Return to Thiruvannaamalai

Thiruvannaamalai is home to the Annamalaiyar Temple. This temple is located at the foot of the Annamalai hill and is one of the great Shiva temples of Tamil Nadu. I visited Thiruvannaamalai back in September, but returned there two nights ago to take part in a Hindu celebration.

Every year (the following details are from Wikipedia), there are four "Brahmotsavams," or celebrations. The most famous one is celebrated in the Tamil month of Karthikai or December. This is a ten day event that culminates on the full moon with the lighting of a huge lamp (composed of a cauldron filled with three tons of ghee) on the peak of Annamalai Hill. The full moon that occurs during this celebration is known as the Chitra Powrnami and on this day, hundreds of thousands of pilgrims from across the world visit this small city to see the temple and to circumambulate the hill - walking a distance of about 14 kilometers...barefoot.

Tuesday night, the 1st of December, we joined the Hindu pilgrims in Thiruvannaamalai to experience this celebration. Although we didn't circumamublate the hill, we did walk about 8 kilometers barefoot. I'm not really sure how to describe this experience except to say that it was a truly intense amount of human beings. People were streaming down the street for hours and when we left at around 1 a.m. there were still thousands more heading into the city. I honestly believe that there were more than one million people on the streets that night.

Since I can't really explain the feeling that I had that night, I hope the video below can convey a small bit of what the atmosphere was like...

Three Short Stories from Madurai

A short time ago, a friend and I traveled by train to the city of Madurai. Madurai is the oldest inhabited city in the Indian peninsula and is home to the Meenakshi Sundareswarar Temple. Because of the huge temple complex present in the center of the city, Madurai is one of the most important Hindu pilgrimage sites in India. Each year, the city attracts millions of pilgrims and tourists from across India and the world.

Well, two weeks ago, Janina and I became two of those tourists. We spent a wonderful two days in the city of Madurai, enjoying the temples, a palace, the Gandhi museum, and some pretty awesome food. The trip was a perfect mix of historical site seeing, casual shopping, and relaxation. In all honesty, one of my favorite moments from this journey was sitting on the roof of a restaurant, looking out over the city and the temples on the horizon, reading, eating, and just being. Every Indian city that I visit has created unique memories and there are just too many to share. So, in an attempt to summarize my Madurai adventure, I have three short stories.

Janina and I arrived in Madurai via night train at about 5:45 a.m. After jumping off the train and wading our way out of the station, we set off on foot for our hotel. According to the map in our trusty guide, the Lonely Planet, it was only about half a kilometer from the station and should be easy to find. To our dismay, we wandered one of the main streets for about half an hour, trekking up and down side streets and the KT Lodge was nowhere to be found. We finally gave up and started asking people on the streeet. Our first request was posed to a middle-aged man, who replied with great confidence that the lodge was just down the street on the right. Despite following his directions, we found no sign of the KT Lodge. So - we asked again. This fellow seemed less confident, but did give directions. Again, no dice... We asked a series of four or five people and were given different directions every time and still, the KT Lodge could not be found. We were beginning to think that it didn't exist, when a man approached us on the street. He asked where we were going and offered to lead us there. From prior experience with offers like this, we were a bit wary but decided to go with him anyway. Lucky for us, he lead us right ot the lodge and everything turned out just fine...Although, he did spot us on the street later that day and we ended up letting him entice us into a shop for the "free view" of the temples - meaning that to get back down to the ground we had to pass through four floors full of handicrafts and jewelry and various other goods. Basically, it is impossible to escape without buying something. There are two lessons to learn from this story. One, people will always give you directions - even if they have no idea where you are going. And two, nothing is free in India - even directions.

My second story has to do with shoes... Our first day in Madurai, the morning was spent enjoying the sights. Madurai is in the far south of India, so after a full morning in the sun, we escaped the heat in a sweet shop, where we had some Indian style deserts and spent about an hour reading. After leaving the shop, we slowly wandered down an unevenly cobblestoned street. With one step, my left foot slipped on a broken stone and without any warning the straps of my leather sandals ripped off. My shoe (and of course I only brought one pair of shoes to Madurai) was, sadly, unwearable. Well, since we were in the middle of the city, there wasn't much that I could do...So, I started walking barefoot - a very common occurrence for Indian people, but something that I don't have much experience with. The key is to not think about everything that you are walking through, :-)... Anyway, we set out on a mission to find a shoe shop and the first one that we came across was Bata, a large Indian shoe company. I sped inside the shop and headed directly to the wall of sandals. To my dismay, the largest size of women's shoes available was a 7. I wear a 9.5. Women's shoes clearly weren't going to work. I headed to the men's shoes. A men's 8 was the biggest size that I could find, so I just went with that. It was funny, because the salesman in the shop was very confused as to why I was examining men's shoes and kept trying to usher me back to the women's side of the store. I don't think he understood just how big my feet are. Everything ended up alright in the end - I'm still wearing the shoes I bought in Madurai today!

Our second and last day in Madurai, we spent a large part of the afternoon, just wandering around - checking out the market, watching the pilgrims to the temple complex, and just enjoying the city. We stopped at a small roadside tea stall for a cup of tea and the guy behind the counter was just so friendly and excited to have us stop, that we had to take a picture! After snapping a few quick shots, I showed him the pictures on my camera screen. His response was, "Super!" With a huge smile on his face, he proceeded to show the photo to the rest of the men at the tea stall... This is a part of the reason why I much prefer to go to small shops and restaurants, rather than big, Westernized hotels and malls.

