Magical Munnar

Ah, the next leg of our whirlwind trip to Kerala.  As I had mentioned in the previous post, we had to get up at a ripe old time of 4:30 a.m. to catch our 6:00 am bus to Munnar, a mountain town about 5 hours directly east (inland) from Kochi.  We were able to stash our large packs at the hotel for the days we’d be gone, as we knew we were going to be doing a lot of moving.  I was pleasantly surprised with how easy it was to find the bus, while the station in Kochi was probably the sketchiest bit of Kerala we encountered, with men lying everywhere on cardboard boxes, asking for money and taking their morning pees wherever they liked.  

It decided to pour that morning, which worried me a bit because my guidebook pointed out that the roads to Munnar often get washed away during monsoon reason, but I decided not to share this with the rest of the group and just hope for the best! We paid about 80 rupees for the trip, which was uncomfortable to say the least.  Public buses in India don’t have glass windows, so when it rains, all of the windows are covered with metal flaps, so you can’t see out anywhere. That, mixed with the fact that literally every minute I felt I was being flung to my right side and then to my left because of the mountainous roads, meant that the drive was pretty unpleasant for those of us who get carsick. We were definitely the only Westerners who opted for the public bus route, and were lucky enough to have gotten on at the first stops, so we had seats all the way. However, since the buses aren’t leak proof by any means, us and the majority of our luggage was somewhere between damp or soaked by the time we arrived 5 hours later. The 5 hour journey was actually pretty good considering the bus was unable to move for about 40 minutes due to a road block, likely due to the weather, during which time I was praying to just get to Munnar with all roads intact. 

 

Looking fabulous on our bus ride to Munnar

Get there we did, and we were swiftly picked up by a driver who within minutes arranged an entire tour and a ride back to the coast for only 18 bucks a person (about 12 hours of driving in a jeep). He first took us to the accommodation we’d arranged which was absolutely breathtaking. We stayed at Zina Cottages, which is just on the outskirts of Munnar. To get there, the jeep has to climb up a mountain, which takes about 10 minutes, and is one of the most terrifying drives of my life because the road is mostly washed out. Once we arrived, we realized that we were essentially staying IN a tea plantation, surrounded by endlessly rolling mountains filled with tea plants. We also realized that we were very much alone up there-no other accommodations or homes existed, and we absolutely welcomed the silence after being subjected to such noise pollution in Indian cities.  Our rooms were simple, but the views were so breathtaking it was hard to care about what we’d be sleeping in. 

 

The view from where we had our welcome chai

After some chai (so necessary given our surroundings), we started off with our driver, who promised to show us the lay of the land and have us back by dark (before the wild boars come out-I am not kidding, the locals were very serious in their warnings not to wander after dark as these animals will apparently take you out without a fighting chance-Lonely Planet confirms this, so I took their word for it). Even though much of the drive wasn’t to see anything in particular at all, we were constantly ooing and awing at the scenery, and taking about 1000 “snaps” around every turn we took.  One of the coolest things we saw along the way were… WILD ELEPHANTS. Yep, that’s right. Right in the middle of the coldest, most green, most damp, place I’ve been in India, sure enough there was a family of elephants wandering a field, eating all the grass they wanted.  The elephants, though we were looking at them from a bit of a distance, appeared to be smaller than the African elephants I had seen before.  Us and a few other tourists just watched them graze along, amazed that they were ACTUALLY wild, and didn’t belong to someone. Its crazy to me, because it’s kind of equivalent to seeing a deer run across a field at home, except that these were ELEPHANTS, and they weren’t running anywhere-they couldn’t care less that a bunch of us were watching them, they just wanted to get their fill of yummy grass. 

 

Wild elephants!!!!

 After that thrill, we stopped for lunch, which we requested to be cheap and local to compensate for the spending we were doing that day for the tour itself.  Our driver obliged, and took us to this little tarp covered shop that just served what was on the table-rice (big rice-different than what we had been having), a dahl and teeny tiny fried fish caught in the lake beside where we were eating.  My appetite wasn’t up and I have a strong dislike for dahl given my experience with sickness over the last month, but I ate a bit and the girls really enjoyed the fish. We then got some more chai (obviously), and kept going up the mountain until we eventually reached Top Station, a very high point surrounded by tea plantations where you can see the bordering state of Tamil Nadu. The views were absolutely spectacular, as we could see tea plantations for miles, followed by even bigger mountains. At the very top there was a chai stand, and I have to say that it was the BEST chai we’ve had since being in India-it was a nice spicy masala served piping hot, which we welcomed because it was pretty chilly. 

