I am hopelessly behind on the blog. Work is busy, I'm wrapping up my internship, trying to write my master's thesis proposal, entertain Kody (while mostly being jealous that he's traveling the deserts while I sit in a cubicle) and cram as much of the Asia experience as I can into the next 6 weeks before we get home to New York. I'm hoping to put up a few more posts before the end of the year, but for now pictures will have to do. India adventures are being posted to my flickr page, at http://www.flickr.com/photos/gablam/

The more recent albums:

• Ganesh Chaturthi: submerging giant elephant gods in the waters in Mumbai and Chennai
  
• Diwali in Chennai = Friends with tons of fireworks
• Kodiak's 30th birthday in Kerala. Thank goodness he's finally old now, too.
• Pondicherry and Mahabs with the HBAD crew
• Ramblings around Chennai (a mix of old and new)

The other day I was sifting through many, many documents to try to find out at what age women typically have their first child in Tamil Nadu. Given that maternal and child health seems to be one of the few health areas that gets attention and resources, I wondered whether there might be an opportunity to combine the area that I’m researching (cardiovascular health) with reproductive health visits. People here are suffering from ill heart-health about 10 years earlier than their counterparts in developed countries, and issues like pre-diabetes start much earlier than you might expect.

Anyway, Tamil Nadu has comparatively good health statistics in relation to other Indian states. The total fertility rate (number of children a woman will have in her lifetime, on average) is below 2 (the “replacement level” for a parent couple), and very young childbearing is uncommon. However I was shocked when I came across a figure like this one.


Source: International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS) and Macro International. 2008. National Family Health Survey (NFHS-3), India, 2005-06: Tamil Nadu. Mumbai: IIPS.

More than half of currently married women are using sterilization for contraception, while 39% are using no method at all. Why aren't people using less invasive ways to limit family size - especially male sterilization, which is also reversible? The current pattern of closely spaced births in early adulthood is likely still contributing to an adverse population growth pattern, even if the overall number hits the target of less than two. Why not a greater emphasis on methods that help you to space out your children, which is known to improve the health of mothers and children? Targets can’t substitute for quality care and reasonable reproductive choice.

A little more reading on the issue here

In Uganda I sometimes occupied myself by learning to make foods that I couldn't find in the store. Pitas, hummus and tortillas were some of my favorites. I always wanted to try tofu but couldn't find the salt that you need in order to make it curdle. Here, my main problem is not having the right cooking implements. [Actually, right now we have no cooking implements because my roommate just moved out!] Although I can find yogurt here, I'd been told that it's the perfect climate to make yogurt on the counter, so I thought I'd try my hand.

Voila! My first batch of home-made yogurt. Slightly more sour that I'd like, but not bad for a first attempt!


My yogurt is ready for its closeup

I'm living through my second swine flu (H1N1) outbreak in two months on two continents. Although people are moderately freaked out about it (I came home from work the other day and the kids on my floor were playing in the hall wearing face masks), that doesn't mean that people are covering their mouths when they cough, or have stopped spitting on the streets. Public health education has a long way to go!

Notice in the office - but why not ask people to cover their mouths!


Indians have perfected drinking from bottles without touching the rim - something I'm not very good at. I don't plan to start sharing germs along with my water, so I brought a cup to work. My gym's stopped providing water bottles, but we don't have any way to clean off the machines ourselves (there's a worker for that). I hope MRSA isn't a problem!

Seen in many a fine hotel these days - hand sanitizing stations

Happy Independence Day!



Indian flag rangoli

After work I walked around with Destiny trying to find a particular shop. A few photos from around our neighborhood.

Public safety n/a


Its a little hard to see, but those are tire marks on my shoe. I was standing at the very edge of the curb, facing an autorickshaw, when this minivan came around the corner and made no effort to avoid me. I’m so glad I wasn’t an inch further out. I do not want to experience an Indian emergency room as a patient. Actually, I might not want that experience as an observer either.


