Last Day at Sri Ramachandra

This may be my last post for the trip, as we are leaving Sri Ramachandra and again, Internet access will be ambiguous until I get there and scout out my surroundings. If this is my last post, I will attempt to write a conclusion post once I am back in the states. Otherwise, I may be in touch in the next couple of days.

Yesterday morning we went to SEED orphanage and played with the kids. On the way there, we stopped at a Gandhi memorial, built on the place where Gandhi, son of Indira Gandhi was assassinated. There were several plaques in Tamil, Hindi and English explaining what happened, and a stone path was built through the lawn on the path Gandhi walked before he died. A small stone was placed where he died. Apparently he had come to honor a memorial to his mother in the area, after she was killed, and a woman bent down to touch his feet because he was a highly honored man, and she exploded, as she was a suicide bomber, killing him as well. There were huge pillars around the stone representing his 7 ideals or something, and the largest Indian flag in India flew over the spot. The orphanage is not far away. It is a different kind of orphanage than I am used to, and am not sure if this is the Indian concept or an exception. It is something of an Indian style complex with a courtyard in the middle for play, and a classroom on one side, living space on another, and a kitchen in a corner. The kitchen is an outside cooking area where the big Indian style "gravies" are cooked on an open fire. The dining area is in an upstairs room just over the kitchen, though in a close, separate building. The kids are adorable, and we were mostly with the elementary age students. They took us into their class room and showed us their projects and went through their English flash cards with us. Apparently, private schools these days are only teaching in English, and public schools are teaching in Tamil and testing in English because English is India's only common language, and therefore unites the country. Some are worried that with too much emphasis on English, Tamil will be lost. I don't know if that is possible right away, as many still speak only Tamil among the youths included, but I can see it happening eventually if they don't deliberately attempt to preserve it. Then, we played ball with them for a while and had fun, though I kind of tried to stay out of it since yesterday morning was the climax of my sickness, and I was sure my head would explode. Then, the kids put on a program for us, and some sang, some danced, some put on an Indian version of the play "Little Red Riding Hood" and it was pretty good. One of the older girls did some amazing traditional dance in full costume! It was actually very exciting and put me back to the days of Mrs. Sokol, who took great pride in the performance of little kids. Then, we were served a "friendship" lunch which we couldn't refuse, but we tried to eat as little as possible because they have limited food supplies and we were not at all confident in the safety of the food. So, no one drank the water. The food was probably ok because it was cooked, but we were a little nervous. So far no one has gotten sick from it though. Apparently Sri Ramachandra supplies free of charge all of the medical costs of the orphans and donates significant funds throughout the year. Most of the kids are the children of parents in prison, and most of the prison charges are for accidental murder- I think- I was not really understanding that part. The kids will be supported until their parents are released, and then they will return to their parents, and as I understood it, take care of their parents. Others have lost their parents in natural disasters, and others have parents who are very sick with leprosy and cancer and cannot take care of the children. For those who do not return to parents, I believe the orphanage helps build skills and find employment when they turn 18.

I finished my paper when we got back, and then went to dinner at the house of one of the nurses at Sri Ramachandra. Apparently she is a Christian, and I have been finding many Christians here, despite it being a Hindu College. I think for the most part, I have decided, Christianity is an accepted religion like Hindu or Muslim, and means not so much apart from being religious, especially when people are Christian because their parents are. Faith tolerance is very good around here, and many of the Catholic nurses I have come across have "boyfriends" of sorts who are Hindu, and they plan to marry. The families generally seem to be ok with this arrangement, as long as the man is honorable and has a good position in society. That is just my limited experience, so I'm not sure how it is across the actual population. When I asked about the potential religion of their future children, the nurses would say they will choose, and that will be ok. Apparently couples are satisfied to be of different religions, and say that they don't force their religion on their spouse and visa versa. I did meet one girl who converted to Christianity of her own free will, and her dad did as well, though the rest of her family has not, and she seemed much more passionate about her faith than other Catholics/Christians I have met. By the time we got to the house the worst of my sickness was finally passing and I felt half reasonable. It was a very different experience... it was apparently a typical middle class home. On the porch was drawn a chalk pattern that I have seen around, which apparently means "welcome" like the little wood signs people hang on their doors in the US. It was in a crowded, dirt road neighborhood, and some houses were typical Indian and some were nicer Indian style with pillars and such. The house had 5 small rooms, I believe- at least that was all I could notice- a entrance/living room, a kid's bed room, a kitchen, a small master bed room and some other kind of room that I couldn't quite define. The nurse introduced us to her family and had us come into the master bed room, which is smaller than the room Hannah and I share, and ALL of us were asked to sit on the bed! The bed was maybe a little smaller than queen size, and all 14 of us managed to sit on it! Apparently, that is the greeting custom! So, we sat there and the nurse's daughter served us some kind of Indian fruit cake and trail mix as an appetizer and passed around family albums. One showed the house warming party when they moved into the neighborhood, and there was a cow standing in their house! Since cows are holy, apparently a tradition is to bless a new house by bringing it in. If it defecates, the house is blessed, so if it is not in the mood to poop, they feed it all kinds of bananas until it does! There was a TV just above the bed, which was provided by the government for free. I think the Tamil writing on it some how advertised the political party that provided it. Some politician said if people would vote for him in Tamil Nadu, he would give all of Tamil Nadu a free TV, so he won, and delivered! I have seen the TV's everywhere, and often thought it was strange to see a mud hut with a grass/palm branch roof with a satellite dish sticking out. It was free apparently. She also passed out strings of jasmine flowers, which the women tie into their hair. They are probably the sweetest, strongest smelling flowers I have ever seen, and it is no wonder that they are used to complement the human fragrance! Eventually it was time for dinner, so we were led up onto her roof, where mats were laid with blankets over them. We sat in a circle under the clothes line and next to the power lines going next to the roof, and could see the moon shining through the haze of the night sky. It was absolutely beautiful. Dinner was a hard boiled egg and lemon rice. The eldest guests were given chairs, so since there were 3 chairs, both of our teachers and a student who is 27 where honored, and served first. We were all served, and given more until we were stuffed. Apparently, the hosts don't eat at all until everyone is done, so she only has left overs if there are any. That is the custom. Then, since Isaac (the master nurse student who let me ride on his bike) was there, we played some games together and with the kids while the older people and family talked. It kind of seemed like our family get-together s with the Meyers. So, we played telephone, and eventually said our good byes. the older student, who is already a nurse, started having heart problems while we where there so the husband of the nurse took her to Sri Ramachandra on his bike and brought her to casualty. Her EKG was fine, but they wanted to admit her for observation, but she refused as it seemed unnecessary to her. Apparently, since we are the guests of the Chancellor, the hospital is treating us like royalty because if anything were to happen to any of us, they would have to answer to the Chancellor.