 

Mud hut lunch.

 

The view from Top Station

 

The man who served us the best chai of the trip

Afterwards, our driver took us to town to buy some of the tea from the plantations we had seen all day. Its pretty amazing to me that absolutely all of the tea grown there is growing on land that belongs to the Tata Tea Company. Workers who pick the leaves move through the fields every couple of weeks, and working in wet and cold conditions for 100 rupees/day (about 2 USD).   

 

My "its super cold in India" outfit consisting of tights, parachute pants, a t-shirt and a kurta

 Before dropping us to our hotel, our driver insisted that we all get these Ayurvedic massages done-this is a type of natural medicine that with origins in Kerala, so it seemed legitimate to give one a try-when in Rome, you know? Well, it didn’t quite work out like that. Had we been able to see the facilities before booking our 500 rupee massage, we would’ve known well enough to get the hell out of there. The room where you get massaged looks legitimately like a torture chamber-there’s a massive wooden bed that you are supposed to lie on, which definitely hasn’t been cleaned since god knows when, so that means your naked body has been laying where several hundred others probably have prior to it. Absolutely disgusting. The lady who was doing the massage was nice enough, but when I asked her what her training was to be providing these “treatments” she responded that of course she had gone to grade 10…so, basically, no real training in this medicine at all.  The massage also basically wasn’t one-it moreso involved the lady rubbing various oils on your body, but not in a nice way. O, and by body, I mean that this includes your face and hair, so that was just lovely.  Ewwww, I am actually cringing now just thinking about it. There was absolutely no way I could relax being in that room, but I guess the story is good to tell now, though not worth paying the 10 USD good… O, and since we had told our host that we wouldn’t be needing showers that night, we had no hot water to wash the disgustingness off with, so off to sleep we went, all oily and such. Ewwwwwww. Ew. Despite that being our final experience in Munnar, I am absolutely so glad we made the trip there that day for the whirlwind tour. It was so beautiful, and amazing how different not only the scenery, but the culture and the food, can be by just traveling a few hours inland.  More to come on the rest of our Keralan adventures soon!

Kicking back in Kerala

Done, done and we’re on to the next one!

We arrived in Kerala safe and sound and reasonably well rested after our overnight train ride.  As soon as we arrived in Cochin, I noticed a huge difference from he other states we had been in. Kerala is India's wealthiest and most progressive state, with 100 percent literacy rates (which I take with a grain of salt after learning about how statistics are gathered). The streets simply appeared cleaner, the shops brighter, the traffic more civil-even the rickshaws were more luxurious, with big cushioned seats and drivers who ASK if you want your change. The biggest difference I noticed was the apparent absence of slums or anyone living on the street, and having people asking us for money at intersections basically did not occur.

After a brief rickshaw ride through the mainland and across to islands, we arrived at our absolutely lovely guesthouse in no time-this place was by far the cutest and cleanest place we have stayed-it was very modern, and I would consider it a nice place to stay by Canadian standards.  We decided to stay in Fort Cochin, which is on the island nearby mainland Kochi, but has more of the tourist sites, and is overall a bit nicer in terms of a calm, relaxing atmosphere.  We freshened up from our overnight train ride and got ready for our whirlwind day tour of Fort Cochin, with the first stop being lunch!

After, we made our way to see these Chinese fishing nets, which is an old fashioned means of catching fish.  The nets are attached to the shore, and are made of huge wooden beams with a massive net attached.  Several men hoist a rope attached to the net, which raises and lowers it from the water. Once they lower the net, they leave it in the water for several minutes, then hoist it up to see what goods they got.  We watched a man sort through one of his catches-we got to see a massive prawn, several catfish, a flatfish (something I had never seen before, and did not look at all appetizing despite my new found appreciation of seafood), a small lobster, oysters and a few other small fish.   

