Rohan | Bangalore | Week 3

This week was also an equally frustrating experience at work. The permission for me to use my laptop at the office has still not gone through – as one person approves it, there’s another who still says no. To ensure I still get my work done, I”ve been going to the office for a couple hours every day just to ask questions, and coming back to the hotel very early and continuing to work in my room. Since we’re already at the halfway point of my internship, and we’re still having logistical issues, my boss, Venkat, suggested that I don’t come into the office for the next 2 weeks and completely just work from the hotel, so I wouldn’t be wasting my time traveling and sitting there for a couple hours before returning.

Since I won’t be going anyway, I thought I’d take this as a nice opportunity to spend time with family. I’m heading to Hyderabad (catching an overnight bus in a couple hours actually) and will be staying with my cousins for the next 2 weeks. Venkat was okay with this since I told him I’d keep in touch and give him updates on my work as it moves along. I have close to 25 immediate family members who live in Hyderabad, so I’m very excited to be going there. And especially for the delicious home cooked meals. And of course there’s a pani puri stand right by my house (best I’ve ever had), which I’ve frequented on a daily basis the last 4 times I’ve visited.

I also took the easy week at work to go see the sunrise at Nandi Hills on Wednesday morning with some friends who are interning here in Bangalore as well – the same ones that I got dinner with a week ago. Tuesday night, I went to their place and stayed over and chilled. Since it was a 2 hour drive from Bangalore, we promptly left at 3:30 am to make sure we’d get there on time. The drive up the hill was treacherous – it was dark, rainy, steep, and completely foggy (barely had 10 feet visibility). Just going 9 km took us almost 45 minutes. Once we got to the top (at about 4300 feet), the sun began to rise but due to the fog we really couldn’t see it. Just saw the fog light up all around us – which was still a really cool effect, but we were a little disappointed.

On the way back down, thanks to the fog, we passed the view in the picture below, which was simply breathtaking. It was really interesting how the two circles of fog were just circling around that one peak. It took me almost 30 minutes to capture this picture. With fast moving fog, we would have just a second or two of visibility and then it would disappear again. We drove back down, got some breakfast, and I finally made it back to my room by 12:30. I had gotten permission from my boss to work at home that day, but after not sleeping for the last 28 hours, I crashed immediately. 

Week 4 I New Delhi I Purabi

This week has been filled with lots of adventures and fun. Since we only had a few days left before McKenzie set off for the U.S., we made sure to make each day count. We went to Haldirams, a restaurant very popular for its food and sweets worldwide, to try aloo chaat and papri chaat (if my memory serves me correctly). Afterwards we did some last minute shopping at the local mall before having more Indian food at our favorite restaurant—Nathu’s.

On the upper left hand corner is papri chaat. The papri in papri chaat is made from crisp dough wafers. Along with this there are boiled potatoes, chick peas, chilis, and topped with yogurt and tamarind sauce. On the lower left is a type of aloo chaat, which is made with a potato patty and topped with a chickpea sauce and bits of onions.

Before it was time for McKenzie to go, she and I both visited the local home for children – Samarpan House. Samarpan House is an organization that created two homes for children in Delhi—a boy’s home and a girl’s home. Each and every time anyone of us went, the girls would just shower us with love and appreciation. If anything made this trip successful, it would have to be the joy these girls had every time we assisted them with their studies. I looked forward to going there each and everyday because not only was I able to become their English and math tutor, but I was also able to become a student and learn about them, their likes/dislikes, hobbies, etc. etc.

A few of the girls we worked with at Samarpan House.

After McKenzie left for the U.S., I began to pack my bags to visit family in Uttar Pradesh (North India).

Never in my life did I ever imagine I would have to run to catch a bus, car, or train. But there’s always a first for everything. Since I would be travelling alone, a family friend escorted me to the train station to ensure everything was what it was supposed to be. But because the traffic in Delhi refuses to clear in the evening, we had to catch two different local trains and run for about 10 or so minutes to even make the actual train. It was quite hilarious when I reminisce about the experience. Running full speed from one end of the terminal to the other so I can cross the street and enter the other train station, while seeing the faces of random pedestrians look at me as if I’ve gone completely insane makes me chuckle. But it was definitely something to remember!

Fast-forward 14 hours later in Uttar Pradesh, I finally meet my second cousin and spend some quality family time. They took me to the local temple and to the resting place of the Buddha. Both places were quite beautiful and am glad I was able to see both. Until my flight, I am excited to return to the children’s home and see a bit more of India.

