Sunday, September 26, 2010
Annapurna
There she blows! That's where we'll be for the next 3 weeks. No updates, no Internet. Just momos (possibly the most perfect food), walking, prayer flags and mountains. Big mountains. 17,000 foot mountains. We'll miss you all, so much more than India *smile*.
- S. Mangosteen and Father Seahorse
Only in India . . .
Where else would a monkey jump your sugar bowl while you are enjoying your 5 o’clock chai? That little prick ate our whole bowl of sugar and spent a great deal of his days terrorizing the ladies on our balcony. He's still cute though, isn't he?
Newfoundland dog shoved into a rickshaw?
And how many other places in the world would a trip to the “Ladies Salon” (often spelled saloon) would involve throwing two gals on the back of your moped and drive them across town to your living room cum ladies parlor? That floozy dress was a beauty day loaner by the way.
Only in India can you get chai delivered to your train bunk in a clay cup that you then smash on the train tracks upon draining. And where else do electrical employees boycott fixing a blown transformer until their co-workers hospital bills are paid? No electricity and no water, two days = "no problem".
India is queen of obscure holidays. At one point in Varanasi we realized that four separate holidays were occurring on the same day. One holiday was such that couples who were having conception problems visited the Water Temple, which was a set of stairs descending down to water, from which rose a 20 foot arch meant to represent the phallus. After dipping in the water the couple undresses, leaving their clothes at the temple. THEN, on the same day, all the couples who HAVE conceived since their last visit bring their new babies, shave their head, stuff the hair in chapatti (bread) and throw it in the Ganga (holy river). I can not make this stuff up!!!!
Need I say more?
- S. Mangosteen
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Who IS this girl?!
Wow, does that face say 'I’m done with India', or what? What IS that expression? I think it’s a culmination of these things:
- There are cockroaches in the kitchen drawers, ants marching across the tub and an infestation of fruit flies breeding on every fresh scrap in the house
- I got robbed on the metro in Delhi
- I have a cold that won’t quit and I just finally recovered from the most painful stomach ailment my gut has known
- It took me 2 ½ hours (actively interacting with 7 staff) to mail a package at the post office yesterday
Believe me, I could go on. Silence and competency are severely lacking from my daily routine. The thing is, India is a dirty loud place with too many people. Just let me pretend to hate it for one blog, ok? If the “Superbug” (antibiotic resistant bacteria) really manifests itself as an epidemic in India, we should be scared. Why? Let me show you the “the eye flu”:
That’s my recent travel buddy and friend from Seattle, Liza. She got “the eye flu” (let’s just call it Eflu) while volunteering with a mobile medical clinic in India – it’s pink eye on steroids. In Delhi alone, Eflu has increased 30 percent since last year. Around the country doctors are reporting 20-30 cases per day of Eflu. A highly contagious disease, the ailment is worsened by “overcrowded places, dirty surroundings and unhealthy living standards” . . . like say, India. And because it’s not obvious to the general public, India Today quoted an ophthalmologist as saying, “Looking into someones eyes can't spread the infection.” The combo of a population regularly taking antibiotics, lack of awareness about how disease spreads and the overcrowded, dirty bit are not favorable.
I believe I’ve mentioned the fact that most eating establishments, bathroom sinks (or even say my home kitchen sink) do not have a hot water tap. If I were mentally ill or wealthy I’d dedicate my life to the worldwide public service announcement: “Remember folks, soap don’t work without warm water”. And I’m not even a germ phobe!
Ok, to summarize . . . “Eye Flu” = yuck. “Superbug” = scary. Tomorrow I’ll be totally ready to show lovely pictures of the last few weeks.
- S. Mangosteen