 

The Chinese fishing nets in Fort Cochin

We took a stroll along the seaside watching the men and the fishing nets, and being surprised to be surrounded by so many other Westerners for a change.  Having been in Hyderabad for so long, which is by no means a tourist stop in India, it has been a bit of an adjustment getting used to not being the only Westerners around, and which has affected things like prices and prevalence of English being spoken at restaurants and hotels. 

Since we only had a short time (literally 2 hours to see all Fort Cochin had to offer), we hired two rickshaws for a quick tour of the highlights, which included a spice market cooperative, where we saw women shifting through piles of ginger, and bagging it up. The market had all sorts of spices, and we finally got to try what Canadians call chai tea (which to an Indian would just mean tea tea, since tea=chai). This is called masala chai and it is absolutely wonderful, but the store was a tad pricey so we refrained from purchasing anything. 

 The women sorting through the ginger at the spice factory

 

We then visited Mattancherry Palace, which didn’t look like much of a palace, as it was more of a big old wooden building that was still beautiful, but not exactly regal.  I am pretty sure it is a remnant of the Dutch colonial era in Kerala, which may account for why it didn’t possess the certain pizzazz that so many Indian historical buildings have.  Admission to the palace was a steep 5 rupees, and we got to see all of these really amazing etched wall murals of various Hindu religious scenes, as well as some other interesting thing like the dress of the royalty of Kerala, which we learned involved both men and women wearing a white sheet wrapped around their waist like a towel-covering up one’s top half didn’t become vogue until Europeans made their way to India. 

After a few other touristy stops, we made our way straight to a traditional Keralan cultural performance.  We didn’t realize that for the first hour, the audience watches the actors apply their elaborate makeup to their faces, which was kind of interesting to a point, but it literally took an hour and there’s only so much face painting you can watch before your eyes start getting very heavy. The performance eventually began with an introduction about the type of acting that we were going to be seeing, what sort of training the actors and musicians have to go through, what the various actions, facial expressions and types of music means, etc etc.  The performance itself was interesting to say the least. The actors have elaborate makeup done, with almost paper mache like add ons to make a beard or whisker type things. The costumes are equally as elaborate, with massive head pieces and adorned gowns. Luckily, we were handed a paper with a synopsis of what was going on in the play as we entered the theatre, because the actors don’t use words-only facial expressions and grunts-to convey the scene.  Basically, there was a soldier who took revenge on an evil man for stealing his wife, by killing him in a dance-fight, and then drinking his blood, eating his intestines, and washing his wife’s hair in the blood. We were entertained, to say the least, but given the exhausting day we had had, we were ok when the god Krishna granted the soldier forgiveness, and the play ended. 

 

The elaborate makeup application at the Keralan cultural performance

A bit of the fight scene between the soldier and the evil man

Since we were in such a touristy area, we decided to treat ourselves to Italian food that night, at a very cute but somewhat pricey (about $4 for a calzone) rooftop restaurant after the play, that had only Westerners at it (always a good indicator that you’ll be eating an expensive meal that night).  We dragged ourselves back to the cute hotel for an early night, as we had to get up the next day at 4:30 am to catch a 6 am bus to Munnar, a town in the mountains about 5 hours from Cochin. More to follow on that experience in my next post!

 

Amanda, Me and Nicole in the cute Italian restaurant

Get Goin' to Goa!

Hello All!

Due to travelling, it’s been a long while since I’ve been able to update my blog-take this as a sign that I’ve been having far too much fun to want to write about it just yet J.  The last few weeks of travelling after our experiences at CHAI have been a whirlwind time, involving multiple flights, overnight trains and buses, day long jeep rides, a boat and of course, rickshaws. I am absolutely loving travelling India, and the more places we visit, the harder it is for me to want to come home!  The next two weeks will be another whirlwind trip, but I am excited and happy as ever to be exploring and learning about this diverse, magical and insane country! Here goes the beginning of our travel experiences!