And so, there you have it...three short stories from Madurai...

Research in India

I'm just going to start out by saying hi to everyone after a long absence from posting. And by apologizing for my absence from this blog. Each day things happen here that I would love to write about and to share with all of you, but somehow, I never seem to get the actual posting done. Not really sure why posting is so difficult, but I am going to try to do better and I'm going to start looking at blogging from a new viewpoint. Rather than writing novel-like posts infrequently, I'm going to try to share short stories, thoughts, and impressions with all of you -- at the amazing rate of every day or every other day. We'll see how it works out...but I think that it will be manageable. And of course, I'm sure that these short posts will be interspersed with ones of mammoth length, because sometimes there is just too much to say.

Now, to be honest, a big part of why I haven't posted in the past weeks (the last two in particular) is because I have been really struggling - especially with my research. About two weeks ago I was given the news that my research project may be delayed by an additional two months. After three months of striving to get institutional approval, to meet and recruit physicians to work with me, to find funding, and to learn how to navigate the institution that is Indian research, the news that I might be spending the next two months making absolutely no progress and most likely doing little to no work, almost pushed me over the edge. As I'm sure my parents could tell you, I was very very upset and seriously contemplated throwing in the towel and heading back to the comforts of the United States. But it just isn't in me to up and quit things, so I pulled myself back together and set about figuring out how I can get the project up and running in the upcoming weeks... To make what could be a very long story short, after some meetings and discussions, I will now be beginning the patient recruitment phase of my study on Monday - something that I am extremely excited about! I'm hopeful that things will get off the ground and that in a few weeks time, I could have actual data coming in! I am sure that I will face many obstacles in getting patients involved in my work, but I would much rather be actively dealing with these obstacles than sitting around...

Up to this point, I haven't really used this blog as a forum to talk about my research in any depth. But, I thought that I'd share with you all a little bit more about my project. I came to India planning to do work on drug-resistant tuberculosis, particularly the methods used to diagnose and treat drug resistant strains. However, due to several complications, this project quickly became impossible and so I switched gears. I'm still working with tuberculosis, but from a completely different angle.

Every year, in India alone, there are 1.8 million new cases of tuberculosis - which is an astonishing number. Consider the fact that every year, in the U.S., there are less than 12,000 new cases; clearly TB isn't something that we often worry about. Here tuberculosis is a daily threat and there are estimates that up to 80% of the population has the latent (or inactive) form of tuberculosis. Of these 1.8 million new cases, approximately 180,000 will occur in children and approximately 500,000 people will die. The fact that 500,000 people are dying annually from tuberculosis in India is part of the reason that I get so frustrated when the media focuses on H1N1. Of course, the flu may pose a legitimate threat, but witnessing people in a panic due to the flu when there is a much greater killer being ignored and receiving no media attention truly irritates me.

But, anyway, back to my research... When I was looking for a new topic to work on, the numbers of children stricken by tuberculosis deeply affected me. TB has been and still is a major cause of mortality amongst children - and almost all of these children are in developing countries. Kids have immune systems that aren't yet strong enough to fight off the TB mycobacterium and so not only are they in danger of getting TB, they also develop the severe forms of TB at much higher rates than adults. For example, kids can develop meningeal TB, meaning that the tuberculosis infection spreads from the lungs into the brain - often causing death. So, in light of this, I decided to work with a pediatric patient population.

What my project has developed into is a study of tuberculosis diagnostic tools in kids. The tuberculin skin test (an injection of TB protein derivatives under the skin of your forearm) which I'm sure everyone reading this has received, is the standard initial diagnostic tool. But, in kids (and adults), it is highly inaccurate and can have false positives and false negatives due to a huge range of factors. Well, a company in Australia called Cellestis developed a new diagnostic tool that uses a blood sample about 4 years ago. There are hopes that this tool could replace the TST as a better indicator of tuberculosis infection. Until now, it has been widely studied in the adult population, but not in children. And that is where my study comes in.

What I am hoping to do over the next 5 months is to recruit approximately 80 children between the ages of 1 and 10. All of these kids will be suspected to have tuberculosis. As part of the study, we will administer the tuberculin skin test and the new diagnostic tool, which is called the Quantiferon-TB Gold In-Tube (a mouthful, I know - we shorten it to QFT) and then compare the results of these two tests with the final diagnosis of each patient. Basically, what we are hoping to find is that the QFT is more accurate than the TST and could be a replacement tool. I'm also going to be looking at the charts of 95 patients between 1 and 15 from the past two years, who received the QFT, in the hopes of gathering a bigger data pool. With more data, more significant statistics can be performed and hopefully, we can get an accurate look into how well the QFT works.

Well, that is my project in a nutshell - I hope that it was clear! As I said above, I'm sure that I will face many more obstacles in my pursuit of this project, particularly since it involves children and I will need to interact with people from all over India, many of whom won't speak English. But, I have decided that being negative and feeling defeated won't get me anywhere. I am going to be positive and proactive and do everything possible to conduct a legitimate scientific study during my remaining time - and maybe even make a bit of a contribution to the ongoing fight against tuberculosis...