Home management tips



I thought this one was referring to “public servants” (like postal clerks or something) when I first saw it. Nope, its a public service message about domestic servants brought to you by Mr. Potato Head.

Occupational safety n/a


My office building is being re-spackled or something. Note the platform where a man sits, tied to the building by the pictured rope, and applies cement to the building all day. This country desperately needs some occupational safety standards.

A question we ask ourselves often, when trying to be brilliant scholars while simultaneously (and repeatedly) trying to fulfill our basic needs for sleep and food and companionship.


Drawing courtesy of Michelle Holshue (c) 2009

33rd Birthday

I took my time arriving at work today. I saw Destiny placing her flip videocamera on the edge of my cubicle and as I rounded the corner, and Michelle popped up out of the next cube. Streamers, horns and confetti bombs greeted me on my 33rd birthday. And, of course, a birthday tiara. After I got birthday hugs from Michelle and Destiny, the rest of the office came up to shake my hand and wish me a good day. In the afternoon, we had cake and took part in the Indian tradition of feeding cake to one another. I’m sure I wasn’t doing it right, in part because it felt like I was taking part in a mock wedding, or sharing a drink with my best friend Ryan (although no arms were intertwined here).

Office party!



Michelle feeds me birthday cake #2


For dinner, we went to Zara’s – an Indianized tapas restaurant nearby, one of the few that serves cocktails. Lika joined me, Destiny, Michelle and my roommate Namrata for pitchers of sangria and lots of tapas. Another birthday girl was seated at the next table over, and she sent us over some cake - my 3rd in 3 days. The girls got me some food treasures of America for my birthday. The frappucinnos tried hard (but failed) to top Kody’s present to me – a fantastic new bike! [I’m a little jealous that he’s already ridden my amazing new bike down to Jacob Riis beach, and my first chance to do the same won’t be until the dead of winter. I hope the spring of 2010 comes early!] Of course I also got a birthday dance from the Zara’s waiters, and an amazing lotus flower candle that sings. Unfortunately, I didn’t blow out the candles soon enough so it turned the small cake (my 4th birthday cake) into a plastic covered mess. But since it was loaded with walnuts (a no-no since I developed a tree nut allergy) I wasn’t too upset not too eat it.

Sampling cake#3



Cake #4, with music!




This is the first birthday that I’ve spent so far away from the people that know me well. I landed in India exactly 2 months ago today, and have known some of my friends here for scarcely a month. Nonetheless, they did a great job of making me feel cared for on my birthday, which has sometimes been in short supply since I arrived. Thank you everyone for making this a surprisingly good start to my 33rd year.
Official Birthday poster, courtesy of Michelle with technical assistance from Amudha!

Today we headed to the Park Sheraton hotel for their decadent Sunday brunch. My third roommate in Chennai, Amudha, has finished her internship and will be heading back to the US on Tuesday morning. We wanted to send her off in style, and get in an early birthday celebration for me. We prepared ourselves by not eating dinner too late the night before, skipping breakfast, and arriving with big appetites. The gang first tried the brunch a few weeks ago, but I’d missed out because I was still in the midst of my stomach bug. In the intervening weeks, the Sunday brunch had become legendary.

When we entered the restaurant, the staff greeted our group like they were long-time regular customers. I guess my friends had made an impression on the hostess – and the musicians – and the servers! We started off with endless mimosas, and somehow managed to power through many, many plates of food. In between plates, we took part in the activities led by the bartender (mostly educational brain teasers) and tried to make room for yet more food. After we’d been there a couple of hours, one of the staff came out the kitchen area showing off his Michael Jackson dance moves-apparently this is becoming a regular occurrence at the Jazz Brunch. [Link to video coming soon!] David and Amudha took part in the last activity of the day – competitive eating of vanilla ice cream topped with tabasco sauce. The competition was tough, but David won.

