Changing of the Guard

Group photo during the sendoff. From left to right: Rajnish, Amrut (the Bang's younger son, Anand is the older son), Brenna, Aditi, Kate, Marie, Me, Bhagyashree, and Jessica. At the bottom: Amy and Rushina. Miriam had already left early that morning. Once again, Sona is taking the picture.

The last ten days have seen a lot of changes in the foreigners living at SEARCH.

First of all, Rushina arrived on Thursday, July 8th. We are now roommates. This has made my room a lot more colorful and inviting. Especially because two nights ago we decided to put up mosquito nets. Since hers is green and mine is blue they give some height, depth, and color to the room. Sleeping under the mosquito net is fun. You can sleep without a blanket to protect you from bugs, you don't wake up in the morning all itchy and scratchy, and you feel like you are in your own little sleep bubble.

Picture: Rushina and I in our matching outfits today.

Kate, Brenna, and Amy were all scheduled to leave in mid-July. (I erroneously stated in an earlier post that everyone was staying until August, when really I just meant Miriam and Marie, and eventually Rushina, and of course Jessica who is here until November). A few of the interns from India also left this past week including Sagar and soon Pavan.

To celebrate the send-0ff we went out to our favorite restaurant in Gadchiroli on Saturday, July 10th. We had to get special permission for this outing because we were going on a Saturday night, before the official day off. Permission was easily granted and we scheduled some cars to pick us up. I am still getting used to the ways things operate in India. Seems like things always take forever and the lines of communication are always getting crossed. It took almost two hours for the cars to arrive at SEARCH to pick us up!- and I think they were only coming from Gadchiroli!, but who knows. We finally piled into the cars around 9pm. Going to town had an extra bonus because I only had 11 rupees left to my name and I needed to find an ATM. Sagar was very nice and walked with me a few blocks from the restaurant to the bank building. I'm glad he took the time to go with me because it was obviously dark out and there were still many people in the street, and I did not feel that safe.

Dinner was fun because our party was very large. Seems like each time we go to Rasika we have to combine more and more tables together. We always have the same server. I think there were 15 people in attendance and lots and lots of food on the table as always. This time we even splurged and got sodas for everyone! My favorite dish once again was the one that had paneer (cheese) in it.

Wednesday, July 14th was a sad day. Miriam found out her grandmother passed away. I felt very very sad for her. Miriam knew her grandmother had been sick, and she had already moved up her departure from the third week in August to July 31st. Sadly, her grandmother's health declined more rapidly than expected. Everyone was very supportive, and it was good that Marie, her long time friend, was here to comfort her. I had a quiet talk with her on Thursday afternoon to see how she was doing. Miriam had to decide if she would try to make it back for the funeral or stay for the rest of the trip. Her family chose to have the funeral on Sunday, so that she could make it back in time.

Wednesday and Thursday were a blur because in addition to everyone getting ready to leave, I developed a very bad cold on Wednesday. Seems that is my sick day! It started Tuesday evening with that warm swallowing throat feeling and by Wednesday morning it was a full blown cold. It was very runny and I spent half the day grabbing tissues. In fact, I used up an entire roll of toilet paper as tissues and one my tissue packets; it's a good thing I brought extra. I took two Benadryl on Wednesday afternoon and was completely wiped out the rest of the day. I forced myself to get good sleep on both Wednesday and Thursday, taking some naps as well, so that by Friday I no longer felt sick. I still have a residual stuffy nose though, but no more tissues every five seconds.

Miriam ended up deciding that she would go home for her grandmother's funeral and that in order to catch a flight out of Nagpur to Delhi to home, she would be be leaving on Friday at 4am in the morning! We had a special samosas and pepsi party (treats picked up in town) on Thursday evening as a second celebration to say farewell to those leaving. In Miriam's case it was very bittersweet. After our samosas and pepsi party we had one big gathering again in Kate and Brenna's room where we all exchanged photos and music files. Sufina and Bhagyashree were away at a conference and would return between 1 and 2am, so Miriam had made plans to stay up all night. I was hoping to stay up as well, but with my cold, there was just no way I could make it. Around 11pm I said goodbye to Miriam. Hopefully we will have a chance to cross paths again some day! I set my alarm for 3:45am to attempt saying goodbye again. I woke up and used the bathroom and heard sounds from Marie and Miriam's room, and a suitcase being rolled out, but I chose to go back to sleep rather than force a second goodbye.

Picture: Everyone gathered for the samosa and pepsi party

On Friday afternoon Kate, Brenna, and Amy left. They would be heading up to the airport in Nagpur and then heading to Goa (where the beaches are) and then eventually to northern India for some sight-seeing and tourism. Those of us staying at SEARCH took a nice break from work to hang outside in the central area and see them off. The group photo we took at the time is above.

For most of the day I had been working in the research building so I was not part of some conversations that were had between the girls in the library about Rushina and Marie going on an overnight to Nagpur. Rushina was interested in stopping at the airport because she needed to make some changes to her tickets and I think Marie was just itching to get out of Shodhgram. Right before the three who were permanently leaving were to get in the car, Rushina and Marie asked permission to go to Nagpur on a Friday night and miss work on Saturday. They were granted permission. They were going to hang out in Nagpur and stay in the hotel with the other girls and have a sleepover! I also had the choice to go, but I couldn't justify to myself a 3.5 hour car ride, there and back, just to sleep in a hotel. Although it sounded like fun, I was a happy camper here at SEARCH. Besides, Jessica would not be going because a surgery camp for spine surgery was to begin the next morning. I decided it would be nice to hang around SEARCH for a quieter Saturday.

Saturday turned out to be a good day and I actually had a chance to observe the surgery camp (future post). When Marie and Rushina returned they said they had fun, but that they both spent a fortune between the car rides, dinner, and the hotel.

On Sunday Sagar was leaving so we had Maggi in the morning for breakfast. Aditi and Sufina prepared a huge pot for everyone. Maggi is basically the Indian version of ramen. It looks the same and has the same texture. I think the noodles are identical. The only difference is that it is made with Indian spices, more like curry, instead of the chicken, beef, and vegetable flavorings we have at home in the United States. Maggi is a special treat here, and whenever it is made, we invite all the young kids that live at SEARCH. It is sooo cute to see them light up to eat Maggi!

With girls leaving, two new girls have arrived. Swati, a sophomore from a small private college in Michigan has arrived. She will mostly do observation in the clinic. Haley, Marie's friend from Brown, has also arrived to do a quick internship. She came from another organization in India that was not working out. We all leave the same week in August.