Streets
Trip Start
May 05, 2004
1
14
Trip End
Jun 30, 2004
Chennai (Madras),
India
Friday, June 4, 2004
That's not as impressive as it sounds, as it's really small animal
treatment. I don't know what they call the actual small animal surgery
theatres. We get to see lots of maggot wounds, I saw two this morning.
(don't read the rest of this paragraph if you get queasy easily!) One
was in an ear, the dog had a few maggots in there, not too many. The
other one was in a very inflammed vulva, I had to cringe everytime the
doc pulled out another tweezerfull of the squirming little maggots. It
is nearly the most disgusting thing ever, but one of the most hygenic.
The magots only feed on necrotic tissue, and they promote healing, so
once you remove them, the wound heals really quickly.Okay, it's
safe reading again for those weak of stomach. We actually didn't end up
taking our picture in the sarees yesterday, that got delayed. Things in
India are on a completely different time scale, and nothing is ever
absolute. So, plans change by the minute, and you just learn to go with
it. We had our banquet with the faculty and chairs of the college last
night, that was fun. We did wear our sarees for that, getting all
dressed up is fun. I don't think I will ever be able to wrap them as
beautifully as the Indian women can, though. Tonight we will be having
our picture, and then another doctor has decided he wants to have us
for dinner. We will be kept busy for sure. I want to try and
describe my favorite thing about India for you, and hopefully I'll
succeed. Walking down an Indian street in an adventure even for those
who are not foreign. First there are buildings lining each side of the
street divided into small stalls for selling any variety of things, or
for the infinite number of juice bars that exist. In some places there
exists a sidewalk, in others there is none. This doesn't stop the
people from claiming space on the side of the road. The sidewalks are
for the more permanent places. As you walk by there are tarps fastened
to the walls which surround houses and buildings, they come out like
awnings, and people sleep underneath, on the hard cement of the
sidewalk. There is one woman between the hostel and school who cooks
breakfast on the sidewalk every morning. There are cabinets
periodically, this is for holding the tools for whatever job the person
holds. There are alot of people who fix cars and motorbikes along our
street, I don't know how the people know to come to this street to find
a mechanic, but it just seems to work. My favorite is the women who sit
and tie Jasmine flowers into strands. They tie the flowers to one long
string, then pinch off lengths as people stop to buy flowers for their
hair. The woman we buy our from gives us a length of about 16 inches
for 5 rupees, and they make my hair smell so wonderfull. Sometimes
that's the only thing that smells good, as there are piles of garbage
everywhere. Occasionally big trucks come by with people who sweep the
garbage into small wastebasket bins and dump it into the truck. It must
take all day just to pick up one pile, then they are off to 50 yards
down the road where there is another pile. The animals that wander the
street (mostly cows and dogs) eat from these garbage piles. They must
be able to find enough food to keep them living, although they are
usually skin and bones. As you are riding down the street, you
can literally feel the pollution in the air as it hits your face. You
get where you're going and pull out a hankercheif, then grimace when
you see the black dirt you've just wiped off. The noise is also
incredible. Horns are used without a second thought. They are used to
tell people to move, to watch out, or just because you like the sound,
I think. There are actually intersections that have signs which say
'horn free zone.' The movement down an Indian street is
amazing. You wouldn't imagine that the road could be shared by
wandering cows, bullocks (draft cows) pulling carts, bicycles,
rickshaws (bicycle ones), autorickshaws (imagine a really cool covered
golf cart), motorbikes, cars and really large trucks and buses. All
racing by (or plodding in the case of the bullocks) as the people watch
from their places on the sidewalks. I love to see the bullocks pulling
their carts, it reminds me of some simpler time, and it somehow fits
well in the modern world, slowly passing an internet stand, then being
passed by a slick european version of a ford car.I suppose this
is the best I can do to help you visualize an Indian street, it's a fun
experience. I am leaving tomorrow for Mysore and will be gone from the
computer world for awhile. I'll be vanishing into the world where the
bullocks and carts dominate. So, think of me, and I'll remember
everything to tell you when I get home.