A belated Happy Thanksgiving to everyone back in the States! I missed you all and although I was with a big group of people on Thanksgiving and had a wonderful day, it just wasn't the same as celebrating back home. I hope that you all had an awesome day with lots of turkey and potatoes and green bean casserole and pie! Oh, what I would give for a piece of my Dad's apple pie right now... Enjoy "Black Friday" those of you that are shopping and have a great weekend!

Sarah

Thiruvannamalai and Mammalapuram

Once again I have to apologize for my long absence from this blog. An unfortunate series of events has prevented me from posting, but I am once again committing myself to being a more frequent updater! I’m going to stick to my guns this time!

Okay, since I have a very, very long post about my nine-day trip to Northern India coming up at some point in the near future, this post will be a bit shorter…Although it is still quite long. Just a brief overview of the two weekends prior to my big journey! We’re going back in time a bit to the second and third weekends of September…

As the second weekend of September rolled around I was rather exhausted! I’d traveled the previous two weekends and so was looking forward to a relaxing weekend on campus. Saturday was a day for rest, a bit of work on med school applications, and then several hours spent at the pool! And let me just say that going to the pool here in Vellore is basically like stepping into a different world…The pool itself is big and gorgeous and is surrounded by green grass and chairs for lounging. The sounds of every day life fade and there is near silence. There is even a ping pong table and a “snack” counter that serves pizza and French fries. It is quite an amazing find in the middle of a city that is in general dusty, congested, and very, very loud. I had to pinch myself just to make sure that I wasn’t dreaming! Anyway, some friends and I spent hours at the pool just relaxing and escaping from the oppressive heat of midday. After pool time, I attended the Women’s Hostel Day.

Women’s Hostel Day is an annual affair in which the residents of the Women’s Hostel (these are all female medical students) put on a show and welcome guests into their home. It is also the ONLY day of the year in which men are allowed to enter the hostel. Even the resident’s fathers or brothers are not allowed entrance at any other time. The festivities included traditional and modern music and dance, a series of short plays, and art displays and the production was done completely by the women of the hostel. There was definitely a message of female independence and empowerment to the night, with an emphasis on the fact that women do not need a man in order to be successful in life. It was all very impressive. The entertainment was followed by a dinner of chicken biryani, after which we were all invited to tour their hostel. It was really interesting to get an intimate look into how the permanent students of CMC live. I truly felt privileged to be welcomed into their rooms to talk and have juice and to simply gain a bit of understanding about what their days are like. And, I marveled at the fact that as medical students they still made time for art and dance and music and were able to put on this amazing affair.

After our wonderful day of doing practically nothing on Saturday, a group of us visited the city of Thiruvanamalai on Sunday. Thiruvanamalai is about an hour and a half trip by bus from Vellore and is actually home to one of the holiest temples in India. This temple is annually visited by nearly as many people, or possibly more, as visit the Vatican each year…

It is hard for me to describe Indian temples to those who haven’t seen them… Basically, they can be one or a series of towers called gopuras. These towers start out wide at the bottom and then get smaller and smaller as you go higher – sort of like a stack of rectangular Legos of increasingly small size. But what is most awe inspiring about these structures is the incredibly intricate carvings that cover every inch of the surface. When I really consider the fact that these temples were built hundreds of years ago, I have difficulty comprehending how images of such complexity and beauty could possibly have been carved into stone. Anyway, as you walk under each gopura, you pass into a new courtyard. The temple at Thiruvanamalai had seven such courtyards…I think. And in the final courtyard are the actual shrines to one or sometimes multiple Hindu gods.

Apart from the actual majesty of the temples themselves, what was truly incredible to witness were the displays of faith and prayer that were ongoing all around us. The Hindu style of devotion is completely foreign to the Christian worship that I am familiar with – people lie in total prostration before statues of their gods, flowers and food is left at the alters as offerings displaying their devotion, and people decorate their hands, hair, and foreheads with colored powders. As one of only a few foreigners within the temple, I almost felt like I was intruding on something sacred (and it was sacred…), but like with the events of Women’s Hostel Day, I felt privileged to witness the true devotion that surrounded me. Although it is not my faith and they were not my Gods, it was a spiritual experience.

Well, we wrapped up the day with a late lunch at a hole-in-the-wall Indian restaurant and then the bus ride back to Bagayam. Although the buses are always crowded, hot, loud, and chaotic, I actually rather enjoy riding on them. I sit in the seats that were not made for people of my size, listen to my iPOD, and just enjoy the scenery flying by the window. Through the music and the sights outside the bus window, I can escape from the chaos that surrounds me and just marvel at India.

The following weekend, my friend Sarah and I set out for the small city of Mamallapuram.
We left early Saturday morning and took two buses for a total of about 4 hours to get there. Once there, we checked into our hotel, slept for about half an hour and then headed out. Saturday was mainly sightseeing… Our first stop was the Shore Temple which was built in 700 AD. Again, I found it hard to believe what people have been able to construct with only the most basic of tools. From the temple, we wandered to this park-like area which contained rock carvings known as the “Five Rathas.” Basically, these are temples and sculptures that were carved out of one solid block of rock back in 600 AD. Pretty awesome. While there, Sarah B and I were caught in a rain storm and had to take shelter inside one of the temples. The atmosphere was actually rather eerie and the way that the storm just rolled in was incredible. That night we had an incredible dinner of fish, calamari, and prawns at this little, out of the way restaurant. I have definitely noticed that many of my fondest memories revolve around food!

