Last days

Cows regulating traffic, cops begging for money, 4-headed families squeezed on a motorcycle, strangers asking permission to take your photo, street vendors arguing about prices, rickshaw drivers changing prices, being constantly surrounded by insects, eating spicy for breakfast, tripping over potholes at least once a day, the smell of incense and the taste of masala, rickshaws replacing school buses, shaking head sideways to indicate "yes," elephants crossing the street, getting soaked by sudden monsoon rain, waiting for others, waiting in a van for two hours in the middle of the city, getting locked in the house, lacking privacy and personal space, women in beautiful saris riding motorcycles, praying to survive in traffic, waking up from the yells of the tomato man....

...These are just some memories I have made during the last weeks. This has been a lifetime opportunity and I'm thankful to have finally experienced the Indian culture myself.
Some of the IHDUA members took me out to lunch yesterday and gave me a present afterwards- a nicely-decorated wooden box. In the evening, we had our farewell dinner and welcomed a new intern. This morning, we went out for breakfast and the other girls left for school.
Most of the girls are leaving tomorrow and I will leave Monday morning. Unfortunately, my plane won't leave until Tuesday morning, so I have to wait at the Bangalore airport for about 10 hours. From there, I have a nine hour flight to Paris, a six hour break, and another nine hour flight back to the States. I should probably buy some books.

Goodbye India.

Angel Card

I am feeling well again and am ready for my last day of work. I will turn in my last two articles today, which are scheduled to get published this weekend.

Yesterday, I never got picked up for work, nor did anyone call. I found out today that the person who was supposed to pick me up got something stolen yesterday and spent the day at the police station.

In the afternoon, two girls and I went to get our Tarot card readings. I don't believe in fortune telling, but the other girls went during the first weeks and truly believe in it. Since Tarot is very popular in India, I wanted to experience it as well.

Apparently, I am very troubled and certain spheres in my life have a lot of problems (Disagree).
Instant love affairs don't work for me and my mother has someone in mind for me (Uh?). The lady said that I'm susceptible to infections and I should take care of my health (Good point). My mother has a strong influence on me and always makes the right decisions (Agree). I will not have any luck from the Gods in my career and have to do a lot of hard work myself. I won't get my dream job (Thanks).
At the end of the session, the lady told me to pull an "Angel Card." She said that angels never lie. Everything is ready for success and everyone is supporting me. I should laugh more.
The lady wanted me to ask specific questions, but I was too uninspired to think of any.

I will leave for work in half an hour. Tonight, we will have a farewell dinner, since most of the girls are leaving Saturday. Tomorrow, we will go to breakfast and then evaluate our internships.

One week left!

I wasn't able to update my blog because I have been sick with a fever the past days.
I went to a village school Friday and already didn't feel well.
Saturday, I woke up with a headache, but decided not to miss out on our excursion to a temple. We left at 8:30 a.m. and I blackenend out in the car about two hours later. The driver slowly moved the vehicle to the stopping point, while I left my head on my friend's lap and my legs on the cushion. I still wanted to go up the steps to the temple, but I felt dizzy every time I tried to get out of the car. The children begging for money and touching our legs and arms only made it worse. The taxi driver got me a coconut with a straw, which made me feel a little better. I felt fine on the way back, although I was disappointed on missing the opportunity.
Later that night, one of the intern girls took my temperature and I had a fever of almost 102 F.
Sunday, I had to miss out on Ooty (and the chai tea factory!!) as well.

I went to work yesterday, but the manager told me I looked sick and needed to rest, so I left early. I lied down for a few hours and then went to our last Kannada lesson with three other girls.

I didn't get much sleep last night, but I feel better today. I don't want to miss another day of work, because I have my last day Thursday.

It hasn't rained in the past days and our electricity goes off several times a day. On the way to the internet cafe, I saw a man on a motorcycle with a dog on his lap... I thought that was pretty odd.

PS: I have 14 mosquito bites on my legs! Yes, I counted.

