When I left off last time, I had just returned to Bhopal after the most miserable train ride of my life (or perhaps second-most miserable, next the nine-million-hour mountain climb train ride from hell in the Himalayas). Anyway, after Dharmesh and I made it back to the clinic, freezing cold and utterly exhausted. We all sat in the sunshine out on the big deck for a while, warming up. I spent most of the rest of the day getting unpacked and settled back into the dorm room.
Nothing much exciting happened over the next ay, until New Years Eve. Sathyu and Rachna had organized a bit of a New Year’s party, and had rented a house out in the country, about 12km from Bhopal. They rented two cars and drove all of the volunteers and a few of the clinic staff out there. We all sat around a big campfire (there was no furniture or electricity inside the house) and peeled mounds of garlic for dinner. Thai, the female panchkarma doctor came along with her two small kids and made us the most delicious curried chicken and veggies over the open fire for us. Then we all sat around the fire and sang songs and joked around. Then, for no reason at all, the electricity in the house turned on, at about ten minutes to midnight. Rachna had brought her laptop and a set of speakers, so we had some dancing in the living room right at midnight.
Now, the thing that struck me about the New Years’ celebration was the complete lack of restraint that all the men showed in drinking. I couldn’t help but think “no wonder drinking is considered socially inappropriate here!”. Most of the four 1L bottles of whiskey that they had brought with them within the first two hours of the evening, so by about 8pm, most of the men who had come were absolutely tanked, and by about 10pm there was no whiskey left. Anyway, I don’t know which came first, the chicken or the egg. Maybe men drink like that here because they have so little experience with social drinking, because it’s socially unacceptable. Or maybe it’s inappropriate because that’s the way men drink when they do drink. Either way, I couldn’t help but be shocked at the level of drunken-ness that ensued, and long before midnight too!
Anyway, the next day, New Year’s Day, I spent in the traditional manner – in bed. I talked to mom and dad and auntie Muntz and uncle Bri on Skype that evening. They sounded like they had had about the most boring New Year’s ever, since mom and dad were both quite sick with head colds and spent most of it in bed.
The past few days have been relatively uneventful. Although Prabjit did complain to me the other day that some of the guys at the New Year’s party had made videos of us girls dancing with their cell phones. Apparently Kamal, who works in the medicine dispensary, had shown the video to a whole bunch of people around the clinic, as if it was some sort of scandal. They had been giving Prabjit a hard time about it, and treating her as if she had committed some sort of social atrocity and had to be chastised for it. Anyway, it really pissed me off that she was getting such a hassle about it. For starters, it is absolutely none of anyone else’s business what she or I or any of the other volunteers do with our free time. And the fact that Prabjit’s parents are Indian makes her subject to a special kind of scrutiny, because people feel that she should be held to the same standards as any other Indian person, and that they can feel free to chastise her as much as they please because of that. Anyway, I guess that there really isn’t much that you can do about these things other than just behave how you want to and tell those who are judging you to get stuffed.
In other news, Ankeeta, the woman who runs the canteen here at Sambhavna walked off the job on Friday during the endlessly boring staff meeting. Apparently Kamal (yes, the same one!) made some comment to her about “don’t you have any shame? You let people criticize your food and you don’t say anything?”. Well, Ankeeta decided she wasn’t going to put up with all the crap anymore, and “Fine, then I won’t come back to work tomorrow!”. So, sure enough, Saturday morning the canteen was closed. All of the volunteers decided to go out for a late breakfast at Indian Coffee House, and we passed Ankeeta in her front yard doing some washing up. I have to admit that she looked pretty happy with her decision. I thought that it was good for her, since she was finally standing up to everyone for the way that she gets treated at work. No one ever gives her a break; people are constantly screaming at her because they don’t like the food, or they think the servings are to small or they think that they got overcharged by a rupee for the previous day’s lunch. Personally, I think the way that she gets treated is absolutely appalling, and completely inappropriate, and I’m glad that she made a stand for herself. I only hope that if Ankeeta decides to come back that she is treated with a bit more respect and dignity.
Not much else is new for the time being. I’ve scanned the menopause booklets that I have been working on (forever) and have been cleaning them up in Photoshop. This is the type of work that Dan had done for Drawn and Quarterly last year, and god, I sympathize with the extreme tediousness of it now that I have to do it. I’m getting better, and faster at it though, as I go along. I’ve also started designing the posters that are going to be used with my model vagina, which is slightly more interesting work. My lady (which mom named Lucy) is finished; I just have to spray on a layer of varnish this afternoon, and then she’ll be ready! Aziza, one of the health workers, suggested that I get her a pair of salwar pants, so that se isn’t exposed when she gets walked through the bastees!
Yesterday we took a trip to New Market, and stocked up on cheese spreads, mac and cheese and various other treats. My stomach is going through a rebellion against spicy food, yet again. So I have gotten as much non-spice food as I can to last me a few days. Tonight we are planning on making a most excellent bland dinner: mashed potatoes, boiled peas and onion and mushroom omelets! This is in honor of Eurig and Susan’s last Sunday in Bhopal. Sadly, they are leaving on Wednesday.
Anyway, I think that is all the news that is fit to print! I still can’t get photobucket to upload anything…
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