Back in Mumbai: The Dirty City (haha)

Wow… The first two weeks are finally complete.  Group members have started talking about how they’re halfway done (because they’re only doing 1 program, not 2 like me).  Recently I’ve been experiencing a lot of contrasting emotions.  I can remember the first nights I spent alone in the hostel anticipating the arrival of the new group members like it just happened.  On the other hand, I feel like I’ve been living in India for at LEAST a year (haha).  To think that I still have 6 weeks to go makes my stomach churn because I’ve already experienced so much, to experience three times (6 weeks) more stuff is kinda overwhelming.  I do look forward to leaving Mumbai to relax in the shade of the Himalayan mountains in two weeks.  The constant noises and smells of the city are starting to wear on me.  Living in the slums of Mumbai has to be top 5 worst places to live on earth, and the slums are EVERYWHERE.  Even the nice parts of town have slums forming around gated apartment complexes and Porsche car dealerships.

The overnight bus ride back from Goa went much smoother than the trip there.  The other group member I was traveling with had prescription anti-nausea narcotics for chemo patients that we both took before we boarded the bus.  13 hours later I woke up in Mumbai. Perfect!  While I didn’t throw up again, I was still super grimy and greasy.  Being greasy here is so much different from the greasiness in the dry climate of ND.  In ND if you don’t shower for a day the grease is a thin film that’s slippery.  Here in India, the grease is an actual thick, leathery layer that’s sticky all over the body.  We took a taxi back to the hostel and along the way we had to drive through slum areas that were full of trash and debris.  My window was down and I could feel the trash particles from the dust stick to my leathery-grease face.  There was nothing I could do about it except lean my head back against the stained dirty head rest. haha

This week we rotate between two private clinics.  The first from 1-4pm and the second from 6-9pm.  At the first clinic I noticed that the doctor was giving every patient a shot no matter what their ailments were.  I asked him what exactly he was doing and he told us he was giving them “placebo injections.”  I then proceeded to ask if he was charging his patients for it and he truthfully said he was! Haha!  He said that way, the patients who can’t afford the more expensive medicine can get it for free from the placebo funds built up over time.  A little boy age 7 came in and was crying because he was scared to get “the shot.”  His mother was dragging him into the clinic wanting the doctor to give him the shot.  To the doctor’s credit, after seeing how scared the little boy was, he explained to the mother that the shot wouldn’t help the boy, and he would heal on his own.  The little boy was happy, but I think the mother was disappointed.

Lastly, our new group member arrived.  She grew up in India and moved to Texas when she was 10.  Because of this, she speaks fluent Hindi AKA our new translator.  It’s amazing how everything instantly became easier because the language barrier was less of a problem.  Ordering food, taxi/rickshaw directions, and talking with the doctors were probably the three most frustrating language barrier challenges before she came.  Now things are looking up. Namaste!