Namasdavid: Malaria Pills Make Strange Dreams

Thursday, February 27: Hello there! Welcome back. As I write this, a train is taking me to Mumbai for the weekend. Actually I'm watching the sun go down over the hills and villages we're passing by, and the only word that comes to mind is breathtaking. But this will be my first time to visit the city and I don't have many friends there yet; I just couldn't let everybody in New Orleans 'rage' for Mardi Gras while I eat leftovers with my seventy year-old roommate. Anyways, now that we're both here I might as well bring you up to date on what I've been getting into.

Me and the folks at Manavya are getting along great. When we're not telling jokes (they may just be laughing at me, not real sure), they keep me busy between the orphanage and the admin office. In the office I am mainly editing various English documents, since they have never really been before the eyes of a native English speaker. The idea is that a cleaner document will be more appealing to the international donor/grantmaker. I've also taken tons of pictures of these kids, so the plan is to use a few of those to freshen up the website and Facebook page. At Gokul (the name of the orphanage) I'm giving informal English lessons to the kids and staff, fielding all manner of questions about life in the United States, and getting some basic cultural exchange going. I am learning a ton from the women and kids here every day. Their ability to stay upbeat, happy and hard working in the situation they're confronted with simply blows me away. Pretty inspiring all the time.

On the weekends I'm able to get outside and hike around the area. Pune is situated right between the Deccan Plateau and the Sahyadri mountain range, so there are lots of interesting places to explore. This includes countless military forts from past dynasties and rulers of the region. So far we've visited two forts and some Buddhist caves, all apparently dating back to around the second century BC. From what I've been told, there are more than 300 of these forts strewn about the mountains around here, so there's still plenty to discover.

In case you were wondering:

- Locals continue to laugh at me when I eat because I'm not doing it right

- I would still describe the language barrier as strong to quite strong. I've thrown a few more words and phrases into the rotation, which keeps people happy but that's about it. Reading and writing at this point, just get out of here

- I'm keeping it together on the motor scooter, but it's still terrifying and feels like a high stakes virtual reality video game

- As mentioned earlier, these malaria pills are giving me some pretty bizarre dreams. Sometimes they're exciting, sometimes traumatic, scary, or really fun, but always emotionally exhausting. I've started a dream diary to keep a record of what I remember.

Before we go our separate ways, let me tell you about something I've discovered called Laughter Club. This is a group of about 15 eighty year-old men that meet in a wooded park near where I'm living. Every morning, they circle up and engage in 21 different light exercises, each one involving some form of laughter. In one exercise they position themselves like they are drawing a bow, making uniform laughing noises as they pull back the 'string,' then erupting into laughter as they release. Another they call "mobile laugh," where they put their hand to their face like they are laughing into a cell phone. Then they say "popular laugh: Chinese laugh!" and they all get in each other's faces and make loud, high pitched laughing noises. In one exercise they jump in place 100 times, while uniformly clapping and laughing. The only exercise that doesn't require laughter is the 'lion's roar,' where they all lunge at each other and roar until they are out of breath. These exercises are done in the same order every day, each one repeated three times. This all lasts only about twenty minutes, and at the end of every session, they all yell in unison "We are the happiest people in the world! We are the healthiest people in the world!" Then they jump around in a circle, clapping and repeating "East or west, laughter is the best!" in various silly voices. I have participated three times so far, and while the laughter is more or less a forced breathing exercise at first, it always turns into genuine belly laughter. It is a terrific way to start the day.

I'll leave you with another handfull of photos that I've made since the last time we were together:

Beyond the walls of Lohagad, one of the many ancient forts around here

Enjoying some tea with our ambulance driver. I'm doing at least a half dozen cups a day over here

A goat herder tending the drove outside of a slum in the middle of the city. Our mobile health clinic visits this slum and one other on Saturdays

Same place, but from the inside

Main building of Deccan College, where they write the Sanskrit to English Dictionary. There is a large number of colleges and universities in Pune, which is why it is referred to as the 'Oxford of the East'