More Wedding Wonders

so there i was that fateful saturday... dressed up in one of my favorite shirts, faded jeans and leather shoes. i honestly thought i look like a chinese john wayne, just without the swagger and the spit. the plan was to attend the wedding, stay for an hour and slowly slip out and go back home. nice plan.

the event was supposed to start at 11 am, so we opted to "visit" at 1 pm when the ceremony has finished and the send-off has begun. Here in churachandpur, the bride will have a send off party, hosted by the bride's family (of course) where friends, neighbors and family members will have the last chance of "seeing"the bride with the family. After the send off party, she will be "fetched"by the dashing groom to live in a castle far away from the meddling in laws. or she would be living with her husbands parents, who she probably does not know or like. such fate!

while waiting for the 1 pm toll, i decided to go for lunch at the posh-iest place in town, hoping for my usual pork ribs and chowmien. there i was clickety-clacketing my way through the market, the bust station and the dusty streets of c'cpur in a get up my mother would be ashamed of.

the lunch was amazingly delicious and spicy - that was the best part of the day if you ask me. and at exactly 12:30 i went down to the send off party. half way through i met khaipu and seilen who escorted me and provided the "guarding" necessary for my attire.

at 1:15, there were no familiar faces yet and i was getting agitated. i called the other expats twice but it seems that someone's dress doesn't fit with the shoes. it's like: hey this isn't sex and the city and you are not carrie!.

so anyway, the ceremenony started and we were escorted to take a seat. thinking that it would be impossible for us to escape the ceremony if we were in the front part (facing the bride), i asked seilen and khaipu to sit with me at the back. I saw the smug smiles on the two guys -- and i thought - aha! they too, have plans!

the back part of the garden was covered with a tent and some pieces of beautiful cloth so it looked exclusive -- just us having a party, don't mind the neighbors look.

three minutes into the ceremony, seated at the back, i started to gag. not the one needing the heimlich, but the one when you smell something. i started joking to seilen that he should change his aftershave, but when i looked at him, he was covering his face -- apparently smelling something odd and fetid as well!

it was then that i noticed that the ground was covered in pig shit!

khaipu started to feel the wall behind the cloth and the tent and true enough, behind us was a pig sty! we stayed, for two minutes smiling and gagging in between, then raced off to the nearest door. halfway out, i met one more of our staff who greeted me (without batting an eyelash): "my you look human, today!"

i'll never attend any weddings here. not if i can help it.

Some Action Pics....

Some of my recent favorite pics... of me! Hope you like them too! These were taken in various clinics in Manipur.

Tsibai !!!

I am back in Manipur after almost a month of being away. I haven't forgotten that I have not written here since Brussels, but I just didn't have the time to sit and type my evenings away. That - and the fact that the internet has been on a snail pace mode the past week.

There is a lot to write about --- daily challenges, post-Brussel blues, lost packages of Belgian chocolates, and most importantly - how the hell am I going to bring all my favorite things back home when I finish my mission here!

I have some ideas already but none seem to be good (yet).... but anyway that will have to wait for a couple of months more. And since this blog will be here for a longer time, I'll beg off writing for now.

I am late for my badminton match.

Plans For An Indian Holiday

Today is a holiday in the whole of India. It is Republic Day -- though as a foreigner, I don't exactly know what it means. For me, it could be one of those days when I could lounge away watching movies after movies after movies, leaving bed only for necessary activites (eat, shit and piss, of course!!) and rocking myself to dream land sporadically. Best yet, because it is a Monday!

But... here I am facing the office computer trying to finish the 4M order. And truthfully, I hadn't slept at all last night! (I watched 6 movies non-stop from 8 pm onwards... this morning I started on season 2 of Californication).

I don't think it is a masochistic tendency. I just have to finish this and move on to other responsibilities before I leave for Brussels this Saturday. And just looking at the list of things I have to do (with big bold red letters labelled PRIORITY on most of them), I feel I just don't have enough time. Or probably the energy....

Worst -- I haven't packed yet. I know you'll probably say this dude is weird: he will leave days from now and he is talking about packing? Well, another psychiatric side of me is that I prepare my "wardrobe"days (some times weeks) before I leave. Like when I was in Myanmar, two months before I leave the project, I had already sorted, packed in nice folds all the shirts and jeans I want to bring back home. If there is a favorite shirt, I'd wash it (myself) 4 days beforehand and then pack day on the day I will leave. I think this is good because you (read: me in this context) tend to organize things and don't get frazzled by time constraints.

So anyway... these are my scattered projections for the day... Back to work!

Do you think the peripheral clinics will need more methyergometrine this quarter?

Journey To The Center Of The ... Eeek!

It is 3 am and I am still awake. I have started on 10-days PAP (prohibited area permission) journeys from Manipur to New Delhi. I am sleepy and tired but I don't want to close my eyes because I know that as soon as I wink -- it will be a nod to dreamland.

I have been here in Delhi since last week for PAP and Visa reasons (my Indian visa expires on the 25th). Just being away from the project fills me with a lot of anxiety over the tasks and responsibilities I need to do just before I leave (again) next week for PAP reasons and for my training in Brussels.