Hold On Tight

I definitelty enjoy working for the Deccan Herald and feel very lucky for the opportunity.
There are three ways the journalists get their stories: (1) press conferences, (2) assigned reports, (3) translating letters sent by surrounding districts to English.
In general, reporters start work after lunch and end at about 11:00/ 11:30 p.m.

After dinner last night, my friend and I were walking back when I suddenly felt a hard force on my purse. Two guys were passing us on a motorcycle and the one sitting on the back tried to steal my purse- including my passport, money, cell phone, camera, journal and my identity !! Fortunately, I was able to hold on to my purse and scream, so the guys took off.

On that note, I'm not feeling very well today. I was coughing all night and have a headache. I got some medecine after work, so I hope I'll get better this weekend. We planned to drive to Ooty tomorrow and take some local trips Sunday.

"Cancer Cure Is Real If Treated On Time"

I visited the Bharath Charitable Cancer Hospital and Institute for the second time yesterday. Unlike the last time, I got to see the different rooms, including the laboratory, chemotherapy ward, X-ray, radiation therapy, male and female general ward (people can stay and rest there for free), special wards (for people who can afford to pay), Intensive Treatment Unit and an outside walking area. The building seemed relatively clean and the outside area is planted with trees and flowers.

The patients become extremely weak because of the high potency of drugs and cancer treatment. Therefore, the patients need nutritous food, but are often not able to afford it. The BCCHI trust started a free food program for the cancer patients staying in the general wards. The free food is provided to these patients for breakfast, lunch and dinner every day. Because the biggest challenge is to get donations to fund this project, I will write my next article on this project.

After the hospital visit, I watched the printing process of the Mysore Mail. It was in a seperate building about 45 minutes from the office. The entire process took about one hour.

I had a very tasty lunch yesterday: lemon rice and a vermicelli-noodle pudding (I know, I need to start writing down the Indian names).

Today, I will be working at the Deccan Herald from 2 to 7.
Please, feel free to visit http://www.deccanherald.com/ ;)

Elephants and Kappad Beach

I got my article published in yesterday's newspaper! It's a little more than half a page and has two colorful photos, which I have taken in the villages.

On Friday, I went to the Mysore Mail again, but didn't expect a motorcycle ride to the Mysore Palace and to a beautiful lake afterwards. Once again, no sense of a traffic law.

This weekend, four of the girls and I went to the Renaissance Cochin Kappad Beach Resort in Calicut. We left Saturday at 5 a.m. and returned at about 6 p.m. Sunday. The ride took us about six hours, but was very interesting. We drove through the forest and saw bissons, monkeys and elephants! We also passed mountains, waterfalls and many fields of exotic trees and plants. Because it was raining throughout the day, several roads were flooded and people seemed to have a difficult time working outside.

Kappad Beach lies 18 km south of Kozhikode, the most famous district of North Kerala. Vasco da Gama landed there in 1498 with 170 men in search of the faded spices of Kerala. Our hotel was very nice and had a breathtaking view of the ocean.

This morning, I attended a press conference, which was mainly in Kannada. The focus was on a new company, the website mysorenetworks.com, to enable networking to local businesses. About 35 people were present, most of which were men. The webpage includes several sections, including blogs, international business, net news, events, marketplace and discussion forums. After the conference, I hung around the Mysore Mail office for a few hours, talking to the chief editor and reading through the newspapers from the weekend. I took a rickshaw (three-wheeled taxi) home and cooked some tomato rice. Tonight, we have a Kannada language lesson.

Mysore Mail

I had an interesting morning at the Mysore Mail today.
The staff is relatively small and there were about 10 people working this morning. The English version gets produced in the morning and the production of the Kannada edition starts after 1:30 p.m. Every day, 30,000 English copies get printed.

I read through the newspapers of this month and enjoyed the Human Interest Stories in each edition. The Mysore Mail provides local, national and international news.
I also read several of the national newspapers, including The Time of India, The Hindu, The New Indian Express, which has nice photographs, and the Deccan Herald. Fortunately, India has a free press.

I watched the editing and the layout processes of tomorrow's articles. The reporters have written the stories and taken photographs of the various events earlier this morning.

Tomorrow, I will be accompanying one reporter at a news conference.