So we’re just finishing our first whole week since being at
CHAI, and about a week and a half since being in India. Seems strange to say that it’s just been a
week, as it feels like so much has happened in the last seven days. I’ll try to be brief on the recount!
When we arrived at CHAI initially, we were shocked by how
nice our accommodations were. We’re
staying at a guest house a hop skip and a jump by the CHAI headquarters, and it
is SO luxurious, even compared to the place we were staying in Hyderabad-nice
beds, clean sheets, clean and new rooms, ac, flat screen TVs, wifi, showers…basically
the works! After settling into CHAI and having our first meal with Sister
Sudeepa, the very lovely lady and former nurse who is looking after us while we’re
here, we ventured out to a market called Charmina with some girls from Florida
also staying at CHAI. It took us about
30 minutes by rickshaw to get there, which in itself was an experience, being
our first time and all. I don’t know if I’ve
mentioned the roads yet, but they are a sight to be seen. It absolutely amazes me that the flow of
traffic seems to work with minimal accidents, since rules basically seem to
involve honking and pointing where you want to go, and somehow, certain
vehicles yield at the right time. We
did, however, witness one accident while at a fruit stand in old Hyderabad-two
small motorcycles basically ran into each other, and after minimal shouting and
a bit of dusting off, the men picked up their bikes off the ground and went on
their way, while we were still watching, mouths gaping wide…
Anyways, back to the market! It was unlike any of the
markets we had been to yet. It. Was. Crowded. Like, insanely crowded. Couldn’t move, couldn’t talk, couldn’t stay
as a 9 person group like we came, crowded. As we left our rickshaw, the driver
even warned us to be careful, and careful we were, even with our minds set on
shopping. After being dissatisfied with
a set of rings a merchant had on the street, he ushered us up to his “store”, 3
stories up a sketchy hallway, to see more.
So interesting. After some
browsing without much finding (we were looking for long shirts to wear but the
market was a Muslim one so they mostly sold burkas) we made our way back home
to CHAI, but not without having our driver get us lost about 10 times along the
way. Luckily, it was still daylight, and
a positive attitude will get you far in India, and we eventually arrived home
safe (and for a good price!).
The next day our learning at CHAI began. We became oriented
to the healthcare system in India, which we all found to be a very interesting
lecture and peppered the speaker with questions. I was surprised to learn that the government
only alots 0.9-2% (we received different figures in different talks) on
healthcare, yet there is an entire public system with free care for all.
However, this free care doesn’t look similar to that in Canada, and by the time
funds allotted trical down to communities, after corruption and bureaucracy,
there is often very little left to spend providing healthcare services. We also
learned about some of CHAI’s projects, including their Stop TB program, which
utilizes volunteers and chemists/traditional healers that already exist in
communities to implement their DOTs programming.
That evening Ruchika, the woman who has organized our time
here at CHAI, took us out for an evening on the town, which oriented us to our
direct surroundings, including grocery stores, coffee shops and a spa! We then
went to visit the massive lake in the centre of Hyderabad, and took a boat ride
to see the big Budha statue in the middle.
The Budha was donated to the city by the Dalai Lama, and is a massive
monolith. It was cool to see, and we had
our picture taken with many Indians, our first experience of being asked for a picture! Which reminds me, while in Hyderabad, apart
from being at CHAI, we haven’t really encountered other tourists. We’ve gotten
stares for sure, but nothing really besides that, and overall we’ve felt safe
here.
After Big Budha, Ruchika took us SARI SHOPPING! Since there
was a festival going on there was a deal on the sari’s and I scored a lovely
pink and yellow fancy number for the equivalent of about 7 bucks (its about 6m
of material!) After dinner, we attempted to youtube a video of how to tie it,
with mixed results, but it was fun trying to sport our new gear. After sari
shopping, we went to a restaurant called Paradise, home of the best biryani in
Hyderabad, where the dish is native to.
I found it SO interesting when Ruchika explained that the restaurant has
3 levels, all with varying prices on the biryani, and I am sure, varying levels
of comfort. We were on the top level, which was quite luxurious-I felt
underdressed in my tights and shirt. After a delicious meal of tikka paneer
(bbq tasting cheese mmmmmmhmmm) and chicken biryani, we went home, happy and
full!
Me in front of Big Budha!
No comments:
Post a Comment