Honestly, I thought it was cool to travel regularly - lesser work-related stress, more shopping and sight seeing. Recently, I realized that with the regular round of airport visitations, you can never get things done and work clogs up.

Anyways, here I am , waiting for the driver to pick me up and having a last go on my blog. And so I say, not only hasta la vista, but here's wishing for lesser air pockets, baby.

Did I tell you I snore when I'm tired?

Wistful Working

There are so many reasons why I haven't written anything for the past few days.

Just after my birthday, we got entangled in this beautiful work called 12 M (basically it's a report for activities the past year and interpreting data -- to know whether we have achieved the indicators). It was a priority so we have to push aside other things, including blogging. After a while of looking at rows after rows of different parameters defining a project, I kind of got the beat and we finished 3 days before the deadline. What was gross were the layers of toilet paper used for blowing my nose. As you know, I had a super flu (which lasted for exactly 16 days) and had to bear through working in the clinics and waking up early in the morning listening to church songs. I even sounded funny in a Ray Charles sort of way. The difference is that I say mayodays instead of mayonaise.

The other thing which got me worked up was the evaluations. The hardest part of this job is to find one hundred and twenty ways to say "you suck at your job" without being so harsh and judgmental. So, I ended up saying things like: "scratching your balls when you don't have work is not productive.." Kidding. Truth is, I learned the art of asking subliminal (i don't know if that is the proper word) questions and have the staff answer me back positively. So I would ask: "what do you think you should do when you don't have data to enter?" And I got a response: "Buy paan (betel nut concoction) and go to the clinic". I didn't like the paan part, but he got into the clinic part, so that was okay --- a bit.

I also got to read ancient protocols and felt like Indiana Jones trying to decipher the reasons why it was written in the first place. Right now, I am trying to finish the ANC (ante-natal clinic) protocol, written three doctors ago.

And so it came to pass that on my 16th birthday, I got to do a lot of work. But I am in Delhi now so I get to do a bit of truancy....and of course, shopping.

Enough of this and now.... back to work!

New Year Abba-minations

Kum thah chibai!

The new year has gotten the best of me. After having an excellent italian dinner (pasta, pizza and salad), we drowned ourselves on rum and coke, and the activity before the countdown was watching Mamma Mia -- singing to the songs by Abba (here I go again, my,my.. how can I resist you?).

It was a bit of a weird feeling sitting around with cool guys singing to the best (or the worst, depending on how you see it) of the Abba. So ironic seeing the cool beaches of Greece and us covered in several layers of clothing , huddling next to the miniscule mei-po (mini-fire place). Three minutes before the year ended, we paused the screen and rushed to the third floor balcony (probably hoping for fireworks??). Rum and coke in hand, we greeted each other happy new year amidst a back ground of prayers.

Huh?

Churachandpur, as I have mentioned before is a Christian district. Before the Christmas season started several churches around the block have already "epiphanized" us with morning songs and late evening prayers. Did I mention the drums? So the prayer is in a monotonous tone "sung"with the beating of the drums. And oh, yeah, there is a prompter on a microphone saying the parts of the hymn -- just in case someone from the choir forgets the words.

Going back to the new year celebration, it was blessed enough for us to go back down and do a karaoke of the Abba songs until 1:45 am. Of course, I didn't go to sleep till 4 am when the choir in the three neighbouring churches had a tea break. And it was rock and roll thereafter.

And so it was that another year came and passed. Different would be the word for it. Unforgetable? Pass me the rum before I say anything again.

The Tale of the Big Toe

A couple of days ago, there was a commotion in the town clinic. A brazenly courageous individual went inside the laboratory and stole one mobile phone while the lab personnel was peeking through the microscope. Some kind of an Agatha Christie plot, and though I was on the verge of joining in the search for the usual suspects, I took a step back and concentrated on my medical supervision.

One of the logisticians (logs, in slang) suggested that it might because the lab personnel gave the “wrong result” hence the thievery. It was also at that point when a man came to the triage nurse complaining about pain on his “big toe”. The nurse, poor soul, was still flushed with the robbery, couldn't understand what the man wants: he is saying big toe, but he is pointing at his groin! So she probed further: "How about your other toes?"

"My toes in my feet are fine," he said.

"But you said you have a pain in your big toe. Do you want to see a doctor or shall I see you toe myself?" she offered.

The man who is in his 50's almost collapsed. In a very conservative place as Manipur, where churches and Christian values abound (sometimes much too much), it is "forbidden"to talk about the privates. Men do not go to clinics and be treated for sexually transmitted infections because of fear that a woman doctor would "touch" their penises. In this context (Christian teaching plus tradional beliefs) it is very difficult to talk about sex, discuss about it publicly and come to the clinic for consultation.

It has become a bit of a challenge to invite men to come to the clinic and avail of the free consultations and the medicines we have. In October of this year, we have but 2 cases of male sexually transmitted infections and about 200 times more listed as mere urinary tract infections.

