepers, there is no way to avoid the sound of its ringing. It does not help that we live in the guest houses closest to the central spot of campus where the bell hangs.

Some mornings if it's raining pretty hard from the monsoon they cancel shramadan and we get to sleep in. It's like getting a snow day! I was lucky, and this happened on both Wednesdays when I was not feeling well.

For the first four weeks that I was here, every time we did shramadan we swept the paths around campus and cleared leaves to make the grounds look pretty. Then, on Wednesday July 21st we did something different. They sent all the women to weed the path that leads to the lake house. There are no lawn mowers here, at least none that I have seen. So, weeding is not just meant to clear flowerbeds, but to manually cut grass and help ensure that the paths stay wide enough and are not narrowed by encroaching grass and plants. I wasn't too excited to be doing this activity. First, it meant sticking my hands in morning-dew grass where lots of little bugs and critters live. I was also afraid of there being snakes. Second, we had to use very sharp scythes to help us cut some of the grass down and I was worried about chopping off my hand.

For the first few minutes I daintily picked at some grass and weeds, trying not to get my hands dirty. I didn't feel like I was doing much. After a while, I got more comfortable with the nature living in the grass. It really was just some small worms, ants, caterpillars, spiders, and other weird looking things I've never seen before...but you know, small stuff, that doesn't scare me much anymore. I started helping out a lot more and I found that I really enjoyed this work. It was also fun because instead of being spread out to sweep all over campus, all us girls were concentrated in one area so we could talk during shramadan. This made it sort of a chore-filled social hour. I also found that weeding one small area was less straining on the back than being bent over sweeping an entire path. All in all, it was a good shramadan.

For several weeks Naina (Dr. Abhay Bang) kept telling us that we were going to do some rice transplantation. This means moving seedlings from one rice paddy where they were initially planted and sown and are very concentrated to another rice paddy where they will complete the rest of their growth in a less dense manner. That's the simplified version. I'm sure there is a much better agricultural explanation.

Anyway, Naina said this was going to mean standing in mud up to our knees and as interns expected to participate in shramadan, this meant that if one day this rice transplantation actually happened we would have to join in. I didn't like this idea. I do not like sticking my feet into bodies of water where I cannot see the bottom. I don't like it at the ocean and I would not like it in a muddy rice paddy. I probably wouldn't even stick my feet into my own bathtub if the water was not translucent. Don't water snakes live in rice paddies? I told myself that if the morning came when we were to do rice transplanting, I wouldn't complain. I would try to help out in any way I could and if I couldn't avoid going into the mud, I would just find a way to do it, hoping it wouldn't last long.

Here is a photo of the rice paddy. I just happened to take it during sunset the evening before we did the rice transplantation. It is right across from the library, so when I leave the library most evenings, this is the view that I see. At the time I took this photo I didn't even realize this was the rice paddy.

On Friday, July 23rd, Naina announced at prayer service that we would be doing rice transplantation the next morning. "Alright, I guess it's actually going to happen," I thought. He told us that men could wear shorts, but of course, women would have to keep on their modest outfits. This was totally unfair! We would have to roll-up our pants and basically get our clothes muddy just because we are not allowed to show our knees, but the men could wear shorts!!! Everyone went to bed hoping it would rain the next morning.

On Saturday, July 24th, the shramadan bell rang. It was not raining. Some of the girls were very tired (we've been going to bed later and later) and decided they were going to skip and sleep in. Marie, Haley, and I were led by others to the rice paddy. Since it had recently rained, as always, things were pretty muddy. We stood and watched as others ventured into the muddy rice paddy. Bhagyashree was already in there planting rice grass, and us Americans stood there like we had never seen anything like it- because, well, we hadn't. What helped a lot is that I guess some of the women who live at SEARCH haven't had much experience with rice transplantation either because some of them seemed really freaked out as well. One woman yelped and shrieked with fear when her feet first sank into the mud. After watching them get into the rice paddy (which required climbing over a muddy hill), Haley was psyched up enough to go in. Honestly, if it weren't for Haley's gung-ho attitude I probably would have ran away. I decided I would just do whatever she did. We all climbed up the muddy dirt and a man helped us into the paddy. Unfortunately, Marie cut her toe on something, probably a stick, and had to get out after taking one step.

