Pics of Hospice Presentation at MGM

Here I am signing my autograph and words of encouragement to the nursing students.

The audience. Some sleepy, some enthused. The usual.

At the beginning; the head of the College of Nursing: Dr. Mhaske, PhD in Community Health

The end.

The Stove Project for Changu Narayan, Nepal

Some of you more careful readers, (Mom, Dad) may remember that I had plans to visit a stove distributor in Bangaluru for the purpose of inspecting and sending if appropriate a couple of samples to the village project in Nepal. Well, that visit did turn out to be fruitful. I arrived at their swanky office in a somewhat sweaty and dishevelled condition as is my bent when travelling in this hot, dusty country, it seems. In spite of my appearrance, they were very polite, gave me a tour and let me use their computer to check for a non-PO box address to receive some stoves and made arrangements to send 2 models up to Kathmandu. I showed them my photos of the stove project we saw up there at their Centre for Rural Development in Kathmandu. A very pleasant man named, Ravi was my guide and told me he is fluent in the 5 languages of the areas around Bangaluru in which they are working now. They have plans to expand up to Maharashtra and Gujarat in the next year or so. They've been in the current location for about a year and a half. Ravi took me to an ATM where I withdrew about $100 worth of rupees and paid for 2 stoves and shipping to Nepal. They will send them as soon as they receive a physical address from me. I'm excited about the combined efforts of the stove technology in Bangaluru and the fuel developments in Kathmandu and the resulting potential for improvement of air quality and stopping deforestation. Another success story!

Mahatma Gandhi Mission

Sorry for no photos this post, but forgot to bring my camera cord to hook into the computer. Just had a reprise motorcycle ride to get to this cafe from Nandakishore's office. Reprise, because the last time I rode sidesaddle on the back of a motorcycle was in this very area 33 years ago, and the results were less than spectacular. We were leaving the village of Maliwada, just gaining speed from the dirt road onto the blacktop, when the back tire blew out and the cycle started to tilt. I tried to jump off just before getting wiped off the back end of the thing and was wearing leather "chappalls" or typical Indian style sandals and did not succeed in staying on my feet. I fell, and the momentum I had from being on the motorcycle doing 25-30 miles an hour carried me rolling across the road and into the dirt at the edge. I skinned up my leg and tore my dress (yes, I was wearing a dress at the time). This lovely feat was witnessed by quite a few villagers who knew me and came running to see if I was hurt. Thankfully, only a little, and I went back to the village to lick my wounds. But that was then, this is another story, thank the gods and goddesses in such abundance here in India. This motorcycle (a honda hero) was also very old, but in good condition, and the driver very careful. We arrived without incident. Earlier today I delivered a very successful Hospice presentation at the Mahtma Gandhi Mission which has a hospital, schools of agriculture, engineering, nursing, among many others. It's lovingly referred to locally as MGM, not to be confused with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Hollywood. For my presentation, I received my very own small bust statue of Sri Gandhi himself and a beautiful white cotton shawl, as well as a 500 rupee honorarium which was referred to as a "love gift". That's a lot of money here. They were extremely appreciative. They want me to come back and do a more involved presentation over several days. They provided a projector so that I could show my powerpoint slides that I developed in Miraj at Fletcher Hall. A bunch of students asked for my autograph at the end. It was very touching. Pics to follow.

The Summit

Here's the giant Shivaji temple parts of which are 2000 years old in the city of Tiruvannamalai.

This is me on the summit with my intrepid guide taking a moment over my right shoulder.

I met this lovely French man named, Guy just below the summit. He hiked to the top with us and I enjoyed a chat with him in the hut at the top as we rested for the harrowing journey back.

This is me at the beginning, fresh and unsuspecting.

Photos of the big climb

We started out in Selvaji's hut. He is a guardian of the forest, keeping people from smoking and putting out forest fires. I started up the mountain alone while Selvaji went back for provisions.