Outside the Gaurakhanath Temple (clearly, this is my favorite outfit here).

This is the description of the previous picture.

Rohan Dasika | Bangalore | Week 1 + 2

Hey everyone! It’s been two weeks in Bangalore so far, and although things got off to a rough start, things are looking good right now. My boss and the rest of my team are all incredibly smart, talented, and inclusive people. The first few days, Madhura (one of the team members) took me to the assembly plant and explained the whole process from start to finish, answering any questions I had along the way. Apparently, Mahindra Reva doesn’t actually do any manufacturing…all the parts come pre-made to size and workers assemble them in the plant all day long. The second day, Madhura and a couple others were debugging an issue in one of the newer model cars Mahindra is coming out with and took me along as well. It was incredibly fascinating…we hoisted the car onto a platform and connected a laptop to the TCU (Traction Control Unit), which is essentially part of the car’s control system. From there, we were controlling parameters like wheel speed, acceleration, braking, etc all from computer software and the car responded accordingly. It was really cool to actually see the system in action, as opposed to just models and pictures. For the next few days, I proceeded to read some of the engineering books they had there to brush up on concepts and go through some manuals to get a better idea of what the TCU is. Since I wasn’t allowed to bring in my laptop and wasn’t provided with one yet, I used to come back to the hotel early and took a couple days off as well to learn Simulink and Stateflow, some of the Matlab features that my boss said my work would be based on.

prototype model

charging station

As I got into the second week, I finally got a computer….but it was one of the slowest things I’ve used in my life, but I used it for a few days, and my boss, Venkat, was able to get permission for me to bring in my laptop. He even assigned me my project, which was to build a scanning algorithm using Stateflow that would take in power loss data across the battery, motor, controls, etc and find the optimal operating point. So, hopefully from next week onwards I should have no problem getting things done.

As far as travel goes, it’s been a little difficult getting in and out of where I’m staying, just given how far out Bangalore’s city limits we are. Electronic City is a place where people go to work and they return back to the city to stay. Given that I’m on the outskirts of Electronic City, finding transportation to get back is usually a hassle. Yongsoo and I went out on the first weekend to Visvesvaraya Technological Museum, which was a thorough exhibition of all the recent advances in science and engineering. From there, we checked out MG Road (Mahatma Gandhi Road) which was one of the large shopping markets in the city. We also visited Oliver for a couple hours the next day and he gave us one of his famous tours. One of my friends back home in Michigan has a couple friends who are also interning here, so I met up with them for dinner one night. They were both Computer Science students from Harvard who were interning at a HealthTech startup here, seemed they were doing a lot of cool work. They’ll be here for the next month with me, so I’m definitely planning on hanging out with them more as time goes by.

I’m really enjoying all the food here! Street food and chai have been some of my favorites, and with a small kitchen in the hotel room, I’ve finally learned how to cook with lots of help from my mom over the phone hahaha

Just trying to cope with my chai addiction

made biriyani for the first time

Bangalore is an awesome city, exploding with culture and is a great representative of the new wave of Indian modernism; I just wish I was closer to the city to experience it better. But, I’m trying to go as much as possible, and I know that I definitely want to come live here for a couple years down the line…so I’m not too worried 😛

Mom’s old office

The Final Post

Sitting in the brewery, looking back at my time in India, it is hard to believe that I have spent just 6 short weeks here. I like to think that I have come a long way from the naive traveller who got to this country in early June. I have grown in many ways since being here – through my perspective, understanding, respect for others, communication skills – just not physically as somehow I managed to lose weight… While I have tried to stay conscious of how people around the world live, it is hard to really do so until you are here, to see life first hand. Though at times the trip has left me disheartened; on the whole it has also left me energized and consequently I am a huge advocate for this country and all the potential which it holds.

I have had the chance to do some traveling in the south while here: to Munnar (the tea planting district), to Kullor (to go hiking), and to Hampi (a collection of 15^th century ruins). Each has left me with many memories and has opened my eyes to the diversity and size of India. I have had the chance to explore Bangalore – frequenting many of the other microbreweries and music venues, visiting the numerous temples and parks. I have had the chance to do a wide range of things at work – leading training sessions to the staff, tours to people from around the world, frequent beer tastings at work (a personal favourite), and even some consulting for the companies employee appreciation programs.

