Phase 2: Completed

Last Thursday, we were able to finish up all 30 Maternal and Child Health surveys. The thought of having to spend another day, wandering around the maze that is Abul Fazal trying to find people in this heat, was enough to inspire maximum efficiency and determination to knock those 15 out in two days, rather than three. Jasola, the other area we’re surveying, is not as bad. It’s the same area as the GRC office, so everything is in walking distance. Abul Fazal, however, is across the road and for some reason getting a rickshaw over there is a perplexingly difficult process. The auto rickshaws want to charge way too much for simply crossing the road, and the bicycle rickshaws will sometimes refuse altogether. Not that I really blame them – taking a bicycle rickshaw is absolutely my least favorite thing to make someone do for me, especially in 100+ degree weather – but, it’s so frustrating and it wastes a lot of our time. And at the end of the day, especially, when we’re hot and tired and just want to go home, having to haggle with rickshaw drivers is infuriating. It definitely brings out the worst in me. I want to throttle them. We’re standing there, melting in the sun, thirsty and clearly worn out, and they're trying to take advantage of it. It’s the part of my day that I truly hate.

So, we started early and finished later than usual, but we got them done. Mitlesh had to leave us early on Thursday, too, so that was also a strong incentive to get it done. She has really been invaluable. Charu is great, but she’s very polite and reserved and she’ll take a lot of sh** from people. Not Mitlesh – she’s pushy and she’ll get in your face. She would just barge right in to people’s homes, open the door herself if no one answered and walk right in. She protected us from many a drunkard, shooing them away and even yelling at them if she had to – one man actually grabbed my clipboard out of my hands one time, demanding to see it, and boy, did she set him straight. She took good care of us. I don’t think we’ll be working with her from here on out, so it was sad to see her go. She asked to get some pictures with us, and then blew us kisses as she walked away. What a woman. I want her to be my sister or something.

We celebrated our accomplishment that night in typical fashion, with a Sizzler (a sizzling hot plate of grilled chicken, veggies, and fries) and some Cocoberry frozen yogurt. It was well-earned this time.

Friday, we spent the day working at Mrs. Kaur’s (our breakfast café, which also has free wi-fi), developing our facilities survey and deciding which facilities to target. It was a good planning day, and it was nice to just take it easy, especially since I was feeling a cold coming on. And we had a big weekend ahead of us.

The weekend started with a birthday dinner for Viddhi, Charu's 2-year-old daughter. We were once again sufficiently stuffed to the bursting point with food and sweets by the persistent and gracious Charu. We had a blast with Viddhi. She started out a little shy, but as soon as we brought out the birthday presents (banana chips, nuts, and raisins – her favorite), she started to warm up, and by the end of the night, she was climbing all over us. She was on a major sugar high – we started the evening with birthday cake, and Indian cake involves mostly frosting. She was hilarious, bouncing all over the place, laughing and screeching at everything, and making quite a game of stealing my camera case. At one point she was wearing her teddy bear’s clothes, and then she gave Colette and me a Hindi lesson on her chalkboard. We went home with aching tummies, but we had a lot of fun. We’ve been invited back over in August to celebrate Rakhi, the Hindu festival honoring siblings. Sisters tie bracelets on their brothers’ wrists and give them blessings, in exchange for their brothers’ protection. There aren’t any brothers around, but Charu says we can borrow hers. It's always nice to be welcomed in as part of a family. It was a great beginning to an awesome weekend.