The sensation was gross and the texture at the bottom was terrifying!!! I was petrified there were going to be snakes or huge beetles or just anything that would eat my feet. We got in the paddy in a watery section so that in addition to having no idea what was below our feet, it was very sloshy, and this caused the mud to keep shifting, which kept freaking me out that something was there. Thankfully, we were not knee-deep as Naina had promised, but we were ankle-calf deep the entire time. We decided to wade over to the end where most people were working. It was less watery and just more sticky mud. I was scared the whole time that something was going to get me, but after a few minutes I decided that the mud was way to thick and dense for anything to be moving through it, let alone living in it.

Still, I had to stay within a foot of someone at all times. I had a theory that there was strength in numbers and I couldn't possibly be attacked by an imagined water snake if I was standing next to someone else. Makes sense right? It also helped that Naina, Anand, and other senior staff were helping out as well. It gave me comfort that they had done this many times before and they obviously wouldn't have us do it if it were unsafe. In fact, during the shramadan there were probably 40 people in the rice paddy! Thus, I just kept telling myself that nothing was going to happen to me because nothing seemed to be happening to anyone else.

Haley and I laughed a lot throughout the process. Everyone else looked like they had done this dozens of times, but we had no clue what to do. How far down do we stick the rice seedlings? How far apart do we plant them? Everyone else was going in nice, neat, consistent rows. In contrast, our strategy was to plant the seedlings in any way that allowed us to limit our movement and continue to cling to the spots where others were working. I spent most of the time working next to the older man who starts the music for prayer every evening. I don't know his name, but I wish I did. I think he is at least Naina's age, if not older. He seems very dignified and I always say hi to him when I see him on campus. I tried to copy his system for the rice transplantation. Naina also came over and showed us how to lean our elbow onto one knee and bend our knees so that we were in the proper position to do this for awhile. He told us that some women from the villages work in the rice paddies for 10-12 hours a day! Fortunately, shramadan only lasts 45 minutes! Here is a photo of the paddy when we were done:

When it was time to get out everyone walked over to one section of the paddy and one by one took turns climbing out of the mud. One last section was still being finished and an elderly woman who looked very experienced at rice transplantation tried to guide Haley and I over to it so we could help complete it. After a few seconds though, she made a face like we were doing everything wrong, and we got out with everyone else.

After the work, some staff brought out some chai tea for everyone to enjoy as they cleaned themselves up. We decided to not wash off quite yet because we wanted to grab a photo back at our rooms. The elderly woman and her friend stood and giggled and spoke to Naina in Marathi. We were curious to know what they were saying about us. Bhagyashree said that the elderly woman said that I was not very good at rice transplantation and that I couldn't do it! What!?!?! Haha. After everything I went through! I got in the mud and walked through sticky, watery, gooey, can't-see-my-feet rice paddy and didn't complain one bit! And I stuck my hand down into the mud over and over and put those little rice grass bundles into it. And she said I couldn't do it!? I knew that she was just making fun of us and Haley and I knew we had done our best.

Here is a photo of us (Bhagyashree, me, Haley) upon returning to our rooms:

A few hours later when I was near the rice paddies I saw the elderly woman and a few others still working. Here is a photo of them. The elderly woman is the one standing up and scowling at me for taking a photo. You can see this better if you click on the photo to enlarge it.


And finally, another shramadan that was unique: this past Saturday, July 31st, I was too tired, and I just plain skipped it!

Three Different Sundays

I haven't written any posts about Sundays in awhile because after my first two initial weekends we stopped taking big excursions. We went to the Markanda Temple, and then to Sevagram and Chandrapur, and the week before I arrived the girls had gone to a tiger reserve (where they saw no tigers) and that pretty much exhausts everything there is to do around here. So, most Sundays have been reduced to our trip into Gadchiroli to stock up on snacks, eat at a restaurant, and perhaps buy some clothes.