After having a lovely time in Hyderabad, we finished up our loose ends at CHAI and the seven of us took a flight to Goa for some post placement R&R. We settled into our guesthouse on Calangute beach, which is one of the more touristy beaches, that wasn't at all busy since this is the off season due to monsoon. We made our way by foot along the beach to find some food and a beer. For our snack the others tried various versions of seafood cocktails while I got a club sandwich and a Kimgfisher. We enjoyed having beers on the beach despite the overcast weather and the series of men who would set up tables around ours and just stare at us (no, we were not wearing our bathing suits, but the same conservative clothes we had been wearing in Hyderabad). As time passed and the evening came, the restaurant set up a barbecue on the beach, and laid out the catch of the day for people to choose from. There were all sorts of fish, some prawns, small lobsters and a small shark. We ordered some BBQ prawns and lobster and here's a shocker- I actually LIKED the prawns! Anyone who knows my aversion to eating anything that once swam will surely be shocked by this. 

The man who had prepared our delicious BBQ prawns!

After finishing up our BBQ and sauntering back to the guesthouse we got ready for our first night out. After some happy hour drinks at a fun bar on the Baga beach strip, we went to the famous Goa beach club, Titos, with -just wait- not only free entry for ladies but also unlimited drinks! Huzah! The only drawback? We were basically the only girls in the club for a long time-apparently this deal isn't quite as appealing to other tourists visiting Goa. This meant that I finally got the Indian clubbing experience, where men dance in circles with their friends with the most exaggerated moves, and the women (just basically us) creep from the walls of the club, both entertained and horrified. Even though I am primarily a beer drinker, Kingfisher beer does not in anyway taste good to me, so the  free drinks were somewhat lost on me, but we had a good time dancing to Top 40 music once the club filled up a bit. All seven of us then piled into one small taxi and made our way home. 

The following day we wanted to explore Baga Beach, and so made our way by foot along the road to the beach, which should've only taken 45 minutes but turned into more like 3 hours, because the 7 or us together are all pretty good little shoppers :). We found another beach hut on the much more happening Baga Beach, where we took refuge during the massive monsoon rains that come and go throughout the afternoon. We all went for a swim in the Arabian Sea, which was kinda difficult considering the waves were huge and the riptide was very strong so we couldn't go very far, and since we had to wear our clothes swimming, as we got stared at enough wearing our conservative clothing. Also, of the Indians swimming, it was about 99% men who don't actually swim but lay on their stomach their underwear on the sand where the waves hit. 

Anyways, after some weak attempts at body surfing, we got our sopping selves out of the ocean, we sloshed back to our guesthouse and got ready for Jo's last night in India celebrations. Jo and I went for a walk, for her to buy some last minute souvenirs and me to get some more rupees out from the ATM (Goa is "expensive" compared to Hyderabad with taxis costing about 3 USD and meals about 4 USD. kingfisher, however is cheap :)). Anyways, while we were standing around one shop Jo was looking in we both got assaulted-by red fire ants! We have not encountered these little devils until now but basically without our noticing these little buggers crawled all over our feet and when they bite it burns and he stinging feeling lasts forever. We had to buy water to try to flush it out and it helped a bit but the pain persisted, unfortunately. 

After THAT experience, we went back to Baga to a famous seafood restaurant called Britos, which was probably one of the nicest places we has eaten at. Though it was also on the beach, it had an inside restaurant feel because it was so well decorated  and professional. Most of the girls ordered the seafood platter, and I had a delicious prawns curry made with coconut milk that I came nowhere close to finishing. 

Enjoying the moments of sun at a beach hut!

After seeing Jo off the next day, we made our way back to Baga with the intention of getting a light lunch at a beach hut-and we ended up staying there for 7 hours. They had free lounge chairs on the beach which was a great because the sand is usually damp due to the on and off monsoon rains. After a few Kingfisher's the rain inevitably came down so we moved our party inside and enjoyed the music and atmosphere from inside the bamboo like hut protected by plastic tarps from all sides. We had some funny mishaps during the day that amounted in an overall good time, and only once the sky became dark did we consider going back to the guesthouse to freshen up. We made our way back to the "main strip" that night which basically means the only area where there were actually people in restaurants and bars. We met some nice people that night, both Indian and Western, and it was nice to swap travel stories with another group of people for a change! Our final day was more of the same, as we bid farewell to our hosts, which mainly taking pictures with the owner of the guesthouse, who was a very old man who told us lots of stories about Goa through the ages, as well as his travels to Portugal (Portugal has colonized Goa prior to independence, as evidenced by the food and architectural legacy left behind.