Despite the huge economic boom in modern India and the modernization of what was deemed as rural, traditional beliefs and culture still exist in every nook and cranny.

Going back to the guy with the big toe, I happened to be in the records room and have overheard the commotion. I obviously do not speak Manipuri, but with the old man's gestures, it was obvious that he has either sexually or mental problems.

The great sleuth stepped in. I found it more pleasant to intervene in this than look for the cell phone. Anyways, I called one of the male doctors and have him talked with the old dude. Indeed, the guy has been having pain when he urinates! He has been having bloody urine for the past months and has been having discharge for a longer time. He was the examined and was given medicines by the doctor.

I was just outside of the main clinic, listening to the epic of the lost mobile phone when the Big Toe Guy came out and thanked me. As he was about to stepped of the clinic, I asked, if our doctor did a rectal exam ( makes sense because it could be also a prostatic problem). The man smiled, came back and asked our guard what I was asking.

The guard explained that I planned to have the doctor "examine" his anus. The old man, took three steps back and then started to run. The staff who were present just laughed like they never laughed before.

I am glad though, that we manage to solve his big toe problem.

I am just going to stop this for now, I may have to see what my big toe needs.

PS. We had no clue what happened to the phone.

"Angang Pokpah"

I have had a fruitful afternoon.

This afternoon, I did a lecture on the birthing process to the medical and non-medical staff. Child birth in Manipuri is “angang pokpah” which literally means, “child coming out”. I specifically chose this topic because of a lot of reasons. I want the nurses and the midwives to understand that the practices they are doing is outdated and harmful. I also want to teach the staff (mothers and mothers-to-be) to handle babies as soon as they are brought forth into this polluted world. I want the fathers to be aware of their responsibilities when their wives (or girl friends) go into labor. These reasons - plus the fact that some of the staff either just gossip or play karambola in the afternoon when there are no patients in the clinic.

The topic was controversial. I wanted to do some adverts a day before in the local tongue, but I ended up mis-pronouncing "birth" and was heard as "bird". So I made some posters saying : "Uchek: a new experience" ( I learned later that "uchek" means bird - It's like, what the hell is there to experience with a bird?). After the miscommunication, I posted adverts on the office and clinic walls so everyone is aware. I had the health educators simulate a birthing process – never omitting anything the midwives and nurses are doing: from the patient examination to the caring of the newborn baby. I asked one of the male health educators to act as the pregnant woman and the other guy as the midwife. The guys really played their parts marvelously! The minute that they came out – wig, apron and all, the crowd was rolling with laughter. We had a doll strapped to his belly and had a red scarf as the placenta, so they could properly act out and have props as well!

My guys were very natural.

After the skit, we discussed the common practices that are are harmful to both the mother and baby. It was a bit of a discussion, because we did not only identify three or five problems but eleven! The discussion should have been for only 30 minutes but because of the questions we had it running for an hour.

Just to give you an idea of the common practices here: discarding the colustrom and not giving it to the new born, cleaning the fresh umbilicus with the mother's saliva and or salt, pushing the uterus till the baby comes out. The latter is also a common practice in some culture (fundal pressure) and oftentimes, it does more harm than help. We identified the issues, talked about consequences and clarified a lot of things.

At the end of the lecture, I was mobbed by some staff asking more questions. This time not as an-obstetrician-wannabe, but as a pediatrician. I am glad to have done this lecture. I am glad to be here.

I love my life.

Thank God It's Fri-Holiday!

It is 7:24 am. I am supposed to have showered and with a cup of black coffee, I should have been in the office for the daily staff meeting. But I am not.

Today is a holiday here in Manipur. It is a beautiful tribal tradition where the brothers (in the family) honor their sisters (or the women in their family). The Manipuris have realized a long long time ago the importance of women in their society. Although they maintain a patriarchal society, women are revered and respected as an equal. And the holiday starts with the sisters visiting brothers to maintain the fraternal bond and the brothers in return would give presents to the sisters.

I love this holiday. It not only commemorates the role of women in the society, but also, for my greedy reasons, allow me to sleep late (meaning at 10 PM) and wake up late (meaning at 6:30 AM). And fun because it is a Friday!

And while the streets are playing drums (as of now) and there is an unknown and unfamiliar songs in the the air, here I am on my bed typing my early morning blog. The air is festive, definitely, but the drums are not as upbeat as I expected them to be.

Anyways, I am invited later today to witness this event at a staff’s house. Of course, there will be food, so I have to prepare my stomach for real hot and spicy stuff.

I wish we have holidays like these in the Philippines. Not just the Saint’s day or something. Something solid and can identify us as a nation. Not just having festivals for the sake of festivals – one town or province copying from another town or province. Why can’t we celebrate the family? Why can’t we make it personal?

Have a grand parents appreciation day, even if your Lolo is in Jail for corruption?

Celebrate your ex-partner’s day?

Rejoice for the birth of your 14th sibling day?

And while you are thinking about your personal holidays, I would finish this and slowly ease my way back to dreamland.