This was one of the "sleeping spots" Selvaji picked out for me. He set two rocks down for a pillow and said, "you lie down and sleep for 2 minutes." Very refreshing.

Arunachala, Sacred Shivaji Mountain

This morning I got up and planned a sedate 2 km. hike to the cave where Sri Ramana Maharshi lived and meditated for 7 years; started at 6am and planned to be back by 8am to bathe and go to Richard Clarke's (retired here from San Jose a year and a half ago; rents a palatial 2 story home with roof deck for $200/month) house for a visit by 9. But nooooooooo. I caught the enthusiasm of an impromptu guide living in a grass hut at the foot of the mountain and agreed to have him guide me to the top, without asking the length of the trip or preparing for a long gruelling hike with sunscreen, water, food, head protection, walking stick, none of the essentials. Nevertheless, my fearless guide took me on like a project with comments such as, "you have a big body and walk so nicely to the top of the mountain." Well, that didn't turn out to be entirely true, because near the end, I turned my ankle and fell, colliding with my tiny guide and we both sprawled in the dirt on an incline. He scratched his leg and hit his spine on a rock. I scraped my back and turned my ankle, but not badly. He urged me to a standing position as quickly as possible and had me crawl into a narrow cave for shade to "sleep" while he hustled down the hill a few hundred yards to the cave cum ashram and freshwater spring. He returned with a liter of water and a steel plate of food, rice, dall and green beans. It was the salt that was most critical at that point, and the rest. Whew! Near catastrophe averted. Now I'm recovering with only moderately sunburned forearms and face, swollen and sore knees, but proud to have bagged that peak! Pictures to follow, my camera battery just died.

Where I'm Staying

This is the Ashram down the road from Sri Ramanasramam where I am staying. Accommodations are mediocre, I wouldn't even say clean, but at least I have a place to wash and sleep, which is better than the alternative and what a lot of people around here have.

More of the self-guided tour

Got a little cow dung between my toes when I wandered into the milking room. Snapping a photo of this guy attaching the automatic milker produced an "Hare Ram" from him. I think he was a little taken aback by the sudden audience during this private moment with the cow. The teeny calf in back had to wait his turn at the teat. I wandered to the back of the property and came across this little settlement of shacks and snapped a photo of a little girl finishing her bath. Everything pretty much happens out in the open here. Earlier in the day I saw a very old woman bathing by a public water pump, naked from the waste up, squatting by the side of the road, young boys, men and me walking by. She didn't care, nor did they seem to notice. Saw a man brushing (or rather cleaning since no brush was involved) his teeth in the typically Indian fashion with black tooth powder and his index finger outside his room at the ashram, instead of inside in the bathroom which has no sink, just faucets in the wall in an enclosed bathroom. The little girl in pink above was too cute to pass up. I think she lives behind the ashram in the shacks.

Exploring Sri Ramanasramam

I enjoyed the ashram a little more fully after bathing, sleeping a few hours, eating a full meal and of course shopping a teeny bit. That always puts me in a great mood. So I caught a fairly good close up of a peacock and better yet, caught some of the strange cry on video with some preening behavior which involved opening the feathers a little, not the full on sexual display, but something worth seeing. I happened in on a bhajan singing below the huge portrait of Sri Ramana Maharshi in his diaper sitting on a tiger skin (not happy about that detail, the tiger RIP). Then another bhajan singing group which was a call and response with men and women. I snapped the photo without flash to show the hall. In the back is the shrine with the ashes of the Guruji (hence no flash).