After saying our goodbyes to Goa, we made our way to the train station for our first overnight train to Kochi, which is a 17 hour ride south basically alongside the west coast of India. We tried to figure out where to get on, as the trains are many cars long and we had assigned seating, but most people's responses involved a finger shake in the general direction down the platform, so winging it seemed like our best option. During the seemingly endless waiting we met a pair of lovely ladies just beginning their travels. It turns out we would have chance run ins with them throughout our travels through Kerala, so it was nice to get to know them a bit that night. Boarding the train was a breeze, and we all found our seats relatively easy enough. Unfortunately the 6 of us girls were not all together, but no one was left alone, with Michelle and I sharing a "side bunk", which  are two bunks running parallel with the aisle of the train, and the other four in a cubby type thing, which involves two sets of three bunks stacked on top of each other with a small sitting area beneath. The sleeping area is a bit squishy, needless to say, but the class we paid for (3AC) was fine, and we welcomed the relative cool after many hot, humid days in Goa. We settled in and did some reading, which was overall very comfortable except for the endless amounts of cockroaches Michelle and I had running over and around us. I tried to kill as many as I could but they just kept coming out of every possible crevice of the train, so my strategy changed to trying to just not think of them, which probably was more effective than it would've been prior to our other experiences in India. At one point, a man brought around some sheets, blankets and pillows, which was a pleasant surprise, and they even looked (relatively) clean. Poor Michelle slept on her tiny higher bunk with her massive backpack, and I settled in nicely right below her, with my pack stowed safely under my bunk, my money belt on and my purse and daypack stashed under my pillow-call me paranoid, but I slept soundly knowing it'd be pretty difficult for our things to get stolen. I drew my curtains closed, tucked into my cozy sewed sheet, and fell asleep before I could even open my book. The train sleep was pretty peaceful- I think that the rocking motion of the train  was pretty soothing, and I slept restfully until some kids decided to play a game at 630 in the morning which involved running up and down the aisles ripping open my curtains. Ah, c'est la vie- between that and the endless calls for CHAI CHAI CHAI and BREAKFAST!! I decided to doze for the rest of the ride I was so comfortable. One thing that's interesting about train travel in India is that you never have any idea what stop you're at- there are no signs at the stations stops, you can barely see out of the dirty train windows to try to recognize the platform and there are no announcements. For us, this usually means we end up asking about 5 people when we get off, with vague responses like "soon" or waves in the general direction that the train is going, which is not entirely helpful. So far so good though, as we have managed to get off at all the right stops. Our train actually got in EARLY despite being so late the night before, and off we were, taking two very crowded rickshaws with 6 people and 6 packs through mainland Kochi over to the island of Fort Cochin.  More to follow on our next adventure in my next post!  

So long, farewell....

Our final week with CHAI!

Phew! We have just finished up our final week of placement in Hyderabad, India. Lots of fun and interesting things happened this week, and I'm happy to say leaving Hyderabad is a bit bittersweet as we've grown comfortable in this city but are also excited o explore the rest of India. Here are some highlights from this week!

After our reception at JMJ, we planned on taking the MSc students out for a nice dinner at Paradise, a famous biryani restaurant in Hyderabad. Jessie, Jo-Ann and I decided that this would be a great chance to actually wear our sarees out in public, so we put on the blouses we bought (the little belly shirts that are worn beneath the saree) and tried to tie them the best we can. The weather happened to be terrible that night, so I was looking quite fashionable wearing my saree and a rain jacket getting absolutely soaked on the rickshaw ride there. Once our friends arrived they took one look at us and decided told us we needed to go to the bathroom to fix our sarees. That alone was really fun and it was nice to finally have our sarees tied properly. I avoided the biryani at dinner, having already tried it at Paradise, and instead had a feast of butter paneer tikka masala and chicken kabobs (which were boneless-what a treat!). We also ordered a serving of mutton Haleem, a dish that is served in the evening during Ramzan, or Ramadan, the Muslim holiday that involves fasting throughout the day. The Haleem is really interesting and like nothing I've tried before-it's kind of like a flavored meat paste about the consistency of hospital style mashed potatoes. People spend all day preparing it so that they may eat it once the sun goes down. It was so much fun going out for dinner with the girls, and I'm pretty sure we were the rowdiest table that restaurant has seen in a while. It was such a lovely time and a great way to say thanks to our gracious and welcoming hosts.

