Snakes in the rain

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A lot happens when you're not surrounded by the mundane. It's probably moreso a matter of the more liberal application of the tag "happened". For example, I bought an ice cream near my room and ate it while watching a rhesus monkey. No Solomon Shechter kid could make TCBY memorable.

Most of my time is spent working on the project. That's been progressing nicely enough. You end up meeting some really interesting people, in either fortunate or unfortunate ways. We did a home visit for a retired teacher who is really friendly and endearing, clearly a proud man for his own experience in education as well as that of his children and their spouses. I guess he is one of the success stories of India. On the other hand, we met a patient today who is the complete opposite. He is a bidi maker (rolls some sort of crude cigarette) which is a common thing for the very poor to do for livelihood. He had a cough for a year which he thought was due to smoking. Then, a Village Health Nurse who lives in his village but works in a village 7km away suggested he get tested for TB. He turned out to be positive but the VHN arranged that he get treatment with her instead of the clinic I'm at which is 3km away from him. He followed treatment for nearly 6 months, but then had to stop even though he knew how important it was to complete treatment (6 months). He couldn't afford the 25 cent return bus fare (totally unnecessary and the fault of the VHN), and the nausea brought on from the meds prevented him from working even though he was the only breadwinner. Now, after a year, his TB is back, and he must recommence treatment. Since he is too sick to work, his 17 year old son is now the only breadwinner in the family. I wonder how that alters the trajectory of his life. It's really hard to understand how a handful of change means so much when health, family and money all make their demands at once. It's quite a sad story, and the classic one of poverty in action. We'll have to look up his records, but if he has multi-drug resistant TB (which often occurs in relapse cases) then it is even more tragic as the mortality rate is far, far higher.

On a brighter note, I have started to get to know some of the staff here a lot better. One has invited me to his village which is just outside the town. I'd really like to check it out. He invited me over one of the most refreshing drinks of all time. It's basically sugarcane and lemon juice in a cup, made on the side of the road for 3 rupees (10 cents). It's really great. Anyway, while I can't invite all these people to Montreal and expect a visitor, I leafed through the photo book of Canada that I bought for the doctor hosting me with a couple of them. First of all, you notice that Canada is a beautiful country. It's also somewhat entertaining to answer their questions about life in Canada. It's all standard stuff, but the interest comes from watching the fact immersed in the medium of their worldview. I often imagine what it would be like for Viji (my translator and sidekick) to spend a week in Montreal but I never really have an answer.

It rained for the first time yesterday, and right away a few thigns came to mind. The first was that it is suddenly cooler, and being a bit wet isn't so bad. The second was that there are no drainpipes here. I'm really curious to see what real Monsoon rains will do as far as puddles go. After they stopped, I decided to walk this hill across my room. I really love climbing a hill. There was a 360 view of the town and surrounds. The best part was seeing the blue hills off in the distance, and the layer of mist that covered everything. It made for a really pretty sunset, especially since the red and purple colours broke though the retreating clouds quite nicely. While walking up between the boulders, I noticed that it's the best place to hide a snake. I ran into Mani, the cook here this morning and mentioned my hike and the snake-friendly landscape. He said that there certainly are snakes here, and he even killed one a couple of days ago. If it's a cobra though, he runs for his life. This is all sounding like great fun of course. I walk off to work and he calls me back. He found a snake-skin on the ground, about 2-3 feet long and as wide as a thumb. His parting advice is not to even think about it. I'm not afraid of snakes in the phobia sense, but in the sense that I don't want any stare-down with a Cobra.

Okay, great party. It's raining, so I'll go read on my patio.

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