Market Pics etc..

Hello,

Well, I tried to be strong. 36hrs with only a few potato chips and a flat coke, and still no luck. Cipro it is, with lots of H2O. Will go to the "supermarket" today to see if they have something like gatorade too. I'm sure you are all fascinated by this. So lets move on, shall we?

So, I've found an internet cafe which 50% of the time works pretty good. Rs15/hr (lees than 50cents) is a good deal.

So heres one more pic from last weekend at Mamallapuram.





On the pediatric side of the N2 neurology inpatient ward is the childrens' entertainment area. Not much, really. But this familiar character was on. As it was in Tamil, I have no idea what number of bats he was up to. I wonder if they even are familiar with the concept of a vampire, much less one who is friendly and "Counts".

This is just a view down one of the corridors at the CMC campus, out to a really pretty courtyard. Its like a little oasis in there.

Here are two of the monkeys I saw yesterday outside the computer lab window. The pic is a little blurry, but it'll have to do. Perhaps Felicia will be so kind as to offer a guess at what kind these are? Mom and baby, very cute, but I'm not going to try to pick them up.

This is a view over part of Vellore, across the roofs near the central bazaar. I just read that the combined population of Vellore and its surrounding villages is about 300,000. I bet this "town" has 150-200,000 alone.

A view down one of the lanes of the central bazaar. They cram a lot of stuff in here.

Here are Anne and Cristina being asked where they come from.

All kinds of fruits I have never before seen for sale.

Wow. Thats a lot of garlic.

Most of the vendors there begged us to take their pictures. This guy wanted his friend in too. the friedn did not. Guy #1 thought this was hilarious.







Two guys selling piles and pilse of flesh blooms. For all the incredibly disgustingly stinky places in town, this aisle was very pleasant.

Closeup of one of their flower piles. Simply gourgeous.

Big chunks of incense, all different types, some you dip in water, some you burn. I think I'll go back and pick some of this stuff up.

Lots of piles of dyed powder for your forehead, incense figurines, and some sort of food items. This was a "satellite" store for the golden temple.

Closeup of some if the dyes. Very vivid pure colors.

Well, thats about it for now. Neurology has been very interesting, and my tropical disease bit will touch upon the neurological implications of it.

Now I'm going to the drugstore. I am so hungy. So very, very hungry.

Thoughts for Today

- I have become that which I despise: the idiot foreigner who thinks that talking louder will make it easier to understand me. I will do it for a while before I catch myself. Indians often speak very softly (especially the attendings, which makes it really tough to understand on rounds). I sound like a foghorn. I'm sorry, people of India.

- The CMC radiology department is pretty nice, if I haven't mentioned that before. The reading room is 70 degrees, and the MRI suite looks nicer than the ones in San Antonio. And then you walk out the door back into the heat and chaos.



- Indians have no qualms about coming up to me and asking where I'm from. Actually, in my arrogance, I assume they can tell I'm from the US. Nope. And most of them have no clue what Texas is...ha ha ha. Indian deference to the male > female is pretty evident when Cristina, Anne, and I go out to eat. The waiter often asks me for my order first, only asks me if the meal is OK, only takes the plates when I say I'm done, despite what the two of them say. They hate it, and let me know regularly, as if I set this whole thing up. This culture is rather conservative. But strange. Exposed midriffs on women are standard here, but if you dare to show your shoulders or ankles, you are a loose woman. Whenever a large group of us students goes out for dinner, we obviously have a bunch of males and females socializing. However, you never see males and females socializing outside of families. Actually, you never even see groups of females out at restaurants. Lots of groups of men, familes, but no women. They are out together at the markets, but not in restaurants. Hmmm.



- Cristina and Anne get stared at by men a bunch, and I have a feeling it is the same for the other ladies as well. Now that I think of it, I get stared at a lot too. People keep saying that this a very cosmopolitan town, that they are used to lots of westerners due to the CMC. Well, that may be true for lots of the businesses, but the average person on the street definitely looks at me like I just got out of a flying saucer. Sometimes it is very off-putting, feeling like they are really rude. But I think thats just their way. I know the ladies have it much worse, though. Last night at dinner, Vida was telling us how in the middle of the day a man started following her and Jamie around the town. They went into several stores and he kept following them. They finally were at a travel agency and complained. The guy there yelled at the man, and summoned a police officer, who then promptly slapped the man in the face and threw him into the street.



- Even I had an interesting encounter. Last night while at dinner, in a pretty empty place except for the 7 of us (the San Antonio contingent united: Me, Dinesh, Claire, Vida, Jamie, Cristina, and Anne), a man at a nearby table asked to speak with me. So I go over and talk with him. He says he is upset with me, he saw me in his building earlier and needs to settle this. He claims I was in his building at the very time I had placed my order at the restaurant. Won't tell me what it is all about. Wants me to go outside with him. Well, thats not going to happen. So I tell him he's all confused, I don't know him, and go back to my table. He keeps looking over at me, and about 1/2 hour later tries to send me a beer. Wierd. Dinesh goes to speak with him in Tamil to see what his deal is. Apparently he is so drunk now he can't even speak clearly. Eventually (another 30min later) he gets up, comes over and apologizes to me, and leaves. ....OK then....This town is generally pretty safe, but obviously its a good idea to watch your back. He did not try to follow my rickshaw back to campus. Maybe he just thought I was very handsome. I can understand that. Happens every day when I look in the mirror.

- It seems that the predicted GI distress has now beset me. I'm holding off on the antibiotics at present, hoping to ride this thing out with just fluids and bowel rest. Its not terrible, just really inconvenient and uncomfortable right now. I had to duck out of Neurology early today because it just wasn't worth it to keep standing next to a patient while my insides go all spasm-like. As we have a trip coming up this weekend, it would be nice to have this sorted out before departure. I have my fingers crossed. Cipro at the ready if it comes down to it.

- we went to the main bazaar here the other night, obviously where the locals shop. It was awesome. Just about everyone wanted their picture taken with their produce, piles of iron products, various dyes, big chunks of incense, and buckets of fresh flowers. I got some great pics, as did Cristina and Anne. I'll try to post some up tomorrow. And I may get my infectious disease profile up tomorrow too, we'll see.

I guess thats all for now.