# 57 A Day in the life

Hello Everyone! I thought you might like to know what I do all day. I really do keep busy but not like you. Living in India presents lots of challenges but I like them. With no modern amenities it’s like a book I was once given for Spiritual Practice called: Chop Wood, Carry Water. You have to take care of practical things first. I know when I was living in the West I just took things for granted. You turn on your tap and you have hot and cool water, not cold, you have to go to the fridge for that. But you just go to places and get what you need knowing that it will be there. If you have to go somewhere you jump in your car and off you go. Every day is different for me. I have not gotten into an absolute routine, I am sorry to say, because I love routine. I try to wake up around 6:00 a.m. Depending on how cloudy it is, sometimes it is not light yet, but just getting there. In America I used to literally Jump Out of Bed but not so here. I have learned to get up gently, sometimes lying in bed for ½ hour. Because there is only cold water, and I mean cold, I have to decide if I want to bathe in the morning or later in the day. This is why I haven’t gotten into a routine. Decisions, decisions, I’m constantly needing to make decisions. I do try to get to my office by 10:00 a.m. and I normally make myself coffee or tea, sometimes breakfast, which is Wheat Porridge. You read that right, I never had porridge before I came here but it sticks to the ribs, is made by just adding hot water and stirring, and is quite tasty. I still prefer toast but our idea of bread is not easy to come by, and when I find it I here I have to get a whole loaf which I can’t eat quick enough before it will go stale or rancid. No fridge has lots of disadvantages. India’s idea of bread is like our old white Wonder Bread, but even worse, they make it with sugar. Then I have to decide what I am going to wear which will be one of my five sarees if I am working (they look so professional) or if I am not working I can wear a salwar outfit, an Indian Pantsuit, complete with scarf. I usually check my emails before I leave my room and answer what I can, and then close down the computer and pack it up to take with me to work. If I have any washing I may put it in a bucket and soak it for when I come back. It’s much easier to clean if it has been presoaked. And I have to tell you, I have washed clothes since I have been here that when they were dry still were not clean and I had to re-wash them. Yuck. Only happened once to me. And I have had to experiment with detergents that some have a better fragrance than others. To me, the sign of clean laundry is having the clothes smell clean and some detergents didn’t give that clean smell. Everything takes time here that even going to my office can take 15 – 30 minutes. Going down 14 floors in the elevator that sometimes stops at every floor, then crossing the street and walking through the other building to catch another elevator up 2 floors, then walk across a bridge to another building and then finally to my office. So that’s 3 buildings and 2 elevator rides to get to my office. I share my office with my boss and another American woman who is in CA right now. She’ll be back in May. I actually share a desk with the woman that there are only 2 desks in the office. Originally I shared my desk with my boss but we are all flexible enough that when someone is out, we take over the desk in their absence. So for now I have the desk all to myself and when I leave in May, she’ll have the desk all to herself until I return in June. Food and fluid takes up a lot of time. I have to fill up my water bottles (4 of them) once and sometimes 2 times a day. There are plenty of water machines on campus, the only thing is making sure they are working. The one on my floor has been out for a couple of weeks now. But I found the water machine on the 15th floor is working with a choice of refrigerated cold water, or regular temp. So I go there and fill two cold and two regular. It’s nice to be able to have cold water to drink even if it only lasts a little while before it’s warm again. Work isn’t like work here either. I spend a lot of time trying to connect with people. You can send an email but it doesn’t mean you’re going to get an answer. So if you want an answer you have to actually go to the person’s office and “hang out” to see if you can catch them for a free minute. Then you make a provisionary date to meet and on that day you keep your fingers crossed that the meeting happens. Lunch is usually at the Doctor’s Canteen around 12:30 or 1:00 p.m. An air-conditioned room on the 5th floor of the hospital with a white board written menu that should be changing every day but in reality hardly ever changes. Then back to the office if there is something else that needs to be done by the end of the day. The weather is getting hotter and more humid everyday so we’re leaving the office early. The receptionist comes in around 8:30 in the morning and leaves around 5:00 or 5:30 and she locks the door to the office. My boss has a key to the office but I don’t. Once I was gone when they closed up the office and my computer was locked inside. It felt strange not having my computer for the night so I make sure I’ve got it with me when they close up the office. Then I go back to my room, with my backpack on carrying my computer. Take a quick shower to cool off. If I have anything personal that needs to be done, like my laundry, or taking my sarees to the cleaners for washing and ironing, or buying fruits, I do that at this time. By 7:00 I want to be at the group meeting where they chant and meditate until around 8:30 p.m. Then back to my room to work on the computer, read or watch a DVD. Really a simple life. It’s the people that makes it so interesting. Everyone asks “what is your good name?” It sounds so funny to me, I can tell you my “good name” and my not so good name, too! It’s OLD English here, from the British. And they want to know where I am from. Today the young woman told me she is here for her brother-in-law’s child who will be having heart surgery tomorrow. Not the first time I have heard a baby crying and crying on the floor. Poor things, gives me something to pray for. So I am trying to get this post done so I leave you something while I’m gone for a week. My boss is setting up a new department for the Medical School, a Public Health Department and he was invited to a Tribal Health Program in the hills. We leave tomorrow with an auto-rickshaw to the train station, then a train ride to Calicat, then a taxi ride for 2 hours to Wayanad. We’ll be there until Saturday. We are treating ourselves and staying at a “resort.” See http://www.royalpalmwayanad.com/ I’ll be sure to take some photos and attach them when I get back. I even charged up my camera’s battery. Take care. Love, Marie