speaking of food..

This morning the other McGill volunteer, Mel, was supposed to leave to go to Chennai. There was a mix up with her train ticket though, because the only time printed on the ticket was the time that it was issued at, and not the time that the train left the station. So her train actually left at 2am yesterday… After about an hour of talking to various domestic airlines and a travel agent or two, she was able to book a flight to Mumbai, and then another to Chennai. I suppose that I should take this as a warning not to be overly confident in my travel arrangements, as even what seems simple enough may not be. Not that I am planning on going anywhere anytime soon.

As it stands I have been patiently waiting all morning for Sathyu, the managing trustee of the clinic, to have a spare moment to talk to me about the work I am going to be doing here. I’m quite accustomed to this, because Shree, my boss at the MCRTW worked on a similar schedule (ie. no schedule, just very, very busy all of the time, so you have to wait until you can catch them), so normally this would not bother me at all. Unfortunately, because I am still somewhat homesick, I would really like something to do during the days that would distract me from my homesickness. Mostly I have been responding to e-mails and sitting up in my perch trying to keep cool.

Yesterday night all of the volunteers and a couple of the clinic staff went out for dinner in honor of Mel’s last night in town. We went to this place called Wind’n’Waves right next to the lake (yes, there is a lake in Bhopal, it just doesn’t happen to be anywhere near the clinic). The restaurant was this odd combination of shwank and fast food. The prices were pretty high, especially by Indian standards, but the décor was very spartan fast food colours. I still didn’t have much of an appetite, especially since we didn’t get our food until well past 9pm, but I did have some excellent naan. Some of the other volunteers had Kingfisher beer, but I was nervous that my stomach wouldn’t like that because I hadn’t been eating much, so I had a Limca instead. Although I did try the beer, and it was definitely one of the lightest beers I have ever had. After dinner we rode back to the clinic in two auto-rickshaws and a couple of the volunteers doubled with the staff on the back of their motorcycles – I can’t say that I participated in this myself. I’ve heard too many gruesome statistics about road accidents in developing countries, and the traffic is scary enough in the rickshaw.

This morning I woke up early in order to say goodbye to Mel, but quickly discovered that she wasn’t going anywhere until this evening. Consequently I have spent most of the day moping aimlessly around the clinic looking for things to entertain myself with. I think at this point I’m ready to watch a good old-fashioned movie (preferably not Bollywood at this point). I’ve been reading Friend Green Tomatoes before bed every night, and that has made me want to watch the movie. It has also made me absolutely crave southern food…which I am obviously not going to have for quite some time.

Speaking of food, there are a number of things that I would really enjoy right about now. I did manage to buy some weird toasted-bread type stuff (which is actually more like old toast with fruitcake stuff in it. Its actually kind of gross because its so hideously sweet) and peanut butter, which I had for breakfast this morning. I am seriously wishing that I had taken Diana’s advice about food though. Diana was one of the interns that was here for eight months last year, and she told me to bring some non-perishable food things that I wouldn’t be able to get over here. I had kept this in the back of my mind, but because I was so rushed by the time I left I never got around to going through the supermarket and buying things. At any rate, I’m seriously regretting this now, because there are a lot of things that I would love to have, like granola bars, Kraft Dinner, Vinta crackers and so on. Maybe mom and dad will read this and xpresspost me some food….

I am getting more accustomed to the food here though. The clinic has a canteen that makes breakfast and lunch everyday. Breakfast usually costs under Rs. 10 and lunch is free for the volunteers. In the evening at about nine, someone comes and makes dinner for any of the staff that is still around (meaning Sathyu) and the volunteers for free as well. The food is generally pretty good, but everything has a bite to it from the spice (including breakfast) which takes some getting used to if you have a specifically British palette like myself. This morning I had the gross toast things, and then felt better to eat lunch. But I think I need to make an effort to go the market at some point and get some other snacks, especially bread. The last time I was there I was just too overwhelmed to make any real decisions, so I just bought the peanut butter and the toast stuff out of desperation.

Some of the other volunteers are planning on going to Sanchi tomorrow. Sunday is the only day that the clinic isn't open, so it is officially the weekend. Sanchi is some sort of extremely old temple that is quite close to the outside of Bhopal. You’ll have to forgive my ignorance, but I don’t really know anything about it. I’ll be sure to look it up in the Lonely Planet tonight before we go.

Well, the power just went out, and my laptop only has another half-hour of juice, so I’m going to have to call it quits for the time being.