New News from India

It's me again! First of all, thanks for your comments on the last news. My neighbor lets me use his mobile phone for e-mailing. I'm very grateful for that, I don't know how else I would be able to communicate with you (maybe telegraphing? There's really not much you can say in a SMS). I'm still enjoying my time here, even though I'm working almost all the time on my diploma paper these days, it's a tough one...

The other day I went to Palamaner, the village about a 15 minute, suicidal drive away from the hospital I'm staying at. I've been told that this village is real India; not westernized like the big cities. I felt a bit like Armstrong would have felt, if he would've met some men on the moon. I think people don't get to see foreigners too often here. When I entered the bank for instance, 25 or so people stopped talking and stared at me. Men, I really got hold of their attention! Then customers at the counter were backing away, offering me to go first. But about 20 people were waiting! I didn't feel comfortable at all, as you can imagine, so turned on my heel and left the bank. I went back later, wearing a cap covering almost all of my face, and long sleeves; incognito so to speak. Then it was no problem any more (except that the clerk refused to talk English, until he realized that his words don't have any impact on me).