Sri Ramanasramam

Arrived safely in Tiruvannamalai at 4:15am Monday after some hairy travel experiences, not the least of which was a small fender bender at the bus stand involving the bus I was in and another bus backing into a spot next to the one we were vacating. This happened in Bangaluru. I wasn't even mildly disturbed since I had spent the previous hour and a half anxious about getting on the right bus to the right destination with all my bags and myself in one piece. I had carefully memorized the Tamil Nadu spelling of Tiruvannamalai, or at least the shape of the last letter, and did not see it on the bus that should have been mine. I asked the conductor and he said "yes" this was the bus to Tiruvannamalai, but I'd been foolled before by an official at this very stand, so I wasn't sure until I saw my neatly typed name on his list. Whew! So once I got myself installed on the bus with all my bags wedged anywhere they would fit alongside giant baskets and bags of god knows what all from other passengers and two brand new tires placed neatly on top of my suitcase, I was glad to be on the right bus, nevermind the bump, scrape, crunch of metal, ensuing cursing and flailing by the driver. We were only delayed 20 minutes by that incident. A few minutes later, still within a half mile of where we started from, a small child emerged from the rear of the bus, crying and wanting to get off. There was some lively discussion among the passengers and the driver, he got off, followed by a man, the bus was turned off and we waited awhile. I didn't know if the kid had to pee, or had lost his mother, but we waited and then drove off without him, unless he got back on at the back door when I wasn't looking. So then we had a very long, bumpy screechy trip with deafening horn blowing periodically and slamming on of breaks and carreening back and forth to miss obstacles on the road including oncoming traffic. Arrived and was deposited by a kind but overcharging (the 8km ride cost more than the 5 hour bus here) rickshaw driver at this very peaceful ashram pictured above. I waited 3 hours for the office to open so that I could inquire about a room only to find there was no room at the inn. I spent the morning listening to a strange bird call and when it got lighter I saw the giant peafowl atop the roof of the ashram. There was also a monkey or two and several very sweet dogs, one of whom was brave enough to run right over to me for an ear and head massage. The mountain in the background is the famous holy Arunchala where it is said Ram, Vishnu and Siva were arguing about who was more powerful and Ram sent a column of light through this mountain to show his degree of power.

Last day in Miraj

Gave a small presentation with a fabulous powerpoint slideshow at the Wanless Hospital College of Nursing. It went off without a hitch once we got through the rough patches. It only started 30 minutes late and the audience was very hastily pulled together and very polite, given the last minute arrangements. There was a small snafu with communication which is quite common for me here in India, and the program was never advertised. So at the last minute we dragged together some willing and not-so-willing nursing students who were under the steady thumb of the lady- Mrs. -nurse- in- charge- hai. After the program, Nandakishore and I walked downtown twice to get a little steel mortar and pestal engraved for Timothy and the new hospice and new med room yet to be built and organized. We had to go twice because the electricity was out on the first trip. "load-sharing" they call it around here. So we passed this lovely Hanuman temple twice and turns out Saturday is Hanuman day around here and I got some valuable info about Mr. Hanuman from Nandakishore, including the small detail that ladies are not supposed to enter the Hanuman temple because Hanuman never married and did not hang out with ladies so it is considered improper, but in Miraj, ladies go to the temple anyway. Also, when Indian men marry, they are supposed to pay homage to Hanuman on their way to the wedding, kind of a batchelor devotion en-route to losing their batchelorhood. As we walked by the temple, I asked Nandakishore if he wanted to stop and pray there; he said "no" he already did. I missed it because I was looking at the temple on my left and Nandu was walking on my right. Apparently his devotional moment was brief.

Going away party at Miraj railway station

This is Mohan, our cook at Fletcher hall donning the flower garland that Timothy brought. Timothy is on the left, Monsieur le Chatigre on the right, I love that guy! Really all 3 of them. But chatigre has the best name of anyone I've met so far: He's from Cote D'Ivoire, native tongue is French, last name means "cat tiger", full name is Konan Justin Chatigre, only when you're reading it you must use a heavy french accent and correct pronunciation, otherwise, it's just not the same. At the hospital, he is Doctor Chatigre, but to me he is Monsieur le Chatigre. His English is not good, so we communicated in French/English. I really enjoyed his company and trying to talk to him in a variety of ways. He was planning to stay in Miraj for 3 months, but due to language issues, he's leaving after a month and a half.