Yet the thing which truly sticks out from this trip, and what made it so phenomenal, is the various people I have met. I have met people from a variety of professions from across the globe. The Indian bar tenders at Arbor, British engineers for Rolls Royce, American salesmen, German social workers, people running windfarms, owners of tea plantations, students, and everything in-between. They have shared advice on all sorts of things; where I should eat, travel, and on carer aspirations (which fields are exciting to work in and where in the world to start). We have shared absurd memories and they will stay with me for a very long time.

Some special memories include a hospital run after living on a broken ankle for 2 months. Riding on motorbikes through the rice fields with a few German guys in Hampi. Hitting a Bangalore brunch (all you can eat and drink from 12-4) before heading to the top of the highest building in Bangalore to chat about the future of the US and UK while watching the sun set. Finding a stray dog sleeping outside my door on the 2^nd floor of the apartment building. Leading my first training and realizing how boring I must have been (don’t worry I managed to change that quickly). Helping lift a motorbike off a man who had just got in a major accident (don’t drink and drive kids). Doing an 18km hike. Visiting the mookambike temple (where I had to be shirtless wearing only a lungi – picture a long white skirt). My first night bus, reaching the second highest peak in southern India, and walking through the clubs and tea fields which my grandfather once walked through 65 years prior. All very special times which I hope to never forget.

Me at the main temple in Hampi

Stone Chariot, Hampi

Gates to the temple in Hampi

City Market

City Market Flowers

So I will finish by thanking everyone for helping make this an amazing experience and for those of you who have supported me along the way (and even bothered to read this rather unusual blog).
Cheers,

Oli.

Meghna | New Delhi, India | Week 7 & 8

On Sunday morning, McKenzie, Purabi and I left our apartment at 4 in the morning to catch a train to Jhansi ( city in the state of Madhya Pradesh) at 6. We were told that the auto ride would take an hour but we got there in less than half an hour. We had to spend that extra time sitting on the railway platform. To make things worse, I made the poor choice of staying up all night. On reaching Jhansi, we had to take another 4 hour hour cab ride to get to Khajuraho. So, obviously we were all exhausted and spend the evening resting. The following morning we took a tour of the western complex of the Khajuraho temples, which is a UNESCO World Heritage site. The carvings depict the daily lives of ancient Indian culture and Kama Sutra. The architecture of the temples were breathtaking. On some level though, I wish there was more to see and do which made the eight hour journey worth it. However, it was nice to get out of the hustle-bustle of the city.

Western temple complex of Khajuaho

The next week and a half was pretty slow in terms of work since we had already implemented solar panels in all our sites. It wouldn’t have been worth it to identify new sites since I was only there for ten more days. We utilized this time to the maximum – exploring, shopping and relaxing. We also visited one orphanage home in our neighbourhood where we spent some time with the girls living there.

That weekend marked the end of the fasting month of Ramadan for Muslims and they celebrated this as Eid. Our boss had invited us to Sirohi to celebrate Eid with the villagers. All of us were very excited and also bought Indian clothes and sweets. However, when we were confirming our trip with our boss, she informed us that she would have to cancel the trip. Personally, I was very disappointed especially by the fact that she didn’t let us know ahead of time and quite possibly wouldn’t have if we didn’t contact her. Even though we couldn’t go to Sirohi, we wore our Indian clothes and visited the Humayun’s Tomb. Humayun was the second king of the Mughal dynasty and after his death, his first wife had the mausoleum made in his honour. The tomb was spectacular and since it was Eid, it was crowded with people in the most colourful and bedazzled clothes.

Humayun’s Tomb in Delhi

The following day, Purabi and I travelled to Agra.We reached Agra early in the morning and went straight to the Taj Mahal.  The weather was amazing and it wasn’t super crowded. I have been to the Taj Mahal five times now, but it never fails to take my breath away. Besides the beauty, I love the engineering of the mausoleum. The tour guide told us how the builders made sure it was earthquake and flood proof. The minarets on the four sides are tilted outwards by just 2 degrees so in case of an earthquake they fall outwards and not on the dome. Considering that the Taj was made in the 17th century and the architects barely had an technology, these small aspects of the mausoleum make it so much more remarkable. We also went to the Agra Fort which was the residency of the Mughal emperors and queens. After Aurengzeb (the last Mughal king) took over the throne, he imprisoned Shah Jahan ( who built the Taj for his third wife Mumtaz) in the Agra Fort. It is said that the Taj Mahal can be seen from every room of the fort. Shah Jahan grieved for his wife as he looked upon the Taj Mahal from the fort. After his death, his daughter made sure that he was buried beside Mumtaz in the Taj Mahal.

fell in love again

view of the Taj Mahal from the Agra Fort

We returned to Delhi the following morning after which I had only two more days in the city. We spent this two days exploring and shopping some more. I left for Kolkata on Thursday morning with some wonderful memories and experiences. Delhi was a great learning experience for me – professionally and personally. As happy as I am to be back home ( and its amazing weather), I do miss waking up with new adventures ahead of me everyday!