By the end of the night, I had gained symptoms of a severe headache and was ready for bed while almost everyone else went to Isaac's house to have a dance party on HIS roof and drink. I preferred to sleep and take Motrin. This morning, I have felt much better, and though not perfect, believe I am finally on the mend. This afternoon we are having lunch with the Chancellor, and are supposed to dress up a lot, so I will wear my Sari again, I think. It is a sparkly orange with a green blouse which is kind of short around the waist, but I learned a technique to cover that up a little better, though not perfect. Apparently, it is ok to show different parts of the body as long as you are wearing different kinds of clothes. If it was just a t-shirt, it would not be ok to show midriff. If it was a skirt, it would not be ok to show ankles, unless it is a traditional wrap around skirt, when even knees are acceptable. Since the Internet cafe was having problems this morning, I went on a field trip to buy more salwar kameeze, as my other purchases need sewing, which must wait until I am home. One is red, and one is gold, and both are pretty. I love the style, and am determined to keep wearing them in the states. This lunch should be quite a major deal, as it is founders day, celebrating the birthday of the man who founded Sri Ramachandra. I can't remember the founder's name, as it is not Ramachandra, so I'm not sure where the name came from. This afternoon, I am hoping to spend some time hanging out in the emergency room, and maybe do some more shopping. Tomorrow morning we are leaving for the beach, mahably pourem (sp?) where we are staying in a resort. Apparently we are presenting our papers from that location. Then, I am hanging out in Chennai on Wednesday and flying home with Jenny and possibly the teachers on Thursday morning, at 1am!

I will miss India, and all of the strange customs I have come to accept, sort of, even if I cannot understand. All of India is different, and apparently the north is a foreign country compared to the south. When you are talking to an Indian, they wobble their heads back and forth to indicate agreement or continue the conversation, as when we nod our head yes, and it took forever to get used to the idea that they were saying yes instead of no. Sometimes, a more violent back and forth movement means no, and sometimes they nod like us to say yes, so it is still confusing, but I am getting better at it. The girls on campus have a strict curfew that they have to uphold, at 9 o'clock, so they are always rushing to get back with almost no time to spare. If a boy keeps a girl out much later than that without permission, it is generally assumed to be dishonorable and more than rude. To show respect, one's shoes must be removed in every home. Power failures are common. It is possible to cross busy streets- you just have to know what you are doing. The bendi (sp?) -red dot on forehead- sometimes has significance but now days is mostly just fashion. The youth of Chennai are very aware of American pop culture, though other places like Vellore are more traditional and limit their knowledge to India. I have passed mosques, with prayers and music blasting out of the big speakers, but no one ever seems to heed them, and I don't see Muslims kneeling on the street on command. Maybe there just aren't enough Muslims around here, or maybe the prayers/ songs I heard don't call for action... I'm not sure, but the Muslim influence seems to be significantly less around here than Christian and Hindu, where Hindu is most common. Many of the women are excited to be our friends, and are anxious to keep in contact with us. It is not hard at all to make friends with the Hindu ladies. When food is ordered, it comes out in waves, where anyone who ordered juice gets juice, and anyone who orders dosi gets dosi at the same time, instead of waiting for all of each person's meal to be complete. So, in the restaurant setting they don't seem to care much about waiting until all food is ready to serve, except in the nicer restaurants. I could go on and on about the things I have noticed, and maybe will write more when I get back to the states.

I have been consistent with my Malaria pills, and have been very conscientious about it. I checked my e-mail for the first time yesterday, since I was sending my paper to myself, and only had time to glance through, so I apologize to anyone demanding a response.

I can hear the music of India in the streets in honors of Founder's Day... I am excited and am leaving soon to put on my Sari.

While in open heart surgery, I was very careful, and was not at the height of my symptoms, and was thickly garment-ed in protective barriers.

Well, ta-ta for now, and hopefully I can write again soon!

Meeka Nandre!