With Fingers Stained by Haldi: 5 August 2011

We had ENT and skin referral completed at several of the Bosch schools, including my follow-ups at Munichinappa. The ENT specialist was quite good. The dermatologists seemed to be more mediocre.

That morning, I also distributed medicines at Adugodi Police Quarters. Most of them were given vitamin supplements, cough syrups, and antibiotics. We were short a few bottles but none of the medical shops around had any of what we needed.

Bosch took us to lunch after the screenings. Harish, Prem, and a new local volunteer came with Usha, Liz, and me. The girl actually sat in Prem’s lap during the car ride—definitely some sparks flying between those two.

From there I met Swathi at Majestic. We went back to her cousin’s place. The monsoon began while we were on the bus. The driver stopped and had us get out into a huge-ass river in the road. Ruku met us at the gate with umbrellas but we were completely wet anyway. It would seem to be a continuous theme throughout the weekend. I had dinner there before catching the overnight bus to Kerala.

Saturday morning we arrived in Puttur. The ride was insane. The road was shitty as hell. Every kilometer the driver would slam on the brake before driving through some massice hole in the road. It made sleeping nearly impossible. We stopped on the road because of a landslide and so were delayed in our arrival.

It rained all day. No. It monsooned all day. We drove to our hotel and visited a few temples in the area. All were very traditional and required that men take off their shirts. They also gave a premixed turmeric paste for applying tikka.

I had chicken shawarma and beer for dinner. There was no electricity for most of the evening. We lit candles and placed them all over the room.

It’s hot as hell in Kerala and basically the jungle. It thought there was a monkey under the bed. It was actually a cat making weird noises.

The mosquitos were fucking relentless. Eventually Harish turned on the AC, which made sleeping possible. The girls, however, got cold and moved into Uncle’s room in the early morning.

Sunday, we went to Ft. Bekal and the beach. The water was dark, muddy, and very restless. It didn’t really feel like a beach since no one was there and it was cloudy and raining. The abandoned playground gave the place a post-apocalyptic feel.

After cleaning up we got back into the car and drove to Harish Uncle’s house. We stopped on the border and had pakoras and dosa for lunch.

We got there around six or seven and hung around the farm. The barnyard had three cows and a jungle. Within an hour, all the men wearing dhotis showed up for the end of Durga Puja.