Hospital definitely offered a unique experience, to say the least. On
the wards, it wasn't unusual to find Hindu/Ashram style hymns playing
over the sound system, or smell insense burning from a patient's room,
or find one of your patient resting on a bed of bannana leaves. We
had last friday off for the Hindu holiday called Vishu, which is a
celebration of a new year, differenct for every state depending on the
cycle of the harvest. One of the 'sistas' (ie nurses) placed a 2
rupee coin in each of our hands to wish us wealth and prosperity.
We were excited to have a day off but soon came to find that everyone
else had the day off and therefore nothing was open. We decided to
head to the touristly part of town (Fort Kochin) to watch a
traditional Indian play/dance performance called Kathakali. The story
was narrated by a singer who also played the symbols alongside a
drummer. The character's faces were painted with very intracate mask
like paints involving rice paper as accenting. Their only
communication during the play was through gestures and really
exadurated eye movements. To cut to the chase, the grand finale
involved the protagonist eating the disemboweled body of his enemy
while he brushed the blood through his lovers hair. It may just haunt
my dreams for a year or two but no big deal.
Buuuut anyway... on saturday two of my friends flew into town (Greg
and Kate) and we spent our Sunday lounging next to a pool at a ritzy
hotel in Fort Kochin... eating, laughing, eating, swimming, laughing.
The pool, although luke warm and small, was incredibly refreshing
nonetheless and felt amazing. The only drawback was that there were
these odd little beatles in the water that would bite you if they came
in contact with you. Then as the sun set several bats were swooping
down for a taste of the water just feet away from us. Blood thristy
pool beatles and aggresive crazy bats flying at your head
unfortunately only fed into my irrational fear of unprevoked animal
attacks. Later we befriended a pose of really cute (and friendly)
neighborhood dogs that Greg insisted were his 'minions' even though
they flocked to Kate that second she came around. Then indulged in an
assortment of delicious french style tarts. What a life:)
After sundown we walked along the waterfront which turned out to be
beautiful with strong waves popping up onto the rocks during hightide.
The moon was full and breeze was heavy and cool. All the fishermen
had the last of their catch out on display trying insistently to
unload them on anyone walking by. We were offered an enormous 3 foot
fish for 100 rupees... raw, or cooked up on the spot. I mean really,
what did they expect us to do with a 3 ft long fish? It's not exactly
street food.
And as for today.... the heat is oppressive.... oppressive!!!
~Cathy
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