 Jo-Ann, Annie, Myself and Cassie enjoying our farewell dinner at Paradise!
     
The following day we had a date to visit some friends that Jessie and Cassie had made on our first train to Karanalyum. We called them the Mohans, but really just the husband's name was Mohan, and he worked internationally as someone who scouts movie filming locations for Bollywood or Tollywood films. As a result, he's travelled all over the world, and has seen more of Canada than I have which is a little bit shameful. The Mohans had invited us for lunch, and to meet the rest of their family which Included their amazing Pomerian Jimmy! For lunch we had typical Hyderabadi food, which included the best biryani I had had to date. The visit was fun, and it was especially nice to be welcomed  into someone's home to see how they live. After lunch the Mohans got their driver (it seems most middle to upper class can afford such things) to take us to Charminar, the market we went to on our first day in Hyderabad. The first time we went there we failed to realize that Charminar is actually an ancient and famous mosque, and not just a place for us to drop our money, so this time we climbed the narrow, winding and uneven stairs to reach the top. From the top we were able to actually see a lot of the city, because Hyderabad doesn't actually have many sky scrapers and the mosque was one of the taller buildings around. That day in Hyderabad also happened to be the day of the gay pride parade, and though we missed the parade, we did see some men displaying their pride as they were dressed in sarees and other traditional women's clothes. Though homosexuality is legal in India and discrimination is outlawed, when talking to the people weve met they have said that not many people are out about being gay, and that it wasnt commonly accepted in society. I was surprised, then, to see that these men we saw were being left alone completely, which wouldn't even likely occur in a place like Tillsonburg.

After Charminar, we hit up Hyderabad's bangles market, and since Hyderabad is known for bangles, this is the place to get them. Most of them were very gold and jeweled and very flashy, which is very Indian but not very me. Instead I bought some other souvenirs, including a lovely beaded handbag that I regretted not getting the previous trip.

For our last week of placement at CHAI we were to work with a man named Father Xavier, who is basically one of these priests who aren't trained as physicians but work as them anyways, usually to serve the poor in their community. For our first day we drove 50  km out of Hyderabad, which in India takes almost 2 hours, to meet Father, and then were told we had another 70 km to go to get to the school where we'd be helping with school health checks. When we arrived we of course had to have CHAI and then Father asked us what religion we all were. When some of us responded that we were not actually that religious, he was downright and genuinely confused. "Maybe you're no praying everyday but you all must have a god. Even the tribes in the most far reaching places in India have a religion. How can there be any community without religion?" These were just some of his responses to his shock and outrage that we were not religious. Religion does seem to be EVERYWHERE in India, and people readily will ask you what sort of religion you are upon meeting them, so I guess this is not surprising, just not something that would occur in Canada.

Anyways, as part of our role at these school health visits we would be dispensing medications to the children after they had been seen by he doctor that Father had brought along to help. It is a pretty good system in that most of the children are seen by a doctor at least once a month, and a lot of problems are identified and treated earlier than they would normally be. However, it is also kind of a bad system because every single kid got prescribed something, whether they were sick or not. Sometimes this just involved some vitamins but the doctor seemed to move in patterns, such that every kid would get paracetamol or an antihistamine and they all came through very quickly so it was unlikely that much of an assessment occurred to be prescribing these things. Even metronidazole, a strong antibiotic, was given to many children, and while it may not be realistic to do culture and sensitivity testing from a school in rural India, I have a feeling that the drug was unnecessary to treat the underlying condition. Worrying about antibiotic resistance is a common theme for us here, as we've learned in school and seen first hand while treating patients what resistance can lead to and how dangerous it could be. If you were really into antibiotic stewardship you'd be outright terrified if you could see how readily these drugs are made available to people. 