The Big Surgery

Glad to report that Rukminibai's surgery went smoothly. She had a MVR, mitral valve replacement and a tricuspid repair. It took 5-6 hours. She was scheduled for surgery on her youngest son's birthday, Monday Feb. 16, but an emergency case came in at 5:00 that morning, and her surgery had to be postponed. There is only one heart surgeon here in Miraj at Wanless Hospital. So we were all ready to go on Monday up until 12 noon, when we were informed it had to be postponed until the next day, that's after waiting 8 days from her arrival in Miraj. She is still in ICU and will be discharged this coming Thursday the 26th of February. She'll stay in Miraj another 8 days by request of the surgeon for follow-up so that he can "keep an eye on her blood", presumably clotting factors and all. That's apparently a delicate balance after valve replacement. Dr. Pargaonkar, the cardio-thoracic surgeon is pictured above, consulting with my father. (Actually, I think they're looking at a camera, but who needs to know that?)

Bore Well for the new Hospice House in Miraj

Big news! The truck arrived 9 am Friday morning and dug 200 feet in 4+ hours, yielding water for the new hospice building (soon to be built) and the Home of Hope Orphanage next door. It cost about $200 or 10,000 rupees for the job. The exact spot for digging was chosen by a boy who was born breach (feet first) and therefore able to find water using a coconut in his upturned palm. He walked around the grounds and when the coconut tipped, that was the spot for digging. I wish I could have seen the "water witching" process. But anyway, we know it worked, because we definitely got water. They had to keep adding lengths of pipe for the drilling. At 100 feet, wet mud was coming up, so we were thrilled.

Village called Digraj

Went to a small village church to talk about Hospice. Crossed a big river on the way and stopped to observe cow washing time. Several farmers led their bullocks down to the river and in the river for a bath. I also saw some people washing their water buffaloes on the side of the road. Lot's of care for the bigger animals.

Teaching the Hospice Philosophy

Each time I teach a class about Hospice, there is an "arati" ceremony to apply the god's eye to my head and to thank me for coming and to basically treat me like a goddess. Pictured above is a girl of 15 with her daughter who turns 4 this week. They are both suffering with HIV infection.

Hospice Update

We had a ground breaking ceremony for the new Hospice at Prabhat Tara Sanstha. Unfortunately, it was purely ceremonial. There are many hoops to jump through in order to actually get started. Number one is water source. The plan is to dig a bore well in the next few days. I met with the engineer (builder) and Timothy and a board member and modified the drawings for the facility. The engineer is working on revisions. Then they must approve the project with the local village leader. All of this will take 2 weeks. I leave the area on the 21st. Timothy purchased 10,000 bricks with the money I sent in December from my Christmas gifts to my family and a large donation from my dear friend, Rebecca. Timothy and I are working on a name for the building, and on teaching the hospice philosophy to the local community, people in the redlight districts and people in Timothy's church.

My friends from Aurangabad District

Nandakishore, turns 25 on Feb. 16th. Rukhminibai is 57. Punklik is 65. He is the village blacksmith or "iron worker", making a repairing and sharpening farming tools.

Rukhminibai's Angiogram

Arterial puncture site in right groin; Cath lab with video image of dye in cardiac arteries; Rukhminibai, age 57, pre-procedure.

Rangoli

Even in the midst of the worst slums, people beautify the dirt in front of their shacks.

Redlight District, Sangli

So, Timothy took me to the redlight areas in Sangli and Miraj. He has several programs in 3 different slums in addition to his orphanage. Pictured above is an outdoor classroom where women and children are learning English and Marathi literacy. To the left is a game at the orphange where one child runs across the line tries to tag someone and run back before being grabbed and dragged into the clutches of the opposite team. The girl in pink and green didn't make it back. Far left is a gathering in the street in front of a clothesline.