Day 31, Sunday, Home

Today I woke up late around 1:30pm, walked into the livingroom to where my computer is, and mentally left India (or Earth) and spent the next twelve hours on the internet or in the memory of my computer.

I took a break to go to the market within the complex. We have a market called "manos" - I don't know if that's a possessive noun or what. Where I live, most of the food markets are not much larger than convenience stores or liquor stores in the United States. They have aisles and sections like an American supermarket, but the aisles are only a third as long. The meat and freezer sections may not exist. The produce section occupies a corner of the store. The checkout aisles hold two people in line at a time.

Many of the markets, electronics stores, or clothing stores have multiple floors despite having, or perhaps due to having, so little space. I visited a Gym called Chisel India that had a "Cardiac" floor, an "Aerobic" floor, a "Free weights" floor, and the "Reception" floor. A small spiral staircase connected them.

The market in our apartment complex is in the basement. Weaving your way among the parked cars, you can find the open door in the basement wall. It isn't under my "B block" apartment building, it's under "M" block, so I have to walk by several apartment buildings, cross the park, and finally walk a ramp underground into the basement. The basement has concrete beams that are less than six feet above the ground, so I bend down as I approach the entrance.

The "Chemist/Druggist", which is normally open right beside the market, was closed today.

Ankit asked me to get him some bread, and I've learned the type he likes. It is different from the kind I like. I also needed to order a 20 liter bottle of drinking water to be delivered to our room. I took a few moments to locate the bread. A man was having a conversation with the cashier despite having already purchased his goods. I could wait behind the man, but I took position to the side of him and plopped my items on the counter top. The cashier calculated my total on a calculator. I say that I don't need a bag - or "cover" as it is sometimes called - for my bread.

All the super markets do something to avoid giving out plastic bags. In Manos, they have a sign that says "Please protect our environment and reuse covers". At the Total Mall supermarket, they charge Rs. 1 to use biodegradable plastic bags. At Foodworld, they use biodegradable plastic bags by default. You can tell when the bags are biodegradable, because they have a very organic aroma.

I then asked for an order of water, delivered to B-32, my room. "--- --- pay?", the man mumbled. I only heard the word "pay" in what he asked me, but I knew that he was asking whether I would pay for the water with him, or when it was delivered. I point up toward the buildings above our heads, and I say "Can I pay when it is delivered?", and he nods his head.

"Okay, thank you" I said on my way out. He lowered his head back to whatever it is he does when he's not attending to a customer, meaning "okay".

For some reason, I felt more confident, comfortable, and "at home" during this entire interaction. Instead of escaping from the conversation, I waited patiently for it to finish. On days like this, I feel like I am at home. I am not surrounded by any degree of poverty in this place. Most of the tenants are wealthy enough to function. It feels comfortable.

I returned to my apartment and continued work at the computer.

Day 8, Friday, Fieldtrip to the Market

Today at Foodworld, a very small van pulled up beside the store, and about ten school children - no older than four or five - emerged one at a time. Three women assembled them into a snake of held hands, and led them into the store. Some sort of field trip was taking place.

As I shopped, I saw two such "field trips" come through the market. One of the women played the role of tour guide. She led the children through the aisles and paused to pronounce the names of various items. As they came by the toiletries, she proclaimed "brush - toothbrush!", "paste! lots of paste!" (all the children stare, agape), "deo-, deoderant!", "talcum powder!"

It was a celebration of nouns.

Day 3, Sunday, Learning at the Market

I felt a little stalled this morning, but I recovered much quicker than yesterday morning.

Up at 7am, cooked breakfast, dumped last night's boiled water into my water bottles, and created this blog.

Went to the market to buy carrots. A dark, fat, sun-beaten man tried to cut in front of me, having only a few bottles of pop to buy (myself, I had just a bag of carrots). I stubbornly held my place in the queue, but the woman behind me with a cart full of vegetables let him cut in front, and without conversation. But, when it was my turn to purchase, the cashier gave me a funny look, denoting that I needed to go weigh my bag of carrots. I half-jokingly said "one-kay-gee" (1 kilogram). She smiled, shook her head no, and said "weight!". Then, the queue-cutter got vocal and pointed me in the direction of the...weighing procedure.

I learned that I need to have my raw food weighed and labelled before going to the checkout counter. The "weighers" are workers with lightning-quick dexterity; a girl snatched my bag of carrots, fluttered fingers over keys, and sealed the bag with a label. All without my eyes being able to follow.

Most people shop on the weekend, and they spend Rs. 1100 - Rs. 1400 ($22 - $24 USD), so I feel foolish when I ring a mere Rs 22 ($0.50 USD). The cashiers look mildly surprised, too. They ask if I have 1-3 rupees to simplify my change, which I usually don't.

On the way home, crossed the street against oncoming motorcycles; my best street-crossing yet. Oncoming motorcycles move at 20-30 mph. Like a school of fish magically avoiding an obstacle, four drivers swam around me with grace. In this way, I crossed sooner than the native Indian behind me, who preferred to wait for a complete break in traffic.

I explored a bit; saw some conventional developing country sights. A cow laying down in a heap of trash. A dog asleep on a small mountain of dirt. As in Mexico, there are stray dogs everywhere. They all look like descendants of the same mutt. Each dog seems to reign over a block or two of territory. This is part of why Rabies is such a huge problem in India. I saw one dog with a couple newborn puppies - future strays. The streets hold plenty of trash for them to live off of.

While exploring, I found a store selling ON Whey supplements, which sharply got my attention. It is just as expensive as in the United States, though. Perhaps in a month or two, I can get some.

Toward the end of the day, my throat felt dry. I originally diagnosed this as excess salt in my drinking water, and tried to solve this problem. But, I realized that I was just getting sick. My current explanation is that my immune system is dealing with three things at the same time: undernourishment, slightly different strains of conventional germs, and mild stress. All of these things will improve over a matter of days. I slept longer and drank more water, and this has helped. An important victory is that my GI tract seems to be just fine so far.