Mass of Mumbai Moments

Let me begin this blog post with a moment of silence. For those of you who were acquainted with the late Mixer Bergman, you should know that he is no more. Recently he has been a rather demented, diabetic, grouchy old man so it is for the best that he is no longer suffering. We will all miss him. [For those of you who do not know him, this was my cat... not a deranged uncle or anything like that]

The past few weeks have been more busy and more happy and funfilled than the weeks before them! I have become more comfortable taking the trains alone, wandering around the city, ordering food without knowing what it is (pure veg), meeting new folks, and much more. It's been a really super mix of craziness and really intense, beautiful, heartbreaking experiences. One of the days last week I spent from 7 am-10 pm going out to rural india with the BLP. They have a really amazing network of rural workers and volunteers who go house to house delivering medications, checkups, chappals (special footwear for lepers with foot ulcers), multivitamins, etc. out in the villages of rural India! I have now been here for about 7 weeks and have spent most all of that time in the city. and lemme tell you... this was the most different and amazing adventure I could never have expected!

I left from the BLP office at 7:30 am with a breakfast in the car of coconut biscuits and curd (yogurt). There are two american girls [Jillian and Gaietry] who are doing a documentary on the BLP and we have become close, hanging out at night and sometimes at the clinic while their filming. So the three of us, the driver, and one of the BLP staff got into the vehicle and headed in the direction of Shapur (sp?) about 120 km from Mumbai proper. As the sun came up higher in the sky, the roads became less paved and more pothole-filled, we began to reach more rural india. Our mission for the day was:
1. To hand out the packets of ulcer dressings that we had brought with us. Some of the amazing BLP rural volunteers teach the patients how to dress their own wounds and every month they get a new package of dressing materials... gauze, antiseptic, cotton.
2. To give chappals to certain patients. Some of the patients with foot ulcers and loss of sensation in their feet cannot wear normal footwear because they slide off of the foot. These people, unless given another option, walk around barefoot exposing their feet to all of the elements with no ability to sense if they are burning or stepping on a sharp object. The BLP makes measurements of these peoples feet and has special shoes made for them that are more protective. It is amazing to see villagers wearing these new shoes and it truly makes a difference in their ability to work and therefore improves their quality of life!
3. To get some film footage for Jillian and Gaietry of what the BLP does in rural india. This proved to be great because it meant that the man we were with was giving us thorough explanations on camera and answering all of our questions. Also, I will be able to get that video from them when I go home and it should be some great footage (instead of photos that could not begin to capture these images)
4. Check in at local PHC's (primary health centers) to record how many leprosy patients they were seeing. We also got to see an OBGYN ward and a 6 hour old newborn baby! The medical facilities were, to put it mildly, quite different from the US. wow.

One of the main problems with the system here is that in rural villages, the government is "responsible" for identifying cases and giving out the free multidrug therapy for treatment. Like most governments, they do not take the time to do this properly but they see any interference on this front by the BLP as offensive and overstepping. So basically the BLP is restricted to providing care once there is a deformity! In the case of leprosy, it should never have to get to this point! But we are not allowed to find a patient who is pre-deformity and give them the drugs... so we must wait until there is some physical problem before doing anything. When I was there, for example, we saw a woman whose face has a huge patch on it. The patch itself is not crippling but it will soon attack the nerves where it is and it will grow to incorporate her face and forehead. Basically what this means down the line is that she will lose facial control, becoming somewhat paralyzed. Why is this such a problem? Well we're not worried about her having a crooked smile but when her eyes are unable to close voluntarily then she will sleep with them open, making them susceptible to foreign bodies entering, extreme dryness... and this eventually leads to blindness! The volunteer I was with (speaks broken english) explained to me that this is criminal medical neglect on the part of the goverment. She remains untreated just becuase they have not found her out to treat her [because she lives in middle-of-nowhere India] and we are not allowed to give her the multidrug therapy!

Some of the deformities that we saw were just unbelievable... like actually what you are scared of when you think about leprosy. People whose limbs are gone, faces are eaten away, hands are stumps, feet are one big ulcerous mass, etc. Not to gross you out but that really exists! And the most amazing part is that this tiny little organization with very little funding is giving out free shoes and packets of gauze and dressing and antiseptic to these folks so that they can learn to take care of themselves so they can continue working! Little crippled old ladies who are cutting rice for 8 hours a day... but, as we heard from the staff (paraphrased unfortunately) "Work is the most important. Treatment is second priority because if they cannot work, they cannot eat. If we try to provide treatment by putting people on bedrest, they will not do it, so we must be more creative. They will work. We have to accomodate that" the truth behind that especially in seeing the villages is really stunning. Food is a struggle. Deformity is secondary. Food for thought...

Also, while traveling around the villages, I came across some of the most beautiful terrain I've ever seen. Serene rice fields, gorgeous mountains, plentiful cows, calves, baby goats, cats everywhere, chickens running free. I was even gifted a baby chick by a villager which he put into my hands when I was admiring it! So cute and fluffy and lovey! And then I was like "ummm what am i going to do with this?" so i put it down. They all thought I was a crazy white person for thinking a chicken was cute. It was!