Sunday was our shopping day. Mamallapuram is a very tourist-oriented city so they definitely cater to the shopping desires of Westerners. And although I sometimes feel slightly guilty about being a “typical tourist”, Sarah and I did take advantage of that fact. I bought two shirts, two pairs of pants, a pair of sandals, a silver anklet, and two tiny little metal statues of Hindu gods – I was definitely indulging in some retail therapy! ☺ I'll try to take some pictures of the clothes and post them online so you can check them out (I still haven’t quite managed getting photos posted on the blog). After shopping, we went to a second area of town where there are all of these caves and temples and spent some time walking around and checking them all out. It was basically like a giant park atmosphere amongst millennia old temples. There were literally hundreds of Indian families walking around and picnicking and just enjoying their Sunday afternoon. To wrap up the weekend, we had a late lunch (at 4) and then hopped a bus back to Vellore. This time we had to take three buses, but it was all good.

So, this concludes my very late recap of two weekends in September. More posts will follow in the next few days with more recent information…I swear. I just moved into a new hostel and I now have internet access more regularly, so posting to my blog should be a bit more simple! I hope that all of you are doing well and that life in the US is moving forward as it always does. Life here continues at a pace that is at once slow and fast. I’ve been in India for 10.5 weeks and assume that the next 10.5 weeks will pass just as quickly. But, I still miss all of you! Thanks for staying interested in what’s going on in my life and keep in touch! I love getting emails!

Love and Miss You All!
~Sarah

Three Weekends Ago...Ooty and Mysore

Hello Friends and Family!

I hope that you are all having a wonderful week and are looking forward to the weekend! Mine has been good so far, with lots of work and also some fun with friends. Many of you may have already gotten this information via email so feel free to skim or skip at will. With this post, I am going to try to give you all a taste of Ooty and Mysore, two cities that I had the privilege to visit with 9 other students.

Several weekends ago myself and six other students headed out for the train station at about 9:30 p.m. Our train departed at 11:00 and arrived in the small city Metapallayam at about 6:00 a.m. This was my very first experience with an overnight train...well with any train in India. The trip itself wasn't nearly as uncomfortable as I imagined it would be and I was even able to get some sleep. There were a few memorable quirks though. The first was the man who came by and told us that we were not allowed to play cards on the train. This is apparently a rule for all of India, which we found quite amusing. Secondly, there were the men who started walking up and down the hall at about 5 a.m. shouting, "Coffee...coffee...coffee." and "Tea...tea...tea...." repeatedly. Not exactly what we wanted to wake up to. Anyway, after arriving in Metapallayam, we met up with three other students and rented two taxis to take us to Ooty. The drivers initially claimed that all 10 of us and all of our stuff could fit in one jeep, but we weren't going for it. The ensuing two hours in the taxi were incredible. We drove through the Nilgiri mountains and saw huge tea plantations and towns just clinging to the mountainside. It was also a little tense as our driver was quite fond of passing other vehicles...even on blind curves. There may have been a couple close encounters with cars coming the opposite direction, but thankfully we made it safely to Ooty.

My first observation upon arriving was that it was cold! Cold and rainy and for most of us, this meant that we did not have the appropriate clothing. We quickly went from being perpetually hot, to completely frozen. It was a bit of a shocking change. Despite the weather, we decided to head out and explore Ooty. All 10 of us spent some time wandering the streets and the marketplace and several of the guys bought these ridiculous woolen sweaters. After concluding our shopping, we spilt into two groups. I joined 5 other girls for a 2 km walk to the Ooty Lake and boathouse. Our goal was to go horseback riding around the lake and up into the hills. When we arrived at the boathouse, we were basically mobbed by men with horses, all trying to convince us to go riding. There was some chaos in regards to settling the price and to the fact that we wanted only one guide, not two. After some frantic shouting and haggling, on their part, and a bit of pushing and pulling, we were all astride a horse and ready to go. The ride itself was about two hours long and the scenery that we were able to pass through was definitely awe-inspiring. It would have been a really ideal ride, except for the intermittent rain and the fact that the horse I was given was a bit temperamental. Overall, despite a few bumps in the road, it was a great ride. We made a large loop up into the mountains and then back down to the lake. On our way down, we rode through this residential neighborhood that was quite the sight to see. Its hard to put everything into words and unfortunately I wasn't able to take pictures since I was a little busy trying to control my horse, but I'll just say that it was in many ways picturesque.

By the time that we finally returned to the boathouse we were completely soaked. After escaping from the mob of men and horses that was still there, we slipped into a restaurant for tea and pakora in an attempt to re-warm ourselves a bit. At this point, the guys were waiting for us at a second restaurant, so we crammed all six of us into one auto-rickshaw (quite the feat) and sped off. At the second restaurant, we all ate again and had some awesome chocolate cake. The afternoon concluded with more market wandering and a trip to a historic church. We returned to the hotel and after finally getting out of the rain, none of us could bear to go out again, so we just had dinner there, played some cards, and then headed to bed.

