Weekly Report Mar 11

Hi Gang,

This is my first of a weekly report sent to family members (claimed or unclaimed). The past week has been very eventful and NOT in a positive way. My credit card got eaten by the ATM machine and I have spent a mornings of 3 days trying to get replacements in one form or another. Judy, the greatest advice you gave me before departing “have some US currency as an emergency fund”. I will hopefully be able to survive on those funds for up to a couple of weeks as I try to get the ability to acquire Rupees here.

I have found a source for Insulin and it costs 1/10th as much as in the US. I have to walk 2 miles down and the 2 miles us (the hard part) in order to order it. I have to pay for it in advance and go back a couple of days later to pick it up.

In order to get money I walk 2.5 miles down and up. I am limited to 10,000 rupees ($225) per day. My total rent will be 45,000 rupees so it will take 4+ trips down to get money just for the rent. My weekly expenses will be about 1,000 rupees ($24). This includes the groceries, water, wood for the fire and snacks. If I want fruit I have to walk down the the Landour Community Hospital area (for you former residents) or 40 minutes down and 55 minutes up. I bought a dozen bananas for 85 cents plus effort. You cannot buy ahead because the bananas will only keep for a week. I need them to get food value from something that is not spiced.

I have had a full episode of “Delhi Belly” another word for the trots. The major problem for me is that the smell of spicy foods, let alone the eating of same, makes me nauseous. Since that is the only thing available to eat I have to augment my rice with butter with some fruit. I have just purchased some Danish sugar free Raspberry jam in hopes of putting it on a chippati (for some reason my spell checker will not accept this word. I am not sure I have spelled it correctly. Would a sister of mine correct me if necessary.) This is like a whole wheat tortilla. It is NOT spiced and as children we loved these with butter and jam. I have just finished lunch and the Raspberry jam is spectacular. I am hoping this will give me some needed calories. I have been sick with this for the past 3 days. I have been able to keep my blood sugar levels fairly good with a perfect one this morning. I find that today I am rather weak and not able to walk very far.

I did go out and take some pictures so you can see where I’m living. Here are 3 views of my bedroom. It is about 10 ft long and 5 ft across. I even smoothed down the bed so that it would look presentable. In the picture with the window there is a small closet. I have a second room where I store all my equipment, water supple and suitcases and I use its chair to sit and play solitaire and listen to music. There is also a separate bathroom with the gizzer (water heating tank, take 30 minutes to heat up and give only 2 gallons of water for a bath using the bucket in the picture). I sit on the little stool and pour water over me from a small pitcher. You must remember that the temperature is a brisk 50 degrees. As time passes it will get warmer, I hope!!!

There are 2 other language school students living at the house. A 21 year old Italian university student, here for 5 weeks, and a 50 year old woman from The Netherlands here for 2 weeks. She is a Sikh and has been for 30 years. She is a delightfully gentle soul with great grace and fun loving view of life. The young man is an exceptional young man. His religious belief (Roman Catholic) is wonderful and earnest. He is taking 6 classes a day and the rest of the time he studies. He is a foreign languages student and needs this work to complete his degree. He did not realize that studying Hindi would lead to a much greater understanding of English because he has 2 English speakers to communicate with. Our conversations at lunch and dinner are wide ranging and interesting because of our different viewpoints and a ready acceptance of each other’s beliefs.

The Snows have been visible most morning this week . Each passing day they get more obscured by the dirty air. The plains are almost not visible today. I took my first Video of my expedition this morning. There is a rhododendron in the back yard and I took some beautiful footage. I discovered that I was using the wrong video tape and will have to redo it again in the morning.

I am feeling much better and was able to eat almost enough food at lunch. Progress is being made.

I miss you all and hope this will fill you in on what is happening in the wilds of India.

Love to all of you.

Leon