Now where to?

Day 1 of practicals over... I had a case in the slum with a muslim family, who spoke Urdu, hindi and a smattering of tamil..in the end we all communicated in Kannada and sign language. The old lady almost got on my nerves. If I ask her how many times she has gone for HTn follow up, she will say she she has knee and shoulder joint pain... There was this 3-4 year old child next door, she shit within an arm's length of where I was sitting. When she was finished, she got up and was observing her shit with amazement while a bunch of houseflies settled on it. Finally her mother came out and removed it with a plastic cover and to my amazement, just threw it in the street, right in front of the house. That was it, all neat and clean, finished.

On the way back i was wondering if this is the end of my tryst with Kannada? What next, Bhojpuri in Bihar?? After all, that's the in-thing, with our FM Chidambaram flooring the Parliament with a statement in Bhojpuri...

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Two scenes from today's travel:

I was waiting for a connection bus at one of the so called 'circles' in Bangalore (they simply call a junction as circle, there is actually no circle!). Waiting in the shade of a sprawling tree (that's a lie to make me feel better...the sun was blazing hot), a family of 5 suddenly materialised next to me - father, mother, 3 children-all boys. They immedietly proceeded to make themselves comfortable on the concrete ring at the base of the tree. Suddenly the father shot off to the 'circle' where there were many small- small shops. Seeing his hurry, I thought he was going to get a cigarette. When he came back, he had a small packet wrapped in paper in his hands. The whole remaining team looked at it with interest. He untied it, took out what seemed to me like 5 Maddur Vades, handed one to the eldest boy 1st, then the other boys, next to his wife, finally took one for himself and they all proceeded to munch on it sitting there waiting for the bus. I must admit that I started getting slightly hungry after surveying the whole scene and quickly turned my gaze away.

Then right behind me was a group of women and children, squatting on the pavement and eating and shouting and talking and berating the children, all at the same time. They were eating from parcels of rice, spread open on the ground. Seeing the way they were dressed, they looked like the women and children who beg at traffic signals. Seeing one of the children, suddenly I thought the little boy was blind in one eye. I had a longer look and it seemed that the eye was reddish and had discharge and was appearing small, probably conjunctivitis. I was thinking why they are not taking the boy to a doctor. The little fellow himself seemed little concerned about it and was happily eating and playing around.I imagined myself going up to the boy, getting a closer look and advising the mother to consult a doctor...then I thought of the choicest expletives that would commence from her pan chewed-red-lips and suddenly deleted my imagination.

Crazy times

So, finished phase- I, theory over. I should say I had a blast with the last paper. Wrote the craziest thing ever.. the question was Euthanasia. I displayed my knowledge of the plight of Aruna Shaunbag in the paper. Hoping the evaluators atleast know about her and don't consider it a piece of my own fiction.

Thinking back, the last 2 weeks were some crazy times. We packed, moved unpacked, survived on hotel food, packed up for R's trip again and I wrote 4 exams in the middle of it all.


100 year old photos of India... my curiosity was mildly piqued, so I took a peek. But what to do, no body knows who took the pics or who or what is there in the photos. A couple of things struck me, well , kind of stupid things, but all the same ... You cannot see any one wearing pants in the pics, save the Britishers. Secondly, all Indian men in the pics look thin, not a pound of extra fat on them. Then, the skirts of the white ladies look funny... actually it reminded me of the school uniforms of Holy family and Sacred hearts schools, of billowing, blue. full length skirts. And yes, Indian women are conspicuant by their absence in public spaces.

The happy find of the day:
A cone ice cream for just 13 Rs? "Unbelievable", was my first reaction. But that'sthe all the money me and amma had to pay for a scoop from a hole- in- the- wall shop here.

Exam updates

2 down and 2 more to go. I'm growing in confidence... [Yeah now I feel I can write (i.e. gas...) any answer]!

Bizzare questions answered:

• Teleophthalmology (Yes, 3 pages, and I'm not even an ophthalmologist)

• Lesson learnt from Leprosy elimination (None that I had learnt, 4 pages!)

Packing up...

We're packing up for a quick move, hopefully something decent to live in finally.

We are packing up... and suddenly I find that I have 3 bags full of dresses while he has only 1 !!! And I don't even wear what is there in almost 1&1/2 of those bags!

I was looking at the kitchen from the chair...I'm seeing food stuffs/biscuits/noodles/flours sitting in plastic bags on the kitchen floor...and I am thinking, "Did I live like that for 3 years?!?"

The CFL lamp in the kitchen, yes, we're removing it when we go. Stupid hostel people din't even bother to give us one when our usual bulb conked out. This one, we paid from our pocket and is rightfully ours.

The TV guys told they will dismantle the tv-dish and we can take it. After hanging up the phone, we looked at each other and told in unison, "It would have been OK even if they dint give us the dish".

He says, "When we vacate the room, I'm going to write "F*#K you" on the wall". I roll my eyes.

Surprise discoveries:
2 torches without batteries
A photo frame - we were wondering who gave it when we saw, on the back written IPHA conference
A cover with long folded up black cable and plug - no one has a clue to what it is or where it came from.
A packet of scented wet wipes- gave both of us a bad headache
2 sleeveless t-shirts - which were meant for him, but gladly, will fit me only now!
Many brand new (him) shorts - not so gladly, wont fit me

2 cartons and 6 bags down, still 3 more to go...that'll wait till tomorrow.