This post will be about the last three Sundays. Because we have not had to leave early in the morning to go on any big trips, I have been able to have some lazy Sundays around campus. Because the work week is Monday-Saturday, Sunday is the one day that you can do whatever you want. In reality, we get away with doing whatever we want during the work week as well, but at least on Sunday you can do it guilt-free. I have used the time on Sunday mornings to take extra long showers and wash my hair (something I only do about once a week here), wash extra loads of laundry, and lie around my room reading. The SEARCH bus into town leaves at 2pm, so this gives us a full morning to relax.

-*-*-*-*-

Going back several weeks to July 11th. This was the first Sunday after Rushina arrived and none of the other interns had left yet, so our group was pretty large. Because we had just eaten out the night before as a going away party for some of the interns (mentioned in Changing of the Guard post), we made no plans to eat at a restaurant on this particular Sunday. This afternoon we mostly shopped around aimlessly. I wasn't looking for anything particular, but we went in and out of a dozen jewelry stores because the girls who had their noses pierced wanted some jewelry to take home. I was hoping to find a pair of earrings because I did not bring a single piece of jewelry with me to India: no necklaces, no bracelets, no earrings, no rings. I found a cheap pair of fake gold earrings that are cute enough to wear here, but I probably won't wear once I get home. We visited a fabric store we hadn't yet been to on previous trips into town, and I finally found cotton cloth- the material I wanted- in green- the color that I wanted- so that I could finally have a comfortable outfit tailored. During my first weekend here, before my suitcase arrived, I had bought fabric for two outfits, but I hadn't paid close attention and the fabric was not cotton, but some synthetic material. Further, the tailor messed up and the clothes did not fit and I had to trade them away. So I was very very happy to find the green cotton and I looked forward to my new outfit.

Some of the girls were also talking about picking up some yarn and needles because Marie was going to teach us all how to knit. This is something I've wanted to do for a very long, probably since college, so I was excited about this prospect. We went into one of the stores here that sells everything from henna hair dye to baby shampoo to knitting yarn and went crazy! I think the store owner must have thought it was his lucky day. At 3 or 4 rupees a roll we practically bought the store out of their yarn. I think we walked away with something like 45 rolls of yarn, in at least a dozen colors.

Over the last few weeks Marie has given various lessons on knitting. Sad to say, I wasn't too good at it. I learned how to cast on to a needle and the basic knit and purl stitches, but I gave up before I made anything real. First, I'm not a very crafty person. I always think I am, but I just don't have the patience to make something look nice. I'm always rushing through it. Because of this, the piece that I started had tons of holes and mistakes in it. Second, I had books I still wanted to read with me and at some point I needed to start studying for the final part of my QE exam taking place in September, so I think I saw the knitting as a distraction. Something I would love to do, but it would easily turn into an excuse to procrastinate. So after I got relatively far on my first piece- which I momentarily thought could be a sweater for a small stuffed animal until I decided it was a complete disaster- I gave up. When Haley arrived, the knitting really started getting going. Haley also has experience knitting, so now, almost every night, Marie, Haley, and Rushina sit around knitting. Rushina is making an awesome pair of socks for her husband Chris that look absolutely amazing for her first time knitting. They are knitting rock stars...and I am a knitting failure. Oh well, I'm glad that I know enough basics now that if I ever picked up interest again I could probably go to a knitting store and take some lessons, but who knows when I will have the time for that.