The next morning we departed Ooty on a five-hour bus ride to Mysore.
Distance wise, I think that it is only about 150 kilometers from Ooty to Mysore, but the roads and traffic move a little bit differently here. We pulled into the Mysore City Bus Stand at about 4:30 in the afternoon, hopped off and headed out to walk to our hotel. We were instantly surrounded by rickshaw drivers all offering rides and hotels and everything else. They just didn't seem to want to accept the fact that we were walking, we already had hotel reservations, and we actually did know where we were going. Once we escaped the mass of drivers, it was a short walk to our hotel - Hotel Dasaprakash. At this point, none of us had eaten since breakfast, so we relaxed in the hotel for about an hour and then went out to dinner. Along the way, we found the Devaraja Market - a marketplace that Mysore is famous for and so we of course had to spend a little time browsing the shops. I was again wowed by the aisles of produce and flowers and jewelry and cooking wares and just about everything else that you could imagine. Particularly impressive were the vendors of colored sands (not sure of what they are called exactly). This powder is used for celebrations, body and street art, and offerings at temples. Mysore is also famous for its silks, sandalwood carvings, and mineral oils, amongst other things.

After browsing for a while, we continued on our way. None of us were exactly sure where the restaurant was, so we just wandered and eventually found it. Dinner was at the Tiger Trail, this amazing restaurant in a large hotel. And despite the quality and beauty of our surroundings, the price was good and the food was incredible. Especially the Tiger naan.... which seemed to be one of their specialties. Everyone had a huge meal and lots of good conversation and when we were done, I decided to head back to the hotel with the other girls. The guys went for a drink in this pub that was in the basement of a construction site...it was a little too sketchy for me. As we walked back to the hotel, we stopped and bought fruits - pineapples, papayas, custard apples, mangos - all of which we ate once we were at the hotel. Fresh fruits and vegetables are definitely not a staple of menus around here, so I have come to treasure the times that I can have them. And, I have also stopped worrying so much about eating fresh things and started buying them in the markets. Our fruit party was a nice way to end a long day.

The next morning, we had dosas in the hotel restaurant, and then walked through the city. Our next stop was the Chamundi Hill where there is a 2,000-year-old temple to the goddess Shiva. Next-door is a relatively more modern temple to the goddess Durga (I think). Legend says that she killed the demon bull god in this spot. The temples were very impressive, although we were held up slightly by a rainstorm that forced us to take shelter in a small coffee and teashop. In the 2,000-year-old temple, we were given powders to use as an offering and colored dots were applied to our foreheads. A man took it upon himself to act as our guide. We let him and then, of course, he asked for money afterwards. Oh well... From the temples atop Chamundi Hill, we walked down 1,000 steps. At about step 300 there is a massive statue of the demon bull god Mahishsura (not sure about spelling). This was carved from only one block of stone. Although we only went down, traditionally pilgrims to the temples must walk up all 1,000 steps. We didn't attempt that feat.

At the bottom, we continued our whirlwind day by hopping two rickshaws to the Mysore Palace. This palace was the home of the Mysore Maharaja and is an interesting mix of Indian and European architectural influences. The palace itself is gorgeous and is surrounded by something like 7 temples. Before entering, you were required to check your camera and to remove your shoes. To me, it seemed strangely reminiscent of the palaces that I walked through in Europe. Intricate carvings, massive balustrades and columns, and just the sense of history all around you. It was extremely impressive. Dad has been there, I'm sure that he will tell you the same. After the temple, we again split up. Two others and myself did a little shopping outside the temple, which was good, but what followed was the one truly frustrating part of the day. Sarah (my friend from Germany) and I were surrounded by vendors - after we had already bought our gifts. They literally had us trapped and were pushing and shoving and trying to get us to buy something. They refused to take no for an answer and we just could not escape. Finally, I basically shouted at one who had grabbed my arm and Sarah and I shoved our way out. We were just not willing to tolerate it any longer.

All three of us had lunch in a small Indian restaurant afterwards, and the good food and relatively relaxing atmosphere did a lot to help calm our annoyance. After eating, we returned to the market, since we hadn't had much time the night before. I bought some souvenirs and we were entertained by a friendly mineral oil and incense seller. He invited us into his shop and showed us how he hand rolls all of his incense sticks. Very cool. What was also interesting to see were the books of photos that he had. Each book was labeled, US, Germany, Sweden, Australia, Korea, etc... These were all foreigners how had come to his shop and bought things. Most of them had come more than once and left their pictures, names, purchases, and often a personal note. For me, it was incredible that this guy, Quarram, working in a tiny little shop in the market in Mysore, had met all of these people. He even spoke some German, as well as English, which my German friends appreciated.

As evening rolled around, we all met up back at the hotel and then decided to return to the palace. On Sunday evenings and on holidays, the palace is illuminated with thousands (or millions) of lights and we had been told that it was a sight that we could not miss. And it definitely was amazing to see the entire palace and the surrounding temples and gates light up. Although you have to wonder what that does to the electricity for the rest of the city, since they already face daily shortages and power outages. Well, to wrap up the weekend, I grabbed a quick dinner with three of the guys and then raced to the train station, getting there about 10 minutes before our train was set to depart. We pulled out of the station at about 9 p.m. and at 7:30 a.m. the next morning we rolled into Katpadi Station here in Vellore. Ten hours for 370 or so kilometers...travel on the ground is definitely not the speediest here!

And so, that was the end of our journey. Sorry that it has taken me so long to get this posted! I promise to be a more frequent poster in the future!

