Today was a day off since the Op Smile team had completed screening kids yesterday and will begin surgery tomorrow. We had a group trip to see a temple and take a river boat cruise of the Bhamaputra river. We visited the Kamakhya Temple (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kamakhya_Temple). It was so interesting! You walk around barefoot on who knows what you’re stepping on...goat droppings, bird poo, dirt, sacrificial blood. The temple is quite feminist and was created to commemorate menstrual bleeding of a female goddess or something. I was stoked to get a red marking on my forehead and it might have been the epitome of an Indian experience to me. We also spent a good 20 minutes on gladiator style seating watching baby goat sacrifices. It sounds horrible, but we couldn’t not watch as families surrendered their prized goats to the priests who then swiftly macheted the heads off and then watched as the heads were still moving decapitated. The boat cruise of the Bhamaputra was not quite so violent. We took a peaceful ride on the all-famous historic river that runs through so many countries. We passed by an island where the monkey temple was located but did not dock there.
After the quick tour around the river and temples, we returned to the MMC hospital at about 2pm where more patients have returned for screening for tomorrow’s surgeries. I met some of the translators that have been working with Kelly and Minh with survey development as well as taking them to the local market to get saris. Everybody thinks I look like I’m from Assam – score! For once in a foreign country I look like a local instead of an automatic Chinese label haha. One of the local workers gave me an Assamese name at my request, now I’m known as Sewali (pronounced ah-wahlee). So my name means a type of flower. Kelly is Kakali, the goddess of destruction, and Minh is Meenakshi, meaning fish eyes lol.
Life is certainly different here in Guwahati. The area is quite urban but it becomes more suburban/rural in the outskirts like by the airport. Our hotel is situated in a very urban area. The food here is absolutely incredible, the best Indian food ever. I’m pretty sure that it will ruin any attempt at Indian food back in the U.S. That’s actually my biggest regret about traveling, I fall in love with the local area and the food that I can never experience again unless I return.
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