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Tuesday, March 6, 2007

Life outside of the city

Had I left India two weeks ago, my overall impression would not have been too positive. With scary rickshaw drivers, amoebas, garbage, and extreme poverty-- Bangalore is just not my cup of masala tea. However, Bangalore is not India, and I have constantly been overwhlemed by the diversity I have seen just in Southern India.
On February 23rd I boarded a coach bus with 30 other students and we were off to our week in Kerala. On the way to Kerala we stopped at the Tribal Health Initiative in the Sittiling Valley in Tamil Nadu. It was an amazing hospital set up by two indian doctors to service 24 tribal villages that would otherwise be alienated from medical care. The attitude of the place was very organic. They did not seem to believe that their way was the only way. They were willing to enter into a dialogue with the tribal people in order to find the most effective means to find health and healing. The sturctures themselves were very aesthetically pleasing. I am really understanding the importance of place. If the physical place is peaceful and thoughtful, it is much more conducive to people being peaceful and thoughtful. That first night of our journey we stayed at an organic farm and commune. THey fed us amazing food that they had grown and talked with us about their life philosphies. It was an incredibly uplifting place. From there we went to Thrissur, Kerala for a few days. The most important thing we did during that time was a day trip to Plachimada. Plachimada has been the staging ground against the Coca-cola company in India. THere is a coke plant in Plachimada that has managed to totally contaminate all the drinking water and ruin the agirculture. THere has been a camp of locals protesting across the street from the plant for 1770 days. It was incredible to bear witness to their perseverence. However, I felt that we could have learned a lot more had we had a good translator. There were 15 people sitting in front of us, all with valuable stories that mostly went unheard. Language is such an important tool for communication. I believe deep connections can be made without words, but there is definitely something to be said for them. After Thrissur, we went to beautiful Wayanad. That time was mostly used for the academic wrap-up in India. I had to write a 7 page paper BY HAND. You may roll your eyes and say whatever, but I'm telling you it was damn hard! I stayed up nearly the entire night to complete it, and it wasn't even that good. I give a shout out to anyone who wrote papers by hand.
SInce March 2nd I have been on a vacation with 4 of my girl friends from the program. We went to beautiful luscious Munnar for 3 nights. I will write more about that later. And right now, we are in a small town in Tamil Nadu near Sri Ramana Maharshi's Ashram. We will be walking 9 miles around his mountain early tomorrow morning. We are going to try to walk it in silence. Needless to say, there will be more to write about soon. I was feeling that it had been a while since I connected, so I hope this gives you a sufficient taste of my whereabouts.

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