I just want you all to know that despite the incredible adventures that I am having and the sights that I am seeing, I still miss you all! Over the past few weeks, I have been struggling with some bouts of homesickness and knowing that there are people back home that are interested in what I am doing and in how I am doing really helps. I am sure that some homesickness will come and go for the rest of my time here, but I think that I am coming to realize that being here, living here for nine months really is possible. This is something that I can do! So, basically, keep in touch, because every time I here from one of you it is a friendly voice in my ear reminding me that I am not so far away…

Love,
~Sarah

Life in Vellore...Thoughts from the Past Four Weeks

Hi Everyone! First off, let me start by apologizing for being so absent from this blog. I set it up with grand intentions of updating quite frequently and I definitely haven’t followed through with that. It sort of amazes me that even in India, I make daily “To-Do” lists and I’m still not able to complete everything! The days truly have been flying by and as each week comes to a close I am astounded that I am that much closer to the end of this adventure (although that ‘end’ is still quite far away…). Anyway, I make no excuses for my lack of updates, except to say that between work, travel, friends, food, exploring, and sometimes unreliable internet access, I just haven’t been able to cross 'posting to my blog' off of my to-do list. But, I’m trying to make up for it now and in the future, plan to post about once a week or so. More if possible…

As I sit here typing, I realize that today is the 41st day since I left home. And after only six weeks, Vellore is beginning to feel like a home away from home. I am adjusting to the flow and rhythm of life, getting used to the unique sounds and smells, and simply beginning to feel comfortable. Daily life doesn’t seem nearly as strange and overwhelming as it did a few short weeks ago.

I have spent the past four weeks engaged in a mix of activities. My research work is moving forward, although not necessarily as quickly as I had hoped. Currently, my research plans have split down three roads. I am submitting two proposals for IRB and EC approval – Institutional Review Board and Ethics Committee. Basically, these committees go over all of the proposed research projects at CMC to ensure that the work is ethical and that no patients will be harmed by being involved in the study. Although writing these proposals was a rather tedious process, I am quite proud of what I have produced and am hopefully that they will be approved with out any problems. A second benefit of these projects is that they have introduced me to two physicians whom I will be working closely with – Dr. Valsan and Dr. Deepthi, both of whom are extremely nice, very enthusiastic, and incredibly helpful. I am sure that with there help, these projects can be a success. In the coming weeks, my work will move away from writing (and simultaneously away from staring at a computer screen all day) and into the lab and the hospital. The prospect of working directly in a clinical microbiology lab and interacting with patients and family members in the pediatrics department is both exciting and intimidating. I just hope that my experience and the preparation that I have done over the past weeks will be enough. And I am sure that I will continuously be learning during my time in these departments.

Conducting research in India is sure to be a unique endeavor. The process of things is very different here and it definitely takes some getting used to. Because of the newness of everything, there have been some ups and downs over the past weeks, but even the times when it seemed like everything was falling apart have taught me valuable lessons. Such as the benefit of avoiding involvement in inter-departmental politics… And also the great benefits that can be reaped from not being afraid to ask people for what you want. Making appointments can be very difficult, and so if I need to speak with someone or meet a new physician, I generally just show up in their office and hope that they are there. If not, I’m normally directed on a hospital wide scavenger hunt for their current location. Despite the serendipity of this method, I’m successful in locating these people a surprising amount of the time. And each time, I have to introduce myself, explain what I am doing, and then explain how I want them to be involved in my research or what I need from them. These meetings are great tools for increasing my ability to express myself and decreasing my sometimes innate fear of really putting myself forward. If this continues, I will surely return to the US a more confident person.

Outside of work, life has been progressing forwards quickly. And now that the initial shock of India has almost completely worn off, I have been able to process and slowly start understanding some of the things around me. Lately I have found myself really thinking about how I fit into this place. I’ve done a lot of introspection and a lot of observation of the people, places, and activities surrounding me. I’ve got a few impressions that I’d like to share.

Fear. When I first arrived in Vellore, everything scared me. The food and the streets and the animals and just everything all around me was foreign and new and terrifying. That fear crippled me. I wouldn’t allow myself to eat new things or go shopping in the market or wander around Vellore Fort alone and if I had continued to allow that fear to control me, I never would have been able to make the most of my time here. But, somehow, I have managed to overcome that fear and to begin just living – the way that we do at home. We don’t constantly worry we just go about daily life. And that is what I am trying to do now. Over the past few weeks, I have started going to new restaurants, even ones that look a little sketchy, and by doing this have had some of the most incredible food. I’ve also decided that maybe the main market roads aren’t so intimidating and have found incredible fabric stores, great little tea stalls, and a very talented tailor who is even now working on two new outfits for me. I’ve also stopped seeing only the bad things on the streets, such as trash and poverty, and begun to look past that to see the beauty that is hidden behind. I think that in some ways, simply by letting go of my fear of the unknown, everything that seemed so different became more familiar.

