Cricket!

India's dearly loved cricket team is playing in the world cup today!
Which means it's hands down the most exciting day for all 1.2 billion
people in india... (excluding Laura and myself). When I first got here
and heard people talking about cricket, all I could picture was a
bunch of men in polo shirts w sweaters around their shoulders knocking
a ball through a wire U-shaped loop in the grass w a mallet... In a
stadium w thousands of fans cheering. Well, needless to say it's not
that.

As Laura mentioned, people are very affectionate here and value the
necessity of platonic human touch. And it goes for men too. You see
two male friends holding hands or touching the back of the others
neck... Which would make the typical westerner very uncomfortable but
here it's not shameful or embarassing. It's sooo metro-chic.

I guess the comfort level w touching is also where some of the phobias
and superstitions about skin diseases stem from. We learned that
people get avoided and treated like they have the plague if they have
any weird skin condition. Everything is assumed to be highly
contagious and people become the object of discust very quickly. Most
people never had the chicken pox bc if one child gets it, they're
basically quarintined for over a month. We saw a elderly man w new
onset chicken pox just the other day.

One of the reasons why our head professor is such a good doctor is
because he spends so much extra time counseling and educating his
patients about their condition so they feel like less of an outcast.
He's so goofy and fun and loves to make everyone laugh. Oh, and he
recommends yoga to everyone... A dermatologist recommending yoga!! I
love it!

-Cathy

Sent from my iPod