After shopping, we met up with Vimal tai. As mentioned in an earlier post (The Food) she wanted us to come to her friend's house which is about a seven or eight minute walk from the center of town. At the time that we met up with her it looked like it was about to rain. As we headed in the direction of her friend's house, very ominous clouds filled the sky. I remember Kate or Brenna saying that this was not a good idea, but we couldn't let Vimal tai down. The moment we arrived at her friend's house it started to pour. There was no way we could walk back to the SEARCH bus, so we waited around for the rain to stop. All I remember is that we gathered in the front room, which also served as a bedroom, and sat on the bed, while a cute dog hid underneath barking like crazy. That, and we all got tons of mosquito bites. Vimal tai's friend served us some really good tea, actual tea, not chai. Unfortunately the rain never quite died down and since the bus would be leaving soon, we had no choice but to go back through the storm. Because of our shopping we had a decent amount of plastic bags with us. We all used the bags and creatively used the scarves from our outfits to wrap up our belongings. By the time we got outside there was already some flooding. The first "river" we had to jump over, I slipped on the mud and my feet came right down into the waters and were soaked. As we got further along, Vimal tai realized that she left her shoes at her friend's house! She just walked away without them! (It's not uncommon to see people go barefoot here). We all were willing to turn around, but I think Vimal tai felt guilty about getting us trapped in the rain, so we never did. We tried to duck under awnings whenever we could, but there was no way around it. We were completely drenched, as if we had all jumped into swimming pools. Although my hair, my body, and my clothes were completely soaked, our smart packing kept all our belongings dry. Nothing of mine in my purse or my camera bag got wet. When we got back to SEARCH, I immediately stripped down and put on some dry clothes. Some of the other girls, including some interns who hadn't gone into town and were perfectly dry, decided to have a party in the rain. I thought they were crazy. It looked like fun, but I thought we already had fun walking to the bus.

-*-*-*-*-

Sunday, July 18th was a couple days after four of the American girls left, and before Haley arrived, so there were only a few of us around. Marie and Rushina had returned on Saturday from their overnight in Nagpur. Jessica was busy with surgery camp. I really really really wanted to go to town and get eggs and chocolate, having not joined the sleepover in Nagpur. I was also looking forward to bringing my green fabric to the tailor. I spent the morning doing laundry and was all ready to go. Unfortunately, during lunch, right before the bus was to leave, Marie and Rushina both decided they preferred a quiet Sunday after spending time and money in Nagpur. As we finished up lunch, I saw some men get off the SEARCH bus and walk down to the front gate. I wondered if they were leaving for town by some other means. I quickly wrapped up my lunch, and went to see what was going on. Sure enough, unlike the previous Sunday, only five or six people were going into town. Instead of using the bus, they were going to go in a van. They waved to me from the front gate, because they could tell I was hoping to go into town. When I approached the vehicle, I wasn't sure what to do because it was starting to drizzle and my umbrella was in my room, and Marie was still in the mess hall and she hadn't completely decided if she was coming. The SEARCH men seemed like they were ready to leave, but I asked them to wait a minute. Marie was coming up the road and I met with her to explain that we were taking the van instead. With the rain starting, she decided she wasn't going to go. I had to make a quick decision, and because I had been planning on going all morning, I decided I was just going to do it without the other girls! I wanted my weekly chocolate! I wasn't too worried about going into town because I was going with four staff from SEARCH and one of their young sons, but as we drove in I wondered how I was going to communicate to them to not leave me behind. I started talking with the guy next to me, who I recognized as the guy in charge of shramadan (group cleaning). His name is Raj. He didn't speak a lot of English, but enough that he told me that since it was a small group we would only stay in town until 5pm, and confirmed the spots where the bus (now van) would pick up before returning to SEARCH. He gave me his cell phone number, but without the international calling directions on hand, we couldn't figure out how to get my phone to call his. I also had him give me Aditi's number, so that I could call her if I could get my phone to work.

I had a good time in Gadchiroli alone, but it was also a little nerve-wracking. I quickly accomplished going to the tailor and ice cream store, but I had to kill another 2 hours before it would be time to head back. I was very conscious of everyone staring at me. In India, obvious and direct staring is culturally accepted; people don't mean harm or to create discomfort, they are just curious. I was accustomed to this when we took our group outings, I knew that people always loved to stare at my red hair, but I was used to hiding behind others. It was a little uncomfortable being alone, but I knew I was dressed appropriately, and I just averted my eyes. I spent the time visiting all the stores that I had been to before- stores I was comfortable going into. I'm a pretty directional person, so I had no trouble navigating the streets. Even though I was disappointed that the other girls had not come with me, I still decided it would be nice to pick up the things they had expressed wanting. I walked down one of the main streets until I found a man selling various goods, including a plastic soap dish for Marie.