Tourism. Since I am living and working in India for nine months, in many ways, I don’t consider myself a tourist. Similarly, the other students that I have come to know are here for months at a time and so I don’t see them as tourists either. And because Vellore is such a small, out-of-the-way place, we (the students) are the only, and I mean only, foreigners in Vellore. Vendors and shopkeepers always recognize us because we are quite the anomaly in their daily life. Recognizing them in return is a bit harder for us. But because of our status as the sole “white” foreigners in Vellore, when we travel, I am often shocked to see other tourists. This past weekend, while traveling to the city of Mamallapuram, I even found myself somewhat shocked to see so many other foreign faces all around me. It was a bit strange for me to even feel separated from other foreigners, but my perception of them wasn’t exactly positive. I found myself wondering what their impressions of India would actually be if they only frequented the popular tourist destinations? Would they gain any understanding of who and what India is or would it simply be just a trip. But at the same time, there I was…exploring Mamallapuram, being a tourist myself. Overall, I was just a bit confused… In the end though, I think that I am lucky. I not only get to be a tourist and travel to new and exciting places on the weekends and sometimes for longer, but I also get to be a resident. I get to live daily life, develop a routine, and interact with the same community day after day. And I think that I am privileged because the community I am living in is for Indians – it hasn’t changed itself to meet the needs of tourists. It just remains Vellore.

Staring. Never in my life have I been stared at as much as I am here. It is a daily occurrence and one which I am still having trouble getting used to. Sometimes the most frustrating part of your day is the fact that men on the street blatantly stare at you, without any reservations. And not only do they stare, they brush past you or push their way in front of you as if you don’t even exist. Its like you’re not a person – you’re an interesting attraction for them to look at as they go about their daily life. One of the most obvious experiences I have had with staring is when we went to the cinema last week. I went with four friends, three girls and a guy. Not only were we the only foreigners in the movie, we were also the only women. And as we stood waiting for tickets every single male in the surrounding area was staring, no almost leering, at us. It was one of the single most uncomfortable moments of my life. Its something that I don’t think you can get used to. I try to tell myself that they are simply interested in us. We are so different in appearance how could they not stare. Sometimes that reassurance doesn’t do much and sometimes it does. But I’m learning from this as well – I don’t think that I will ever again allow myself to just stare at someone who is different, not now that I understand how uncomfortable it truly is.

Well, that’s about all I’ve got for my “profound” thoughts. Here are a few other quick impressions of Vellore…

People are, for the most part, almost overwhelmingly friendly and they are also extremely generous, even if they have very little.

If you want to get somewhere quickly make sure that you pick your rickshaw wisely. So far I have been in two that have broken down and two that were so old they could barely move faster than a slow walk. Each rickshaw and each rickshaw driver has their own character – every ride is different from the one before.

Indian supermarkets aren’t quite like American supermarkets! The Haresh Food Zone, Vellore’s largest ‘supermarket’ was quite the exciting find for us, although it has a total of about 6 aisles. In addition to aisles of Indian food, there is even a small amount of Western items, including pasta, pasta sauce, cereal, and oreos… Its funny how just those little bits of familiarity can seem so amazing.

And finally we have the Indian sweet tooth, one thing that I wasn’t necessarily expecting. Indians love sugar! They put sugar in almost everything, but especially in tea, coffee, and juice. We generally ask for little or no sugar and in response we are often looked at as if we are crazy… In addition to adding sugar to their drinks, there are bakeries and sweet shops every few stalls on every street. And while taking advantage of this fact, we have found some incredible cookies and treat, although nothing is quite the same as Mom’s homemade pumpkin cookies! This plethora of sugar could become a problem…

I think that is all I’ve got for now! Hope you made it through all of my rambling thoughts. From here on out (except for two more posts on previous weekend trips) I’m going to be posting on current events. Woo Hoo!

Thanks again for all of your thoughts and emails and comments! I love hearing from all of you! I hope that life back in the States is going well and that you are all having your own adventures!

Already almost six weeks in and I can’t believe how quickly time is passing…

~Sarah

A Weekend Getaway in Pondicherry

After ending my first full week in Vellore, I embarked on the first of what I am sure will be many trips across southern and hopefully northern India. After only one meeting, I was invited to join a trip to the city of Pondicherry (or Puducherry as it is now called) for the weekend of August 28th - August 30th. Instead of writing out a whole new description, I've simply copied the email that I sent out after returning. Hope you all enjoy!

Friday afternoon, I left Vellore with eleven other international students. They had reserved a private bus, so it was just us, and we traveled in the lap of luxury - well, for India at least... Driving through the country side introduced me to a whole new aspect of India. There were gorgeous rolling hills and field after field of grains. Small villages often lined the road and it was incredible to get a short glimpse of what life is like for a majority of the Indian population. The ride took about 3.5 hours and I spent most of it simply staring out the window, amazed by the countryside. During our drive, we also passed through several small towns. In one, we drove by a school bus full of children (with about an inch between our bus and theirs). When the kids noticed that we were obviously foreigners, they began shouting and waving. All of them saying "Hi!" and asking our names. It was a strange and somewhat exhilarating experience. We were a novel sight for these children and I think that many of them wanted to show off the English that they could speak.

We arrived in Pondicherry at about 7:30, got settled in our rooms, which were very nice, and then headed out to dinner at a roof top cafe - Le Rendezvous. Pondicherry, now called Puducherry, was originally colonized by the French and the city has many remaining French elements. Dinner was good, although some people who ordered very Western food weren't impressed. From there, we headed to the sea front, walked along the ocean (there wasn't really a beach per se but it was beautiful), and had ice cream at a little shop. We finally got to bed at about midnight.


