I have finally crossed 2000 page views! It feels great to have testimonials from friends that I write well. One of them even suggested what I have been already dreaming of doing: to make a book out of this blog. He said this with obvious passion: You must get hold of a publisher (his words) and bring out a book on your experiences. I just might, my friend. However, it would have to wait for a few years, as I don't think I can do this while I am still here in this country.
I am almost there, I think, and in a few days, I will have completed a month. It is a genuinely humbling moment in my checkered life: spending a month in the company of people you don't even know how to speak to, what to speak about, why to speak to and when to speak to. A place where one cannot find burgers, samosas, batata-wadas, rice and kadhi, Gujarati undhiyu, masala dosa, idlis, Hyderabadi biryani or the simple but powerful chapati. A place where patients begin their newborn babies' feeds on a bottle. Something that was so loathsome in India I used to shout at the mothers ... but have to adjust with over here. A milieu that is so deserty, so quiet, so lonesome and so unchanging, anyone could be forgiven for leaving this and running away for ever. A bureaucracy that thinks nothing of demanding more and more money from you, and even tells you that "you can borrow it from your friends" ... so far, I have shelled out more money in a month than I have - anywhere, anyplace: nearly SR 3000/= in fees, plus over SR 1500/= in living and maintenance expenses. Each Riyal is worth over Rs. 14/= today, so that 4500 comes to INR 63000! Of course, I have borrowed these monies, and will need to borrow more, as things stand today.
Both my days have been routine. As I am on call, I keep getting night calls, and have advised the residents by phone so far. Two Cesarean deliveries on Wednesday, an unusual thing for a small town like Al Muweh. My throat pain and fever are better, but I am now suffering from pain in my flank and back muscles, most probably due to the biting cold here. Nothing else is new or different, and I have nothing else to add here.
The weekend is upon us, and the next two days will be full of more of nothing to do. Ha ha.
I am almost there, I think, and in a few days, I will have completed a month. It is a genuinely humbling moment in my checkered life: spending a month in the company of people you don't even know how to speak to, what to speak about, why to speak to and when to speak to. A place where one cannot find burgers, samosas, batata-wadas, rice and kadhi, Gujarati undhiyu, masala dosa, idlis, Hyderabadi biryani or the simple but powerful chapati. A place where patients begin their newborn babies' feeds on a bottle. Something that was so loathsome in India I used to shout at the mothers ... but have to adjust with over here. A milieu that is so deserty, so quiet, so lonesome and so unchanging, anyone could be forgiven for leaving this and running away for ever. A bureaucracy that thinks nothing of demanding more and more money from you, and even tells you that "you can borrow it from your friends" ... so far, I have shelled out more money in a month than I have - anywhere, anyplace: nearly SR 3000/= in fees, plus over SR 1500/= in living and maintenance expenses. Each Riyal is worth over Rs. 14/= today, so that 4500 comes to INR 63000! Of course, I have borrowed these monies, and will need to borrow more, as things stand today.
Both my days have been routine. As I am on call, I keep getting night calls, and have advised the residents by phone so far. Two Cesarean deliveries on Wednesday, an unusual thing for a small town like Al Muweh. My throat pain and fever are better, but I am now suffering from pain in my flank and back muscles, most probably due to the biting cold here. Nothing else is new or different, and I have nothing else to add here.
The weekend is upon us, and the next two days will be full of more of nothing to do. Ha ha.
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