The dispensing became more exhausting once the younger grades came trickling in, because they had this sort of game to collect all of the pills they could from us. They asked for cough syrups and pimple creams, and we denied them but some of the kids got clever and started passing back their prescriptions to their friends so they could get more. We couldn't really understand why they wanted them so bad, because it was unlikely they knew what the drug was for to even have them give it to a family member or anything. Father said that the reason why they do it is mostly because they have nothing of their own and they just want to collect something physically that is theirs. We also asked him why they were so readily handing out medications to children, and he responded that often in order to be taken seriously by the community they need to provide them with something, and if they weren't given anything they would think that they weren't doing their job. Kinda interesting. For lunch we had the most amazing fried okra with peanuts-its rare for me to take extra helpings of things since being here but I must've had at least three it was so good.

The ECG Leads

Our whole crew after a lovely time with Father Xavier!

The next day we were to help out with a medical camp that Father organizes when he has the money to do so. During this camp he brings in all sorts of medical specialists from Hyderabad, and people in the villages come and pay some nominal fee to get seen directly by the specialists. Our role during this day was mostly to do blood glucose testing and ECGs. This was a bit of a learning experience because although I've done ECGs before, the equipment is very different. Instead of using stickies as leads, you apply ultrasound gel to the chest and the leads are connected with a little suction cup. We were all surprised by how organized the camp was, as the flow of people was always clear and there was no confusion throughout the day. 
 
That evening we had another date with the Mohans to finally go see a Tollywood movie (basically similar in style to Bollywood movies, but in Telugu). We met them at this Western style mall that had all sorts of familiar stores like Adidas, MAC and even Aldo. We enjoyed the familiarity of the space, and then made our way to the theatre. The theaters all have assigned seating, and the seats are amazing- so much leg room and they even recline a bit. By this time it was about 10 pm and we were exhausted from the long day ahead so we were worried we may fall asleep. However, for anyone who has seen Bollywood you may appreciate that this is difficult to do given the high levels of drama most of the films have. As someone who occasionally watches the Saturday morning Bollywood films on Omni, I was particularly excited to see this one and it certainly didn't disappoint. The premise was basically about two young people who fall in love after the young man dances for the girl through the streets, which pisses off another man who wants the girl to the point where he kills the young man. Fear not, though, as the man comes back as... A fly! So basically it's a revenge story that involved an hour and a half long fight scene between a man and a fly. I was thoroughly entertained and was able to understand what was going on throughout, though I laughed at some scenes that the Telugu speaking movie goers didn't seem to find as funny.

The next day we were to help out with another school health check by dispensing medications again. We had learned from our experiences earlier and had the system better organized this time around which resulted in far less chaos. That afternoon when we got back to CHAI we went back to a handmade market we had visited previously , this time armed with more money to buy things like art, bangles and clothes. We made our shopping efficient and got a rickshaw just before the monsoon rain came down. Since we left during rush hour it felt like an eternity, otherwise known as an hour and a half, to get back home. When we got to Secunderabad and saw the driver again I said to Cass that it looked like a different person altogether from who had picked us up, because so much time had passed since I had seen him. After that came one of those typical incidents where once the driver gets lost he decides to charge you more for his mistake. Though w weren't having it, he was so angry and it was pouring that I gave him the extra money just to get the hell out of there. But, it didn't stop there. He pocketed the extra money and then said we didn't pay him enough and followed us into the CHAI grounds, and when he security guard's shoos at the man weren't effective in staving him off, Cass says that I released the fury on this man, insisting that he want going to be getting more money out of us. Meanwhile Cassie was trying to guilt trip him by telling him he was a bad man, and when he tried Michelle for money she just pointed at me, who was angry as ever. Eventually we just went into the building and he didn't follow us, but the incident gave us a good laugh afterwards. Tip of the day for taking rickshaws- if you break down and give them more than the agreed upon price, expect to get asked for even more since you've already given it to them once.

For the next day we were working diligently on our reports for CHAI, and rewarded ourselves with a trip to the spa recommended  by our friend Ruchika. As one might expect it was nothing like the spas at home-there wasn't much atmosphere, and the utensils used were certainly not hygienic. Every time the lady started doing something different to me feet I was thinking to say no thank you to avoid the risk of infection, but Cassie was going along with it do I figured I would too. The whole thing was a whopping $5.


