Derek has returned to Sambhavna, after his passport and wallet were stolen as he slept on the train the other night on his way to Delhi. He was supposed to be on his way to Thailand for a month-long trip, but since he had his knapsack stolen, he wasn’t able to catch his flight. It certainly made me nervous about traveling around India once my internship is done. I’ve already had my wallet stolen while I was in the market here, and I like to think that that made me more aware of the dangers that I face, but I think that it is still hard to be on your guard absolutely all of the time. It should help that I’ll be in a group with Andrea and Louis, but you never really know, especially when it is so clear that white people are the target of theft so often.
I’ve got a nasty head-cold now, which is really annoying. Mostly my head is just stuffed up, but its hard to stay hydrate in the heat, especially because its still too hot to sleep without the fan on at night. I hate getting sick when it is hot out, somehow it feels worse than having a cold when its cold outside.
Another group of students came from Delhi this morning. This time they are from different disciplines, instead of all being psyche students, so Shalini was discussing what to do with them once they got here. She came up with a really interesting idea for how to get them involved and engage with people here in Bhopal. One group is going to do a sting-type operation at the gas relief hospitals here in Bhopal, by pretending to be patients needing treatment. Another group is going to spend some time with some of the kids with disabilities, and the third group is going to do some work with the women who do work at the trade union. Anyway, I think that it sounds like a really interesting way to get people involved in the campaign.
Tuesday was Gandhi’s birthday, so the clinic was closed, and most things were closed for the day. Mausam came and took Prabjit and I to Bhojpur, a little town about forty-five minutes outside of Bhopal. There is a thousand-year old temple there, which was very pretty. Although the Pundit was washing this giant phallus in the middle of the temple, which I have to say, made me mildly uncomfortable. Anyway, after the phallus-washing, we went to the edge of this huge rock formation, and hung around there watching the sunset. At the bottom of the rock cliffs is this river, so it was nice and cool as well. I took some very pretty photos of the sunset…so enjoy☺
We went to another pooja last night at Ankeeta’s house. Ankeeta is one of four daughters-in-law across the street, so there was quite a large group of people there. It was held outside, which was nice, since there is a lot of burning of things that goes on during poojas, and last time it got pretty smoky in the room that we were in. Anyway, the pooja was shorter than last time, which was fine, since the kids each wanted about four million photos of themselves taken with the other family members. Some of them actually turned out pretty well.
We ended up going out for dinner again last night, which we have been doing a lot lately. We branched out and went to a placed called Indian Coffee House, not to far from Manohaur, where we usually go. It was absolutely delicious, and incredibly cheap: Prabjit, Shalini and I ate for Rs. 150/- (about $4 CND). Tonight, in honor of Derek’s return to the clinic, we are thinking about heading to Jehan Numa Palace for dinner, to experience the wonder of vaguely North American food! Too bad I have a cold, otherwise I might even try to have a glass of wine or something… maybe I still will.
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