So, What AM I doing here...?

So it seems after talking to a couple friends back home that many people are out of the loop with regards to what I am doing in India. I've decided to post my original proposal, although my goals have changed a little bit since writing this...

Statement of Purpose:

is project is a descriptive study of medicinal plant usage among women during pregnancy in the Garhwal region of the northwestern Himalayas. Although many studies have detailed medicinal plant usage in Garhwal, no previous study has focused on maternal health. The purpose of this survey is to both fill a gap in medicinal plant literature and provide information to strengthen local maternal health care in a region with severely limited access to primary health care.

My project has changed a bit since then. I am more interested now in the interplay between hospitalized medicine and local medicine. Particularly, attitudes that women have towards both. I also am interested in the chemical components of these plants; I think that it's likely that many women are supplementing their diet with iron, carotene, protein, and fats.

And yes--this is a Fulbright. I hadn't wanted to throw the name around too much, but this seems to actually have caused a lot of confusion for some people. It's great. I have a lot of money to both travel, eat well, and do good research. It's really a pretty amazing quality of life.

I'm feeling a lot better for the first time in a couple of days. My stomach has calmed down and I feel much more alert. Today it was also sunny for the first time, so I could again see the Himalayas from my window. I also decided to go into town and do some shopping.

My house is in Chanderbani, a borough of Dehradun. It's pretty busy, but much more green than the rest of the city. There are mostly retired army people and faculty from the Wildlife Institute living in the area. It has a suburban feel, except that there are a lot of cows grazing around my house. Also, it's much closer to the city than most suburban towns in America. Some people say that it is in Dehradun and others disagree. It seems to just not be an insane part of Dehradun from what I can tell.

So I walked to the big tuk tuk stop where I can get to the center of Dehradun for 10 rupees. I was walking and looking at the mountains with wonder and then stepped into fresh cow shit. I'm pretty sure that I saw the cow that did it too. I then had to walk back to the house and wash off. It is only about a ten minute walk to the tuk tuk stop.

I took the tuk tuk as far as it would go, which is right by the best bookstore in Dehradun. It had been my intent to get a book that was published on women's health in garhwal, but the didn't have it. I might have to order it online. Instead I got:

Siddhartha by Herman Hesse

Lives in the Wilderness (a compilation of Verrier Elwin's, Jim Corbett's and Salim Ali's autobiographies. I'm going to bring it out into the mountains with me and feel very equal to great minds, I'm sure.)

My Story by Kamala Das

Recipes from Uttaranchal (Uttarakhand)

Uttarakhand State Map

Flowers of the Himalayas by Adam Stainton (My adviser came over this evening and when I showed him this book, he got really excited. My version is the supplemental. He has the full two volume set at home. Baller.)

There was a very old, very quiet woman in a purple sari at the bookstore. When I asked her about a book on women's health/sociology she said, "not much. not much." She then proceeded to produce several very interesting books on women in India, but none was the particular book on women's health issues in Uttarakhand. I guess it's kinda a downer. But I managed to keep myself to only one of her suggestions, which was Kamala Das' autobiography.

Apparently a drunkard followed Britain home while I was gone, because she called me when I was in the bookstore telling me that this guy had demanded to know if she was married. She didn't get all of this information from him, but from Didi who spoke to him at the front gate. Britain was understandably upset. I decided to cut my errands short and just try to figure out if I could get some coffee from the coffee shop adjacent to the bookstore. When I asked if I could get beans, the young man getting his coffee next to me said, "I don't think you'll get them in Dehradun." They staff at the coffee shop agreed. They offered me to sell me their beans, but said that they would be special ordered.

Why can't I get coffee beans in Dehradun? Why can't a place that sells brewed coffee sell me the beans that they are using? India grows amazing coffee and they export it all! It is colonization all over again if America and Europe get all of India's coffee!

When I got back home, everything had calmed down a bit. I was nervous when I first talked to Britain. But once I got the full story, I wasn't too surprised. I think that I'm more used to such ridiculousness from living in Jaipur. Jannat--Didi's husband--told me that the police have been told, but that the guy was just a drunk and probably won't remember anything. Sad to say, Shazia told me that this type of thing happens to her all the time. It seems that Dehradun has less overt harassment than Jaipur, but a lot of men just can't control themselves around young women. Fortunately, Didi and Jannat live in the house and there is a security guard who is paid to watch our street. So I do feel safe here.

Dr. Uniyal came over this evening to make sure that we were okay. He thought that I had been here as well, but seemed to be fine with me leaving Britain on her own to purchase "Flowers of the Himalayas." When he got the full story from Britain, he just said: "If somebody comes up to you like this, you just go out into the street and tell them to leave. You must always be fighting. Always fighting if you are going to go about your work." He has two daughters, so maybe he knows this pretty well by now.

I'm going to go to get my paperwork done tomorrow. Then I can go take my language lessons up in Mussorie!