Yongsoo I Bangalore I Post #2

It has been four weeks after I arrived in Bangalore. I have had hard time as I suffered from stomachache and fever after my arrival and took more than one week to overcome jet-lag. Luckily, I have not suffered from skin problem as the weather in Bangalore is neither too hot nor too humid. Also it is quite surprising that it has not been raining much although it is monsoon season now. I see the reason why there is Tipu Sultan’s Summer Palace in Bangalore.

I have been working for Mahindra Reva. Reva, formerly known as the Reva Electric Car Company, is now formally called as Mahindra Reva Electric Vehicles Private Limited as Mahindra & Mahindra acquired Reva in May 2010. Reva is located in Electronics City, Bangalore, the heart of India’s Silicon Valley. Engineers at Reva design and manufacture compact electric vehicles

Before coming to India, I was informed that I would be working on engineering algorithms using a programming language called Python. However on my first day, I realized that the team already finished the task that was supposed to be given to me. After talking with my boss, I have been working in Electrical Engineering department focusing on range extender by searching genset, a combination of engine and generator, to extend current range of the car and product development system. I have also been working with Excel and Excel Visual Basic for Applications.

As I am not used to eating Indian food, I have tried American food as well. There are many localized American restaurants such as Domino’s and Pizza Hut. In addition, I have used a website called Bigbasket to order drink and food as there is no market nearby hotel. It is a convenient as their delivery service is fast.

I have not traveled as the memory from Mumbai still lingers in my head; however, I am planning to travel soon and post about it.

Yongsoo I Bangalore I Post #1

Earlier this year, I visited International Programs in Engineering. Faculty members working there strongly recommended me taking this summer to get an internship abroad and gain exposure to any facts about engineering. Taking their advice and applying for the internship in India, I secured a position to spend six weeks in India.

After securing the position, I was worried about a lot of things, especially skin problem. Knowing how detrimental hot and humid weather is to my skin, I really hesitated to accept the position and asked the company to give me some time to think about. However having a strong desire to be exposed to engineering in real world, I finally decided to go to India.

Here is an overview of my 40 hour trip: Detroit – Chicago – Korea – Mumbai, India – Bangalore.  After arriving in Korea, I was notified that there is a possibility of missing a flight in Mumbai as the amount of time between flights is not enough to move from international terminal to domestic terminal. After arriving in Mumbai, I took a taxi to get a flight on time. However the taxi was not the airport taxi; the driver ripped me off by making me paying 4000 rupees. After arriving in Bangalore, I was in panic of getting ripped off again as I could not find a guy who was supposed to pick me up. However people working at the airport helped me out, and I was able to get a ride. I finally arrived in the hotel after 40 hour trip.

I am looking forward to spending my six weeks in Bangalore working for Mahindra Reva. I will be back with my life at Mahindra.

Purabi I New Delhi I Week 2 & 3

Just as the first week, my second week and third week here have been filled with adventures, fun, and lots of sight-seeing. Although I was not able to do much work here for various different reasons, I have been able to use this time to see India.

Apart from going to lots of shops and restaurants, the other interns and I went to Khajuraho, which is located in Madhya Pradesh (central India). We did not realize the trip was more travel than sight-seeing because it took us a good 4 hours by train and then another 4-4.5 hours by taxi. However, the temples there definitely made up for the long and exhausting trip. 

The following week, although we were not able to go to Sirohi as promised to us, we decided to go to Humayun’s Tomb on Eid. Since we went during Eid, the area was filled with people in colorful dresses and the air was filled with joy and happiness.

The outside of the tomb. It holds the tomb of the Mughal Emperor Humayun. In the center, there is one tomb that symbolizes his grave, which is deep within the earth.

