I think I'm starting to smell like curry...

Well it's been a wild couple of weeks and I have loads of stories to share. Two weekends ago we all felt like a little treat and ventured to the town of Pondicherry on the east coast. It was once a French colony so it had a very nice western feel to it. It was a nice change to be in a place that actually had sidewalks, street signs and blossoming trees lining the streets. We went into a supermarket and marveled at the broad selection of western foods, hair care products and deodorant. We even managed to find a Pizza Hut. Other than the good food and cheap wine, Pondicherry was still very India; croweded smelly and full people people trying to take your money. Nonetheless, it's still always nice to get out and explore more of India.

The following week was relatively lackluster at work. I spent most of my time sitting in the doctor's office difting away as he talked to patients in Tamil. Sivakasi, on the other hand, was bustling. There was some big election happening at the end of the week. To advertise Indians like to blare "propaganda" from giant speakers strapped to the top of their autorickshaws. It even served as an alarm clock some days as a rickshaw would scuttle past my window. When the ballots had been totalled and the victor declared, supporters of the winner marched through the streets whistling, cheering and singing at the tops of their lungs. Part of me wanted to join in with the celebrations, however I think I might have been a little out of place.

This past weekend was also the start of Diwali (or in Tamil Deepawali), the Festival of Lights. It is to commenorate when Lord Krishna vanquished a mighty giant that was killing many innocents. Basically, it's just an excuse to eat a lot of sweets and blow up an extravagant amount of fireworks. Sivakasi just so happens to be on of the firework capitals of souther India... maybe all of India. As the week progressed, the explosions of firecrackers and other "small bombs" increased in frequency. Due to the complete lack of saftey employed by Indians and the instability of the fireworks, I had suspected to see many children visiting my doctor with blown up hands, but strangely enough the office was relatively quiet. He said that very few people come into the doctor during Diwali because everyone is spending time with family.

We headed off to Madurai, a nearby big city, for the big celebrations on Saturday. We spent the day wandering the surprisingly empty streets looking for the few shops that were still open. Everyone was apparently at home celebrating the holiday with family. It was a nice treat being able to walk the streets without having to negotiate a large crowd. However, that just made it easier to see the mounds of garbage that piled the streets of Madurai. Madurai was really filthy and full of beggars and smarmy salesmen. It made me appreciate the small, uneventful town of Sivakasi. As few shops were open we ventured to the temple in the center of town, one of the city's biggest draws. Sadly, the elephant that usually occupied a space outside was absent. It seems as if I'll have to wait a little longer before I can be blessed by an elephant. While walking the city, not a minute would go by without hearing a loud bang. At times the explosions would be so deafening we couldn't even make conversation. One of our party joked it was like being in Iraq. That evening we reserved a table in the restaurant atop our hotel. The evening was amazing. All over the city large fireworks were being lit. Explosions of all sorts of colors would be happening in all directions overhead. The funny thing was, I'm sure none of them were "shows". They were all groups of individuals lighting the fireworks they bought several days before. With the occular symphony proceeding above, we celebrated the festival of lights in grand style.

The next day we spent making up for the shopping we missed the day prior. We went to the market which is housed inside an old temple like structure. It was a pretty impressive sight, slightly marred by the constant badgering of salesmen. After a successful day of shopping, I returned to Sivakasi. The week has been slow as usual. But today had its moments of excitement. In the morning, my doctor took me to his private family temple, where his extended family all gathers during the holidays. I don't know the number of people attend, but he said there are currently 48 families that gather. Must be quite the crowd. We then headed to his family farmhouse where they grow mango, coconut, sapota, guava and a myriad of other fruits. We loaded his trunk full of coconuts and headed back to the hospital. I then saw him perform a tonsilectomy (spelled right?). It had been awhile since I had seen any surgery, so it was nice to finally have a little excitement. I hadn't seen that operation before either, so it was a nice treat. It was surprisingly bloody, but not as bloody as the femur head replacement I saw shortly after. We went upstairs to an operating room I'd never been in before. It seemed much nicer and more modern than the rest of the hospital. I deduced this was where orthopedic surgery was performed. I had seen this procedure once before in China, but it was still very exciting and informing. It was also interesting to see the subtle differences between the Indian method and the Chinese method.

When I was riding home the other day, I think I finally obtained a level of comfortability in Sivakasi. Between all the car horns, bike horns, bus horns, between the fragrant stench of open sewage, between the yelps of stray dogs and between hot sun burning the back of my neck, I could hear the breeze blowing through the trees and the sky slowly changing color as the sun set and I could sense the pleasantly slow pace of life in this place. I realized that India has a beautiful sky... Then a car almost sideswiped me which caused my bike to swirve into a cowpie which my bike smelled like the rest of the ride home.... Ah yes, now there's my India.