Another amazing episode in my life here was the full on indian wedding that I went to this weekend! Unfortunately the photo situation is really frustrating here... so I'm goign to try to get over to the my friend's house sometime this week and use his computer. The photos from the wedding are AWESOME and plentiful! Friday night was the mehndi ceremony where all of the women (50 or so) gathered together (dj involved as well) and about 10 mehndi artists came and spent hours giving us all henna on our hands! My palms are completely covered with the most elaborate and ornate detailed henna ive ever seen... and each hand only took her about 10 minutes! It was amazing to watch and the henna smells great like earth! [and I love that every time i look down at my hands, im surprised into a smile!] After getting mehndi done, you have to wait for hours while it dries and sets so the men came in from another room in the huge function hall [where they were drinking and whatnot] so that they could feed the women hours deouvres (sp) that were being passed around! Its the tradition that the men feed the women on the mehndi night. What a riot! Then, after chilling and eating for a bit, the music took a turn for the bollywood and all of the friends of the bride and groom got up to do choreographed dancing like a little show! I took digital video on my camera and its amazing! After the show, we all danced for a little while and then went in and had a delicious dinner!

Saturday I didnt go to any wedding functions, but took the train all by my big self to meet up with my friend Rebecca [met her at a leprosy conference because she was white, looking just as out of place as i did, and i went over and said hi and shes awesome! just graduated from reed and wanted to see what this kind of work would be like before going to MPH or med school or whatever]. We went to see the dhobi ghats which is where all of the city launderers do the laundry! I know this sounds nuts but at a lot of places, when you take your laundry to a laundromat they dont just shove it into a washing machine, they take it out to the ghats and hand wash! Then they hang it to dry. Only men wash the clothes (role reversal much?) but seeing the crazy amounts of all colors and styles of everyones laundry hanging dry while people are in water basins below scrubbing is quite a sight! Then we were starving so we found a little hole in the wall restaurant down the road. There was no name to the place. We went in and asked for menus and the guy pointed to a board on the wall all in hindi or marathi (i dunno which). We managed to get a pepsi (cold, refreshing, ahhh) and then decided that we should just ask for vegetarian anything and see what we got! So we did. We asked for two (do in hindi) veg dishes and chapati and got an amazing meal of dal and chickpeas and potatoes and chapati and rice afterwards and then chai to finish. The entire meal for both of us combined cost 64 rupees. Literally $1.50. What a triumph!

From there we went over to Haji Ali Mosque, the amazing mosque in the sea that is only accessible by foot and only at low tide. You walk out this long jeti crowded with beggers and vendors and muslims going to pray and just a million people and then come to this gorgeous structure! The pictures are awesome. The place was a spiritual palace. We didnt go inside because Rebeccas pants were cropped and that would not have been okay but it was still wonderful to go there.

Sunday was weddingtastic! I slept over at the Deshmukhs flat in Bandra (home sweet home) saturday night to wake up early sunday morning. When I awoke, there was a beautiful outfit waiting for me by my bed, picked out by Prajakti for me to wear to the wedding! We dressed and had breakfast and headed over to the wedding hall. Everyone was DECKED OUT! Some of the most amazing sarees I have ever seen were worn on sunday. Bright yellows, reds, pinks, turquoises, flaming oranges, deep purples, you name it. All of the women were also adorned and dripping with golden jewelry from bangles to earrings, necklaces to noserings that were huge hoops with pearls on them! The bride had mendhi like sleeves almost up to her elbows and all over her feet ankle deep. The ceremony was totally different from any kind of wedding ive ever seen. Inside the hall, the ceremony started at probably 10:30 am and continued straight through until 12:45 pm when they were supposed to be married because its a particularly auspicious time (dont know why). Instead of everyone sitting quietly while the service was conducted, the bride and groom and parents and close family were on stage with the priests while all the guests milled around, chatting, drinking chai, eating the breakfast provided, taking photos, etc. Then just before 12:45 we all grabbed handfuls of colorful rice and climbed up on the stage to throw it on the bride and groom at the right time. After that they were married! They left to change and we all went down to an amazing banquet lunch!

At about 4:30 we went home for a bit and then headed back through the traffic to the reception. A HUGE outdoor stage was constructed and decorated and the bride and groom took photos with all different guests for about 3 hours while we watched, drank amazing fruit juices (guava, watermelon with vanilla, etc.) and ate the most delicious indian food. Unlike in the states, weddings are all vegetarian and no alcohol so it was not a crazy reception party like many at home. It was still fun and really beautiful... and that concludes my indian wedding experience [except for the wednesday night postparty which i have yet to go to]

This is only a few highlights from the past week or so and it has been funfilled and adventurous! So India is treating me well, the BLP continues to be difficult and wonderful, the people are great, the weather is HOT, the beer is cold, the food is amazing, the nightlife is crazy, the chai is spicy, and the poo is solid. What more could I ask for.... except wishing I could share all this with you?

Please keep in touch and any news from home is always appreciated! Love.

Kirsten - congrats on your upcoming marriage! I wanna hear about it and see photos!
Gail-happy bday again
Dyl - phone card?