We were taking a bus from Bangalore to Gudalur so we had to
get up pretty early and get ready. Our bus was supposed to be leaving at 9 am
so we had asked the driver to come at 7:15 so we would get there in time with
all of the traffic but the taxi never came so at 8:15 we were scrambling to
find an auto to take us. Nirmala and I took an auto while my cousin and Akshaya
came on his motorcycle. They were probably the fastest ride that the both of us
have been on. The auto driver was super nice though and knew that we had to get
to the bus station so he took as many side roads as possible to avoid all the
traffic. We probably would have never made it in the taxi because the cars were
backed up forever but we were able to maneuver between all the vehicles in the
auto and motorcycle.
We got
to the bus station with about 15 minutes to spare which was great but now we
had to sit in a bus for 7 hours. I originally thought it would only take 4
hours but then I was told 6 hours and when we got to the station the driver
said it would take 7 hours sitting in a stuffy bus. There weren’t too many
people on the bus when we got on but quite a few people got on at the next stop
and eventually there was a full bus. Unfortunately, the guy sitting in front of
me apparently had not heard of deodorant and decided to lean his chair back and
put his arm over his head treating me to quite a smell. I really wish I had had
some Febreeze that I could have just sprayed all over him. And worse, he was
going to Gudalur as well so we were stuck on the bus with him for the entire
trip.
Eventually
we got to Gudalur around 4:30pm, thank goodness, and were able to get some
fresh air. We managed to get an auto and stuff our luggage into the auto to
take us to the hospital. The weather is super nice in Gudalur since we are in
the mountains. This is a welcome change from the heat of Nagpur. We apparently
are going to be here for the beginning of monsoon season so it’s going to be
cool to see the rain.
We are
staying in the doctor’s hostel again and I have the same room I had last year.
There are actually a ton of people that are staying here as well. Sophie from
Englahd and Vivek are two doctors that are here on a long-term basis working at
the hospital. Dr. Sashi and her daughter are visiting from Pune to help out for
two weeks. Dr. Sashi is a OBGYN and comes to the hospital twice a year for 15
days to help out at the hospital. There are also two medical students, Anna and
Hayley that are here from England as part of their medical elective. They had just
arrived the past weekend so they were still adjusting to the change.
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| The guest hostel where we are all staying |
My room & Hallway/Living Room with the Kitchen further in
At
first we got freshened up before heading down to the hospital to see Dr.
Nandakumar to find out what we were going to be doing this trip. There is one
counselor, Ammani, at the hospital that pretty much sees every single patient
that comes through so I was going to be following her and shadowing her throughout
the visit. I was also going to be working with her to come up with some
educational information for the patients. Dr. Nandakumar also wants to make
health educational videos for the patients while they are waiting so I am
working with Ammani to see what is important and put together the information
that will be part of the video. Today was just to get up to speed on what I was
going to be doing for the next week.
You can learn more about the hospital at http://ashwini.org/. There is a ton of information about the history and how everything started which I highly recommend reading.
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| The hospital |
Afterwards
we went back to the hostel and were invited to Durga’s house for dinner. Durga
is one of the individuals that works with the hospital and the Adivasi Munnetra
Sangam. I had dinner at her house last year and it was amazing. Her house
pretty much resembles a story book cottage and is so unique compared to all the
other buildings in the area.
It's a story book cottage
It was her daughter’s birthday so we all went over
to celebrate. It was a really nice night to meet everyone. There were a ton of
people there so I’m not going to name and describe everyone but after dinner we
all sat around and kind of had a group sing-a-long. Akshaya, Anna, Hayley and I
just sat back and watched and listened to everyone interact. We eventually ended up back at the hostel where we all pretty much passed out because we were so exhausted.
All in all we are both happy to be in Gudalur. I loved my visit last year and I'm glad to be back this time.
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