Roxy

So, the sun was just a tease yesterday morning and lasted about 5 minutes leaving us only to be re-engulfed in the cloud. After rounds at the hospital yesterday morning I went back to Helping Hands for the day but there were barely any patients so I mostly just hung out and read. In the afternoon Upendra and I went for a long walk. Afterwards I braved a cold shower and went back to the hospital for rounds. En route I stopped and attempted to upload some pictures at D.N. Shrethsha's (the Chairman for Helping Hands) house/business as it's the best computer I have access to. Unfortunately my attempt was a failure.

I ended up being a few minutes late and missed rounds but Dr. R was sitting outside talking with someone and I suspect he was waiting to see if I'd come by. We went for a walk then back to his house where we had some food and roxy. Still not big on the roxy but I choked down one small glass then declined a refill and opted for water. The stuff is really pretty vile. We also had some spiced buffalo meat with rice noodles, peanuts, and some puffed rice sort of stuff. It was good and a nice gesture. I feel bad for him. He said he didn't used to like the roxy either but now it has become habit. He drinks it every night because of "lonliness." There was another doctor here with him before but he left awhile back. They apparently used to have dinner together every night but now I don't think he has any good friends. He does spend time with the 3 paramedics but I guess it's not enough. Anyway, it made me feel bad that he drinks every day because he feels lonely. Really nice guy and a good doctor. He covers the whole district but more about that later. He also listens to some music in English. His tastes cracked me up. We listened to some Maria Carey and the Eagles. He also likes Christina Aguilara and Brittany Spears.

This afternoon the guys at Helping Hands (Ganga and Upendra) took me to get samosa for our daily small afternoon meal. They call it breakfast but I explained that we call a small meal in the afternoon a snack. Anyway, I had told them that I liked the samosa I had with Dr. R a few days ago so they took me to get it since they can't make it. Last night on the way back from my 2nd roxi experience I also played a game of pool with Parkash (the medical assistant) at his house. He has a table where people play pool and snooker and I think he charges people a little bit. It's a chance for a little entertainment though so I think I'll play over there again. Something to do that doesn't take complicated communication. Some tidbits of good news in the last few days. For one, I found a plug for my iPod charger which I didn't think I'd be able to use while here so now I can listen to as much music as I like. They are all quite fascinated by my iPod and I've been lending it out since I found the plug. Also, the samosa I like and oranges which are excellent here are only 5 rupees a piece or about 7 American cents so I can eat samosa and oranges (more like clementines) whenever I need a change from daal bhat without breaking the bank.