David & Lika consider the bar cart

Amazing spread

The competition begins


Back at the table I tried to stave off a food coma. But up came a long konga line of dancing restaurant staff, cake in hand singing happy birthday to me. Somehow we found room for the amazing, delicious chocolate cake. Four hours after we arrived, we dragged ourselves to the door and promised the staff we’d be back in a few weeks. I definitely need to be hitting the gym to balance out today’s intake!

Amudha, Destiny, me and Michelle

Neighborhood temple walk

On Saturday afternoon, Destiny and I walked over to the Kapalishvara Temple, a large, now colored, temple celebrating Shiva. The temple is in my neighborhood, Mylapore, which predates the city of Chennai and was known as a thriving port city as far back as the 2nd century AD. The temple probably dates from the 16th century, an era in which the Portuguese inhabited the area. Hence the name of my street: Luz Church Road.

Although the temple is a tourist attraction for the city, it is also very much a functioning place of worship. People were gathered at the various shrines within the walls to do their puja. I was in a rush this day, but will be back soon to take in all of the buildings and to check out the many market stalls set up in the area, and take part in the life of the neighborhood.

Note the rats in the corners!




Just a little neighborhood site seeing

Hot hot heat

This is me after walking home from work. Just a little photographic evidence of just how hot an afternoon in Chennai can be.

We just stepped out for lunch and...

After a long talk with my boss and a few fellow interns, I headed out to our usual lunchspot for a South Indian meal. On our way out, we noticed a crowd gathering outside. We’re working near the main traffic intersection for the Teynampet area, which happens to be across the street from one of the larger local temples. As the procession of people began to cross the street, we realized that something unusual was happening. At the front of the procession, younger boys of maybe 12 years walking with spears pushed through their mouths. Further back in the procession, the devotees were young men pulling small shrines, towed by ropes attached by hooks through the skin of their backs. Then men were pulling autorickshaws in the same manner – then 2 autos, then a minivan, then a small flatbed with idols of the gods being celebrated. Far back in the stream were men walking on shoes that had beds of nails.

Men emulating peacocks


Boy pulling shrine through hooks in his back, with spear through his mouth and limes hooked into his chest


Pulling two autorickshaws, with shrine on top!


Shoes with bed of nails

Apparently, they were doing penance as we approach the end of the month Aadi – an inauspicious month in the Tamil calendar. These kinds of penance are done to appease the gods.

A crazy site on the way back to office after lunch!

Some of the autowallahs put a lot of effort into decorating their rickshaws. The crazy decals are one of my favorites, and of course the interior styling as well! It reminds me of the crazy matatu décor and boda boda custom seats from Uganda and Kenya.

This is often parked right in front of my office.


An auto interior in Hyderabad. I'm guessing this guy is a movie star

I booked a ticket on Monday to spend the weekend with my friend and classmate Victoria in Hyderabad. I’d heard from all of my Chennai friends that Hyderabad was a lot of fun, and has a lot more going on than Chennai. Mostly, I was just eager for a bit of a break and to talk with my fellow Global Health students.

I arrived on Friday evening, and was immediately struck by how fancy and organized the airport was. Victoria texted me to take a bus into town which – coming from Chennai – seemed pretty intimidating. But it was all very organized, with nice buses to take you to designated spots in the city. I felt a little like the first time I went to Nairobi after living in Kampala for a while – everything in Nairobi was bigger, the selection of goods a little better, and a few degrees cooler.
After finding Victoria, we went to a local bar for some drinks and to play pool with her friends. It was so nice to just hang out a regular bar for a change. In Chennai, most bars are in hotels, which makes them expensive. It was nice to be in a place trying to be a dive bar for change!


Victoria lines up the shot


On Saturday, we went to the Golconda Fort, capital of the Qutb Shahi dynasty from the 12th and 13th centuries. A temple inside the fort still functions, and was showing evidence of a recent festival. From the top of the fort, you can see cranes building high rises in Hyderabad’s “High tech city”, including companies like Google and Microsoft. I thought the contrast of these medieval walls and modern architecture was striking.


