Finally Some Rain

When we first arrived in Mysore, we were told that the monsoon season was beginning, and we had several hour-long rain showers during our first few days. After that, however, the rain stopped. Now, 4 weeks later, people have become very worried about the lack of rain. The first problem is for the farmers, most of who lack irrigation systems and rely on rainfall to water their crops. The second problem is that the city of Mysore gets most of its power from hydroelectric dams, so no rain means no electricity. For the past week we have been having power outages due to the lack of water that can be run through the damns. The water supply to homes has also been turned off at time, though PHRI has a water tank so we have not been effected. Yesterday and today the power has gone off from around 10 am to 4 pm, on other days it has been out most of the evening. PHRI has a battery for outages, but it only lasts for about an hour, after which we are in the dark, making work very difficult.

Prayer flags in Coorg, asking for rain

A cornfield in a village 30 minute from Mysore. You can see the plants dying.

Well today we finally had some rain. Defiantly not enough to relieve the shortage, but hopefully it is a sign that the monsoon has finally arrived. Hopefully it isn't too late for the farmers.

Coorg

Shalini, a coworker a PHRI, was a fantastic friend and organized a weekend for us to visit her friend Viju who lives in Coorg. Coorg (or Kodagu) is a region of the state of Karnataka that was a separate state prior to Indian unification. People in Coorg speak a different language than the rest of Karnataka. The region is known for its forests and heavy rainfalls, and it is the watershed for much of Southern India.

After a three hour bus ride, we arrived in Maldhare, the small town in Coorg where we were met by Viju.

Our Tata Bus
Maldhare

We spent the rest of the afternoon walking around Viju's coffee plantation as well as the plantation where we were staying the night.

Our beautiful three room plantation hotel
Orchids growing outside our hotel
Some coffee plants growing in the shade
Close-up of the coffee

The next day Viju took us to his friend's cabin in the forest. These friends have started a reserve to take care of elephants. They purchased two captive elephants who had been treated poorly. Now, every morning, the elephants are given a bath in the river, followed by feeding. Then the elephants are released to wander around the forest for the afternoon and through the night. The next day, the elephants are tracked down, bathed fed and again released. One of the two female elephants had a child (the father was a wild elephant). We got to feed them some bananas. The baby male elephant had not yet been trained, so he was a bit unpredictable.

About to feed the baby some bananas
Me feeding one of the two adults

That afternoon, we hiked up one of the nearby hills. There was a 300 year old temple at the top of the hill, and the view was beautiful. After the hike, we met Viju's mother and sister who were extremely nice, and as it began to get dark, we headed back to Mysore.

The temple at the top of the hill

Coorg

First Week of Work

On Wednesday, I had the chance to visit two rural villages, approximately 45 minutes outside of Mysore. Saroja, who has a background in social work, administered our new survey to three women as a pilot run. PHRI has been working on Project Kisalaya, which involves health screening and a questionnaire for pregnant women in rural villages around Mysore. The new survey is intended as a follow-up, to obtain information on birth outcomes (ie. where did the birth occur, were there any complications, etc.). The interviews seemed to run smoothly and only took around 15 minutes to administer. After a few small changes, it will be ready to go.

The view across the street from the village

The central street of the village

On Thursday I got go to see how the health clinics for Project Kisalaya run. We went to a school in a small village, and used one of the classrooms as our temporary health clinic. PHRI staff went out and with the assistance of a local nurse in charge of the village, recruited women to come to the health clinic and enroll in the study. The process involved four steps: registration, counseling/the interview, a medical check-up with Dr. Bhavana, and collection of specimens for screening with nurse Rani. We were at the school for 5 hours, and approximately 12 women were enrolled in the study.

PHRI staff getting setting up for the clinic

Everyone hard at work

I was unable to find a way to be helpful, so I entertained the school children, who LOVED getting their pictures taken.

Students at the school

On Saturday, which is commonly a half-day of work in India, PHRI held a training for government nurses who are in charge of the villages around Mysore. The training, which ran from 10 to 5, covered a range of topics, but was focused on HIV and included a speaker who was HIV positive. As a review before lunch, the nurses broke into two teams and played Who Wants to be a Millionaire.