After buying the soap dish, I continued down the street to an area I had not been to before but still within the realm that I was comfortable being in. The street was a little bit narrower, but it was the same cart vendors and storefronts as the rest of town. I felt perfectly safe, but I really started to worry about finding the van at pickup time. I really wished that my cell phone was able to call Raj's, and I was anxious to figure out how to make it work. I decided that at 3pm I was going to call Ben and wake him up at home and have him check my email inbox where I had an informative email from Verizon. Good thing for loving fiances! I could never wake up anyone else at 5:30am in the morning to do an online favor! It also helped that I knew Ben would be waking up early for work. It was going to cost $2 a minute, but wasn't this the reason I had made sure I had an international cell phone? When I called, he was surprised to hear from me, and a little agitated that I woke him up twenty minutes before his alarm, but he was helpful and read me all the cell phone directions. After getting off the phone with him, I still couldn't get my phone to call an Indian cell phone, so I knew it was up to me to be in the pickup spot at the right time.

I went to Fashion World fabric and clothing store, a store we seem to go to every weekend. I needed an excuse to stay within the store (for the privacy and the shade), so I told the man at the counter I needed some white scarves, which I knew would be relatively cheap. They treated me very kindly in the store, giving me a chair to sit in and some mango candy. By the time the man came back with the scarves (he had to go somewhere to get them, probably another store, haha), it was time for me to go look for the SEARCH van at the first pickup point. I went out to the main road 15 minutes before 4pm and waited around. I wasn't nervous at first because I knew the driver would eventually come, but the sun was blazing and I knew I was turning red (despite having sunblock on), and as it got closer and closer to 4pm I started to worry. I didn't want to stand in any one place for too long, so I shifted over to another storefront, keeping my eye on the pickup location. An older, nicely dressed man on a scooter came up to me and started talking to me in English. He was very kind. He was asking me what I was doing in Gadchiroli and I told him about SEARCH which he was familiar with. He told me he was the owner of the store I was standing in front of and the one next door, and he told me to feel welcome to purchase whatever I wanted! I thought that was funny, he said it in a tone as if he was saying "Feel welcome to pick out a free gift!" After a couple minutes he drove off on his scooter. By now it was 4:05pm and I was severely anxious that I was going to be left in Gadchiroli. The van had still not arrived. I knew that worst case scenario the girls would realize when I didn't come back and SEARCH would send out a vehicle to retrieve me. Gadchiroli town is not that big and if I stood right in the center they would definitely have found me, but I didn't want it to come to this. The only idea I had was to go back to the tailor's where the woman at the counter spoke English (she even remembered my name from my first visit two weeks earlier!) , and try to get her to use her phone and call my SEARCH contact. When I went in the store she unfortunately thought I wanted to call a taxi. I tried to explain to her that I already had a driver, but couldn't find him, but she still did not get that I was requesting that she use her phone, and I didn't want to be rude and outright demand it. I decided to take one more look on the streets. Relief! The SEARCH van was at its designated location. I went and sat inside the van. The driver and another fellow went to go get a snack a few feet away. I wasn't sure what to do with myself because the van picks up at one location at 4pm, then at some point migrates to the second location down the road, and sits there until 5pm when it finally leaves for SEARCH (same as the bus, except the bus is 5pm and 6pm). I didn't want to sit in a hot car for an hour, and I also wanted to go back to the ice cream store and pick up the chocolate I didn't buy earlier for fear that it would melt. But I also didn't want to risk getting separated from the van again. Finally, Raj came back and I told him that I wanted to go to one more store, and please please please do not leave me. I left my shopping bag in the car as a sign that I intended to come back, in case the English did not get through.