In addition to visiting this, I was finally able to the beauty of the Taj Mahal earlier this week. Words and pictures honestly do not do this building justice. I definitely encourage all to visit the Taj (and in the early morning when there aren’t too many people) because this edifice is a jaw-dropper. The way this building is built, the steps the architects took to ensure it is earthquake proof, flood proof, destruction proof makes you wonder what happened to that type of thinking in today’s society. I did not take any pictures of the Taj simply because the ones found on Google are better quality. Along with the Taj, we were able to visit Agra Fort, which is the palace Shah Jahan resided within. Shah Jahan was the Mughal Emperor who had the Taj Mahal built for his wife, Mumtaz Mahal. However, Shah Jahan was also imprisoned within the Agra Fort after his second son became crazy for the throne. It is said that Shah Jahan was able to see the Taj Mahal everyday outside of his window and mourned for the building. Again, I did not take pictures of the Agra Fort simply because my phone camera quality is not the greatest.

This is the foundation of what was to be the black Taj Mahal. Before being imprisoned by his youngest son, Shah Jahan wanted to create a black Taj Mahal that would serve to be a shadow for the white one. This was to be his resting place. Since it is incomplete, the government of India has turned this into a nature conservation.

From that point forward, there has not been much activity. However, I am excited to see more of India, volunteer at the local orphanage, and have more authentic Indian food before returning back to the States.

McKenzie | New Delhi, India | Week 7

On Sunday I left the apartment with the other interns by 4 AM for our 6:30 AM train to Jhansi. From Jhansi we took a four hour cab ride to Khajuraho. We spent early Monday morning visiting the West Temple Complex which houses India’s only temple devoted to the Kama Sutra. The temple is covered in carvings of recommended sexual positions which were encouraged as a form of meditation when the temple was an active site for prayer. The complex itself was beautiful with bright green grass and colorful flowers here and there. It was nice to be out of the city if only for a couple of days.

Kajuraho Temple

During my past month and a half here in India I’ve been hoping to see some lotuses. The lotus is India’s national flower and can be seen in many religious depictions amongst Hindu gods and goddesses so I was surprised that I was yet to see one in person. While we were driving to the temple complex, we passed a large pond with – yup, you guessed it – lotus flowers! I was so happy and we stopped by on our way back to take some pictures for a few minutes before hitting the road for Delhi.

Lotus

The rest of this week included fun food, work from home, shopping, and some relaxing. My favorite food of this week was kulfi which is Indian ice cream. Kulfi is a more creamy version of American ice cream and I ordered the mango kulfi on a stick which was soo delicious! My second favorite new food was pani puri (also called golgoppa) which is a thin hallow deep-friend bread that looks like a little round puff which you push a hole into with your fingers and pour a delicious potato, chickpea, and tamarind chutney mixture into the center and enjoy! My work for the week was building upon the brochure I had started making for the handicrafts program and following up on the volunteers’ additions to our Google Doc for distribution site visits. The other interns and I visited Khan Market twice this week to shop for souvenirs and to buy Indian clothes for our planned trip to Sirohi for Eid. Our boss invited us a couple of weeks ago to go to Sirohi with her to celebrate Eid which is the end of Ramadan. We were really excited for the trip and we went shopping for nice clothes and sweets for the villagers as a gift. Unfortunately, on Saturday night our boss cancelled our trip for the following morning. We decided to still wear our new clothes on Sunday and to celebrate Eid by visiting Humayun’s Tomb in the city and taking some nice photos. This week I also began to pack my things so I could do a test weigh of my suitcases in order to prevent any additional fees at the airport and I was pleasantly by how little they weighed. I can’t believe I only have a week and a half left in India! See you soon for my next and last full week!

Humayun’s Tomb in Delhi

It was VERY hot the day we went to Humayun’s Tomb. Children were playing in all of the fountains surrounding the tomb.

Hospital runs, and Montezuma’s revenge

Hospital runs, and Montezuma’s revenge

This has been an interesting week with regard to my physical health, including a hospital trip and a bed ridden 24 hours. While some may be very concerned, my hospital trip was one of the most interesting/exciting parts of my trip to date – I’d rank it higher than most of the tourist attractions I have visited. But I am sure you are all wondering why on earth I ended up in a hospital in Bangalore.

Well after an unusual bout of frustration, I kicked a rock. Yes not a clever move. Not my finest hour by any means, but it happened. One summers evening in early May at my home in Troy Michigan. While at the time it hurt, I didn’t really think anything of it, as I had just kicked a rock – of course it’s going to hurt… And thus it was swollen for a few weeks, but I could walk on it so was not concerned. And I wasn’t going to go to a doctor in US as I didn’t want to go to see 2 different specialists and my mother didn’t want to spend $500 to spend on medical bills.