I roomed with a girl named, ironically, Sarah, who is a final year medical student from Germany. She is at CMC for two months observing in the surgical department. Saturday morning, we got up at about 9 and decided to head out for breakfast on our own, since we weren't sure when the others would wake. It ended up that we spent the entire day off on our own, which was actually quite nice and easier than moving in a large group. Breakfast was at this cafe on the ocean called Le Cafe. I had a great omelette and some lovely fresh fruit. We sat for awhile and then headed into the heart of Pondicherry for some exploring. Our first visit was to the Sri Aurobindo Ashram, a place for spirituality, meditation, and yoga. We were allowed inside and sat in the meditation garden for about half an hour. People prayed over Sri Aurobindo's mausoleum and the atmosphere in this place was incredibly peaceful. There really was something in the air that was calming. Sadly, no pictures were allowed. After this, we ended up at a temple. Outside of the temple, to our surprise was an elephant! The elephant's name was Lakshmi and she had been trained to take coins from your hand and then tap you on the head with her trunk. I did it twice because it was so cool! After spending quite some time at the temple, we kept walking.

The next few hours were spent doing a little shopping in some of the street shops. I bought two sets of fabric to be made into salwar kameez...the colors are amazing. We also sat for about an hour in an ice cream shop to escape from the heat. From the shops, we headed to the Grand Bazaar, an Indian market, that was truly an awe inspiring sight. Row after row of vegetables, spices, fruits, pastas and grains, and almost everything else that you could imagine were there. And, this was a true Indian market, not a tourist attraction, which was great to see. Anyway, when we were finally done wandering Pondicherry, we returned to Le Cafe and sat in the shade, reading and eating samosas.


For dinner, the rest of the group went to a posh hotel and paid 500 rupees for an all you can eat buffet. Sarah and I opted out of this option, and ate in this hole in the wall Indian restaurant, called Le Coromondale. We had parotta, naan, vegetable fried rice, dhaal masala and paneer butter masala...all for only 137 rupees (less than 3 dollars). The food was great and it was a fun Indian experience. More ice cream after dinner, and then we sat along the beach and talked.

All in all it was incredible, and it was only the first day.

Sunday morning, I got up early and went to a Catholic mass with Jessica, an international student from the U.K. She is also a final year med student, and interestingly enough she wants to combine her studies in medicine with the religious life. Meaning, she wants to become a nun and also practice medicine. Anyway, the mass was in English and it was a really lovely service, with lots of singing.

Afterwards, I met up with Sarah and Stefan (another German student), had a quick breakfast at Le Cafe, hopped into a rickshaw and headed for Auroville. Auroville is this small city of about 2000 people that is 11 kilometers outside Pondicherry. It was founded by "the Mother," and is a very spiritual and rather esoteric place. In the words of the Auroville founders, "Auroville wants to be a universal town where men and women of all countries are able to live in peace and progressive harmony above all creeds, all politics and all nationalities. The purpose of Auroville is to realise human unity." Its an interesting and kind of strange place. The biggest sight to see is the Matri Mandir, which is a large, almost spherical building, the entire outside of which is covered in gold disks. This is the "spiritual center" of Auroville and inside is a room for 'consideration.' Visitors aren't allowed inside, but you can view the Matri Mandir from afar. It was quite an impressive sight, although I am a little confused about why a group that believes in the evils of materialism and that is searching for the 'human truth' needs such an ostentatious symbol. I'm sure they have their reasons... Overall, I have mixed feelings about the philosophy of Auroville, but it was definitely a unique place to visit. Another nice aspect was the cafe. We all sat and had apple pie with ice cream and juice (I chose guava which was delicious). The apple pie wasn't quite like dad's home made pie...


To return to Pondicherry, we grabbed another rickshaw and were on our way. We had just entered the city, when we spotted a wagon with a huge statue of Ganesh, the Indian elephant god, at a nearby intersection. This obviously caught our interest, so we basically abandoned the rickshaw, somewhere in the middle of the city and set off to find Ganesh. Well, this turned out to be one of the most incredible things I have ever seen. There was a procession of at least 100 trucks and wagons, all with statues of Ganesh and young men and boys hanging all over them. The men were covered in colored powders in celebration of the festival of Ganesh. As we walked along the roadside, staring in awe at this incredible procession, we were basically mobbed by young boys and men. They were shouting "Hello!" and "Photo, photo!!," and many wanted to shake our hands and learn our names. The young boys in particular really wanted to have their photo taken...and we complied... They especially wanted to shake my and Sarah's hand, since in traditional Indian culture men do not often touch women, especially in public. I don't really have the words to describe it, but it was incredible. We got caught up in the celebration and the excitement and it truly was a once in a lifetime experience. We were so lucky to have gone to Pondicherry on the one weekend every year when this festival occurs. The one down side to this experience was the realization that it was only men who were participating in the celebration. Women don't join in (aren't allowed to join in), for whatever reason. It was a little disconcerting to so obviously see some of the separation that exists between men and women here.

When we finally left the procession, we passed by the temple to see Lakshmi the elephant once more and then we grabbed a quick dinner at a small restaurant. The meal was served on a palm leaf, as is the custom in Southern India. From there, we walked through the Sunday market and got back to our hotel just in time to take the bus back to Vellore. Three and a half hours later, much of it through the pouring rain, we were back in the city that is my temporary home.