The following day we made our final presentation to CHAI about all of our learning and experiences. Overall we had such a great time, learning lots and gaining valuable insight not just into the Indian healthcare system but also the way of life in Hyderabad, which would not have been possible if we hadn't had the chance to work so closely with the people who were hosting us. I have a few tips for people in the future who may be coming to Hyderabad for a similar experience at CHAI:

-Keep an open mind. This one seems obvious and people have probably drilled this into you already but it's really important. When a communication barrier gets you frustrated, or you see some practices that aren't typical of Canada, keep an open mind during these times. Remember where you are, and try to think of reasons why the differences may exist. Go ahead and ASK someone about it! We asked tons of questions and generally receive answers that provided some insight as to what was going on or why something was happening

-Remain flexible. This is kind of along the same lines, but if something doesn't occur the way it was planned, or things are less comfortable than you expect, just stay calm. Being flexible will make not only you, but the rest of your group, a lot happier during your stay, so dont sweat the small stuff. Remember a quote from the movie "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel", set in India-"Everything will be alright in the end. If it is not alright, it is not yet the end"

-Voice your concerns if you have them. If something is not going as expected, or you have some concerns you'd like to address, CHAI was amazingly accommodating and understanding. Just be polite and professional when asking, and be prepared, again, to be flexible. Keeping CHAI informed as to how you're feeling is important-they not only care, but they want your stay to be as comfortable as possible

-Share with your group. During difficult times it was most useful to have a supportive group to share what we were going through with. If you're feeling sick, tell someone. It's also useful to talk things out that you see that aren't expected with the group, to try to get some ideas of why things may be the way they are.that way.

-Be prepared to have many questions asked of you like if you're married, what you do, how much you make, what your parents do, what all of your siblings do and their ages.

-Have the time of your life! Try your best to get as involved as you can. Ask questions everywhere. Remember that a lot of the people hosting you don't know what you know so you might have to ask what's going on or why something is being done in such a way.

We had endless questions in terms of what to bring for clothes and supplies. Here are some tips from what I found useful:

-Hyderabad is not a touristy city, and the dress is very conservative, so keep that in mind if you want to avoid attracting more attention. I brought two pairs of athletic like black tights, and bought long traditional shirts in the market for about $3 to $5 each. Bring at least one shirt with sleeves to wear to the market! I also has another pair of capris which I didn't really need but whatever you feel comfortable with having is good

-waterproof jacket is a must. It's monsoon season in Hyderabad, so having a waterproof jacket around was really useful. Also consider a rain cover for you pack. Don't nbother bringing an umbrella-you can buy this and tons of other supplies in Hyderabad

-mosquito net. We only used this during one placement but I was glad to have it. They also sell these in Hyderabad at the China Bazaar, so dont fret if you don't bring one


-rope or bungee cords for hanging laundry and mosquito nets. Also can be purchased in Hyderabad


-comfortable sandals. I brought both Birkenstocks and a Teva like pair because I didn't want my Birks to get ruined in the rain, which was useful but I ditched the Teva like ones eventually because I got tired of carrying two pairs


-flip flops for showers and bathrooms


-bugspray. The stuff they have there does NOT work as well so bring the goods from home

-a sewed sheet or sleeping bag for sleeping. This was probably the best thing I brought. I took a double sheet, folded it in half like a sleeping bag, and sewed it up along the bottom and the side. I used this to sleep in basically everywhere as sheets are often nonexistent or dirty.

-a travel pillow. I didn't bring this but it may have been useful

-a headlamp proved most useful when wanting to read at night or on trains!

-a knife was useful for some self-catering, like cutting up fresh fruits and vegetables that you'll likely crave after eating rice for days

-a Lonely Planet or other guide book if you're planning on travelling once you leave Hyderabad

-a passport sized photo if you want to buy a cell phone while here.  This was relatively easy to do and we went with a man from CHAI who helped us, but to avoid a step, just bring a photo from home as you'll need one for the phone

-some USD. Don't bother getting rupees in Canada-there's a bank next to CHAI that you can withdraw money from charge free and that will exchange USD to rupees at a good rate.  Bring someone with CHAI if you have any issues


Hmmmm, that's about it for now. If I think of other tips I'll be sure to post them. Thanks for reading along this far!! For the rest of my blog, it'll be following my month of travels through India post placement! Lots of crazy and fun stories to share!