My First Weekend in Mysore

It’s now my fifth day in Mysore and I am starting to feel acclimated to the environment as well as the time zone (12.5 hours ahead of San Francisco). I must admit that my trip had a rough start. After traveling for 26 hours, Stephanie and I arrived at Bangalore airport around 1 am local time. We claimed our luggage and then headed towards the airport exit. One of my bags had been marked with chalk, which meant that it was going to be search by customs. The bag they selected was full of clothes as well as a conference telephone. When they asked if I had electronics in my bag I decided not to lie, I thought the conference telephone would not be a major problem. A customs agent pulled out the telephone and told me that I would need to pay tax on the phone. He asked if I had a receipt or knew how much the phone cost. I said no and guessed that the phone cost around $50 (it really didn’t look very fancy!). The customs agent went to his computer, searched, and told me that the phone costs $900 and I owed $360 in tax! Panic!

I looked at the website and told him that the phone I was transporting had fewer features than the one he had found, and he agreed that I was transporting the $600 model, but I still owed $240. I told him I was not carrying that much money and I would need to go to an ATM. I walked out of customs to an ATM, where Stephanie had now been waiting for quite a while. I withdrew money and took a paper from Stephanie that contained information on PHRI. When I got back to the customs agent I tried to explain that I was coming to volunteer with a nonprofit and that I did not have a receipt because the conference telephone was donated. After talking for a while, he asked if I needed a receipt from him. I told him no. Then he told me to follow him, and we walked into an office where all the other customs agents were sitting around. He asked for 3000 rupees, around $65. Perhaps I should have bartered, but at that point I was so exhausted I just paid the bribe and left. After a three-hour ride to Mysore, we arrived at PHRI around 5 am, just as the sun was beginning to rise.

Amazon.com says it costs $450

Stephanie and I slept until around 11 am before heading downstairs and meeting everyone. I had only slept for around 7 of the past 48 hours, so I was tired, but it was exciting to meet everyone and look around the house, which was beautiful. After everyone was introduced, Arathi took us to lunch at Vikram Hospital, about 3 blocks from PHRI. We had walked literally half a block from the house when a boy around 14 years of age saw us, walked up and began asking us for money. When we did not give money, he followed us for a block, tapping me with his outreached hand. Coming to India, I was expecting this to happen a certain amount. But this was the FIRST PERSON I had seen since leaving the house and we were in a quiet, wealthy residential area. And I was already feeling exhausted and a little bit overwhelmed, so it left me feeling uncomfortable.

Now that I’ve been in India for a few days, I realize what bad luck we had. I’ve now done the walk to Vikram over 10 times and have not been hassled since. We have walked around downtown, markets and restaurants and everything has been fine. The only other time we were asked for money and followed around was at the Palace, a touristy location where I would expect it to happen.

I spent Friday and Saturday around PHRI, meeting everyone and generally feeling exhausted. For our first ride on a rickshaw, Saturday evening Stephanie and I went to the MORE MEGA STORE, which seemed to be equivalent of a Walmart, but with a better name. The first flood had groceries, the second floor food, the third flood electronics and the fourth floor furniture.
It was interesting to see the prices in India. I purchased some inexpensive button-down shirts for 99 rupees (about $2) and a pair of velcro sandals for 250 rupees (around $5-6). They did sell more expensive clothes, but those shirts seemed to be made of heavier material, and with the heat and humidity here my priority was to buy the lightest clothes possible. I had also considered buying a fan because the corner of the bedroom I am sleeping in is farthest from the ceiling fan and it is warm at night. But the cheapest fan they had was 1500 rupees (around $35), so I didn’t buy one. Finally, we went downstairs and purchased some groceries. I was excited to go mango shopping. They had around 5 types of mangoes and I had no idea what the differences were. I figured I should splurge so I purchased three of the most expensive mangoes. I will have to do some mango research so next time I know what to buy.

Sunday, Stephanie and I went out and explored Mysore. We started with bird watching at Karaji Lake.

Karaji LakeGrey Heron
White-Throated KingfisherBlue Tiger Butterfly

Then we went to the zoo. After going back home for lunch, we went downtown and ended up at Mysore palace, which is lit up on Sunday evening from 7-8. It was a very nice day and left me feeling much more comfortable in my new surroundings.
Mysore Palace