The temple, post celebration



Fort walls, with skyscrapers going up in the distance



Lovers steal some privacy in the ruins



Groundstaff appropriated the architecture to serve as "lunch cubbies"



Afterwards, we met up with some of Victoria’s friends working at an organic cotton farming organization. The group was meeting up at the nearby Qutb Shahi tombs for a picnic. The tombs commemorate commanders, relatives of kings, and other courtpersons like dancers and doctors, in addition to the Qutb Shahi kings. Admittedly, tombs are a morbid place to picnic, but we have great conversation with a nice group of people. And when our drinks ran dry, and enterprising kid took drink orders and brought us sodas – for a markup, naturally.

Tombs - the perfect picnic spot


Stray really hoping that she'll get our leftovers


Then we headed to the upmarket grocery store to get something to bring to a barbeque that night. I was in awe of what you can get in Hyderabad in comparison to Chennai. The grocery store had a cheese counter, smoothie bar, fresh-made pastries, and even had a liquor store inside. We picked up some veggies, tofu and barbeque sauce, and made our way home to rest for a while. That evening, we headed over to someone’s rooftop for a barbeque and I got to sample Hyderabad’s famous biryani. It was delicious, and home cooked, which is of course the best way. Before I headed home on Sunday, Victoria and I did some shopping and I experience something else I’m missing in Chennai – an autowallah (driver) that was willing to use the meter!

Rooftop BBQ and biryani - yum!



Modern and traditional medicine, side by side (or upstairs/downstairs)



An actual rickshaw meter IN USE!

Fatima and I went with our friend Juhi to get her ear pierced on our lunch break today. After negotiating with the autodrivers to take us over the the hectic shopping area T. Nagar, we hunted out the GRT jewelers. Eventually we found the silver emporium shop down the street and around the corner, bought the stud for the piercing gun, and made our way down to the basement where the piercing was actually done. Most of the other men and women that were waiting seemed to be having jewelry melted down, I suppose to be made into other pieces. Having never had a piercing done with a gun, Juhi was really nervous. But we talked it over and the whole thing was over quickly. Perhaps I’ll pick up another piercing on one of my lunch breaks...

Getting ready for the gun







A view from the auto on the way back to office



Juhi, Fatima and me

Apparently mango season is over, so we've moved on to enjoying beautiful pomegranates!

My name causes some confusion here in India, as it did in Uganda (but a little differently). In Uganda, I would introduce myself as "Gabrielle" and people would give me a strange look. Eventually, I figured out that they were only familiar with the male version, "Gabriel". People found my name weird because it was as if I'd introduced myself as "Mike" or "Thomas" or "Bob" (never mind that I am called Bob from time to time). After having this exchange enough times, when introducing myself I would add, "In my country, it is a woman's name, too". We'd share a smile about it and move on.

Here, I have no idea what people think of my name, but I know its not one that they're too familiar with. On two occasions I've seen my name written down my people who did not have the benefit of an email address to help them guess. Here's how the clerk at Domino's today thought it was spelled.



This was only a slight variation of the other time, where I was "Kaberal". Perhaps I need an Indian name to use in these situations. But apparently Tamil Nadu has revealed to me my Starr name, which - of course - must start with the letter "K" [as in Kodiak, Kivalena and Kayla].

My new room

I had the pleasure of meeting Erik and Ryan's friends David and Lika yesterday. They'll be here in Chennai for two years and - lucky me - their apartment is less than a kilometer from my house! They also brought me a new camera to replace the one stolen in Pondicherry a few weeks ago, so I can now share some new photos of my own from Chennai.

Here are a few of my new home (apartment #4).

The security gate over our apartment door (all of the apartments have different ones)


My bedroom (now sharing with Chiai, my roommate from apartment #1)


The beautiful flowering trees outside my window


My bathroom with Indian-style (squatting) toilet and bucket shower


The living room


The kitchen