Colours of India

Hi everyone.
thanks for all the emails. To answer some of your questions, yes the food is good, maybe a bit too salty but otherwise filling. Sleep is sometimes difficult because it is so hot and because of the noise from the street. I manage with small daily naps and ear plugs.

On Sunday night, 2 other nurse midwives arrived from the US to volunteer here. They have started their first shift today when I was done mine. I left when it was crazy busy. I think all 16 beds were being used.

Every few nights we hear a party going on on the road which we can't see because of a wall that surrounds the hospital compound. Last night we heard one beginning and climbed up to the roof to see a small parade of people dancing. I got it on tape. We later heard that it was a wedding party.

There continues to be complications in the delivery room. I almost don't consider hypertension a problem anymore. PPV (helping babies breath with a bag and mask) is frequent. Post partum hemorrhages the same. Instead of writing about what happens in the delivery room I'll write about India. Most info comes from culture shock by G. Kolanad 1997

The kaleidoscope of of exuberrant technocolor gods and goddesses, many-headed, many limbed is the surface of polytheism that obscures an underlying monism/ the scriptures say there are 330 million devas and 1 more or less hardly matters. some are personifications of natural phenomena, evil forces or even disease; some are human deified or the loal dieties of town and village. they come into existance as need for a personal divinity arises. perhaps the small pox goddess will give away to the AIDS goddess.

"sacred cow" at first glance the taboo against killing cows seems irrational, however they are essential to every aspect of life o the Indian peasant. they pull the plough and turn the wheel that draws water. cow dung is dried and burned as fuel, smooth on the walls and floor of mud huts and spread in fields as fertilizer. cow milk, curds and buttermilk provide essential nutrients. they survive droughts, etc.

Hindus consist of 80% of the population and Muslims 13%. Sikhism, Christianity, Zoroastrianism, buddism, jainism are some other religions practiced here.

There are 216 languages with more than 10,000 native speakers in India. The largest of these is Hindi with some 337 million (the second largest being Bangla with some 207 million). 22 languages are recognized as official languages. In India, there are 1,652 languages and dialects in total.

India occupies 2.4% of the world's land area and supports over 17.5% of the world's population. India has more arable land area than any country except the United States, and more water area than any country except Canada and the United States

Send me some snow please
Lyly Bean