Raj took me to a fruit stand that I had been to before and we bought some bananas, and then I went off to the ice cream store. I tried to be as quick as possible, but I had a lot of chocolate to buy, some cereal to pick up for Jessica, and I was thirsty and wanted another soda (which you have to drink inside the store because they collect the glass bottle back). As I rushed back to the first pickup point I prayed that the van would still be there. As I neared the block where it should have been, I did not see it. I immediately got mad at myself for wanting snacks and risking not getting back to SEARCH because I was greedy and wanted chocolate. However, I knew that there was a good chance that the van just moved to the second pickup point, so I wasn't completely freaked out. I also had a lot of faith that Raj knew not to leave me behind in town. I started walking towards the second pickup point, and thankfully, after taking two or three steps Raj was all a sudden next to me. Although the van had moved, he had waited around for me to come back to the first pickup spot. I immediately thanked g-d that people can still be kind, thoughtful, and decent despite the confusion created by language barriers. We walked together to the second pickup point. It was still only 4:30pm, but I wasn't going to take any more chances. I sat around in the car until 5pm, trying to stay cool with the evening breeze, until everyone else returned. When I got back to SEARCH I told the other girls about my experience. I wasn't sure in the end if going to Gadchiroli alone was a good decision. Nothing bad had happened, and I was never in fear of something happening to me physically, but I was anxious the whole time about being stared at, about the small percentage of English speakers, and about being left behind. Still, I also felt like I had accomplished something, and I brought back gifts for others to boot!

-*-*-*-*-

This past Sunday, July 25th, was a lot more easy-going than the previous two. No getting caught in the rain, no venturing out on my own. Aditi, Marie, Haley, Rushina, and I went into town for lunch and ice cream. We went to a restaurant called CityHeart. I liked it just as much as Rasika, I really liked the decor, but the palek paneer was really greasy. This was made up by the fact that we got ice cream at the restaurant and I had the most amazing chocolate chip, fudge-at-the-bottom, sundae cone! Yummy!

CityHeart decor.

Rushina, Aditi, Marie, and Haley at our table, enjoying sodas before the food came.

Me and my ice cream cone!

After lunch we stopped at the tailor's so I could pick up my outfit that was ready from the week before and Rushina and Aditi could drop off some material they had purchased. I told the woman at the tailor's that I eventually found my driver the week before and I hope she hadn't worried too much. Later that evening, I tried on my outfit and it fits! Not perfectly, it's kinda screwy around the arms, but at least it fits over the part of my body that I was having trouble accommodating in all my earlier shopping. Finally an outfit I truly can enjoy wearing! After the tailors we did some additional shopping at some jewelry stores and fabric stores. The street that I had walked down after buying the soap dish the week before was having some sort of festival. They had a green rug spread down the street and a tent setup covering several blocks. All these people were sitting along the sides and being served food. Aditi explained to us that it was a festival honoring a god and that after offering sacrificial food to the god, the people were enjoying it for themselves. As the others shopped for fabrics, I took these photos of the street outside:

Street with festival. The boy in the orange was one of many serving food from big pails.

A closeup of some women enjoying the food.

A photo of three young girls at the festival. I had to ask their permission to take their photo and they ran away before coming back and letting me take it. As always here, I showed them their photo after I took it. The kids always giggle and smile! I love this photo because it is so beautiful but it also makes me sad because I do not know the girls' names or anything else about them.

After the fabric store, we decided to go to a linens and sheets store because we have all grown weary of the hard pillows at SEARCH and we were looking for something more comfortable. We all ended up buying pillows and I bought two matching white with green floral pillowcases. I am hoping they stay nice enough for me to enjoy at home, but like everything here they already feel damp and will probably get mildewy. They are still beautiful now though, and they also match my new green outfit! Our last stop was at the ice cream store where we bought lots of snacks for the coming week and had a second round of ice cream. Lo and behold they had fruit popsicles! I enjoyed an orange popsicle straight off my cravings list!

So there it is wrapped up, if not briefly, the past three Sundays.