Yet a week later it was still hurting and I happened to be in the UK so knowing that I could see a nurse for free, headed over to the doctors in Cardigan, Wales. I was pleasantly surprised to not have to face the dreaded lines which I had read about with the NHS. A nurse sat me down to look at my ankle. She asked a few questions and ultimately said I had probably bruised the bone and swelling will go down with time and it will all work out. So I went about my normal business. I carried on hitting the gym and going for runs while in India, yet the ankle still hurt. So one morning I decided I wanted to get another look at it and maybe even an x-ray to see if it was fractured.

So I walk over to my local hospital. I get to this massive building with people flooding in and out. I look at the signs and didn’t see one for x-ray so thought I should ask someone where I should go. I asked the security guard he informed me that it was down the hall, the first door on the right. I quickly realize that this is the emergency room, evident by the woman groaning in pain and the man with blood pouring down his arm. It all felt rather like the operations room in M.A.S.H. While I am taking all this in, I notice that there is a doctor sitting behind a desk. He stands up and walks over to me to ask what is wrong. I let him know I want an x-ray and he quite happily fills out a ticket for me to go to the payment office to purchase an x-ray without asking me what had happened or why I thought I might need an x-ray.

After waiting in line for 10 minutes or so, I get to the lady at the desk. I gave here my piece of paper and she asks if I am catholic. This took me by surprise, I realized I had seen an awful lot of pictures of Jesus as I had walked in. I realized it was a catholic hospital and the first thing that crossed my mind is that I had to be catholic to visit the hospital. I said yes, hoping that she would not ask me to recite the sacraments or a Hail Mary. She replied “good”. Asked for 200 rupees ($3.50) and I was off to get an x-ray. She had pointed me towards a room. I walked in and gave the man my card. It was the wrong room. He pointed me toward another room. That again was the wrong room. After 2 more attempts, with apparently nobody in the hospital knowing the location of the x-ray room, I finally made it.

I sat and waited and looked at the signs on the wall. There was a large photo of Jesus and written below was “Jesus will heal you”. Yet to be quite honest I was hoping a medical professional would be doing most of the healing at this hospital. The next sign said “Danger, no pregnant women”. I had just finished reading this as the very pregnant lady sitting in front of me was called into the x-ray room. In prior experiences getting x-rays they had given me a lead vest to wear, I was not afforded such luxuries this time round. Thus after a healthy dose of radiation and about 10 more minutes of waiting, the man came our again and gave me a copy of my x-ray. He proceeded to walk off. So I was left there with an x-ray wondering what to do next. So I did what anyone would do, held it up to the lights like they do on television to see if anything was wrong. I have seen every episode of House, and thus assumed my medical knowledge was quite extensive. Looking at it, everything seemed to be in the right place. There were more bones then I thought there should be, but that seemed fine.

Recognizing that my medical knowledge, and ability to read an x-ray were probably limited, I decided it was about time I find a doctor. After queuing up and paying 250 rupees ($4) I was told to go to Orthope, which I assumed was the name of a doctor. Only after 5 minutes of searching, did I realize that he had said Orthopaedics (yet again going to show how limited my medical knowledge is). I found the office and waited to be called. Here I sat opposite a woman who looked as if she was in agony with a large bandage around her ankle, while I was there concerned that my ankle still hurt a bit. After a while it seemed that people just kept appearing and going into the office. For some reason I had assumed that the man I just paid would inform the doc I was there, of course this was not the case so asked a nice nun how to get in line. I think because I was white, I was rushed to get served next, an experience that made me feel rather uncomfortable. I sat down with the doc, gave him the x-ray, and he didn’t look at it. All he wanted to do was chat about why I was in India, asking what I had learned about the world so far. After chatting for a while he got round to asking who said I should get an x-ray, I had told him I just ask for one and they gave it to me. He shrugged, told me that I had a couple of small fractures on my ankle and I should stop lifting weights for 4 weeks. He went to a desk gave me a bandage, and sent me on my way. Easy.

This week also entailed a bout of Montezuma’s revenge and I won’t go into too much detail here as it was a pretty rough 24 hours which included binge watching The Daily Show for at least 10 of those hours. Yet as my American friends at Arbor had said, “you haven’t done India right if you don’t get sick.”

Oliver