Math and Numbers

Hey guys,
So our project is getting along well. We have done some preliminary survey's in an English school and have processed the data. A high percentage of these kids know what gutka is, and they know its bad for you. Most learned about gutka from stores and most learned at the age of 11-12.
Anyways, we have also been looking into using our educational program in rural schools. Apparently 70% of the population in India is rural and while 42% of the total population uses tobacco, that number is much higher in rural areas. Hopefully we can set this up.

Finally, I am trying to embed a video of Jeff's pretty cast. Although the orthopedic surgeon told us he only had one type of fiberglass cast and that it was slightly pink, I was not expecting this. Hopefully the video works.

Also we saw that there is schools for low IQ kids in India. I'm glad to see that people recognize disability as more than something like, "you should study more!" The school's sign was in English and it was called a school for, "SLOW learners...don't laugh at us, laugh with us!"


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Showering with a bucket and a slight foot fracture

So as Taj mentioned before, I found out yesterday that I have an avulsion fracture of my 5th metatarsal in my right foot. In order to let it heal properly, I had to get a cast on my foot and I will get it off just before I leave here in a few weeks. The only color they had in fiberglass was pink. Cool.

Despite the cast, we all went to the pre-wedding bash for Mr. Desphande's son. Needless to say this was an awesome cultural experience. From eating off banana leafs to a ridiculous firework's show, this was a night to remember.

To give an update on our project, we submitted our materials to the printer so hopefully we will receive them in a few days.


Banana leaves


Enjoying the food


Pretty awesome outfits for the servers

Move over Diwali....it's July 4th in India

Last night we decided to go out and get some good ol' fashioned Indian fireworks.  Mind you most of these fireworks would be highly illegal in the US.  We got a couple of bottle rockets, the Indian version of M-80s which are aptly called "bombs," and a shell...yup that's right: the type of shell that fires straight into the air and blows up.

We approached our the track in front of the boy's hostel to light the fireworks when we started getting whistled at by the security guards.  I explained to them in Hindi that we wanted to light fireworks and they were amenable to the idea. Actually they were much more than amenable. They ended up following us, having a jolly good time watching AND helping us light the fireworks instead of reprimanding us.  

On another note, we have an update of Jeff's condition.  He has a hairline fracture of the 5th metatarsal in his foot. I have to admit that I was pretty proud of myself because I was able to diagnose him before he got an x-ray.  I may have to move ortho up on my list now. Even better, Jeff will be sporting a pink cast on his foot.  Hopefully Jeff will be able to move around easier with a cast now.  If not, I volunteer to put him under my knife in India, which he hasn't agreed to yet.

We have a video of the fireworks, but I'm having trouble loading it right now.  I'll try again later. 

-Taj

Some of our materials that we have prepared...

As we finish translating all of our documents into the local language here, I thought it would be nice to post some samples of the materials we have produced so far.





This is the gameboard we will be handing out to kids.

Facial Hair: A Chronicle

So due to popular demand, here is a timeline of my facial hair for the first few weeks of being here. For those of you that don't know, I am half chinese and half Irish. Clearly I inherited the Asian genes when it comes to facial hair so I figured that being in India for 5 weeks would be the best way to see how ridiculous it can get. The first picture is taken right around when I got here and the last picture was taken yesterday while recovering from my ankle injury.



As I mentioned before, we spent our one day off in the operating room at a local cancer hospital. Below are some pictures from the surgery...some pictures may be graphic for some...

Some words of wisdom outside the hospital


Tajdip stoked before going in...



That's the patient's jugular vein...holy sh*t. See folks, this is what happens when you chew gutka, or for those in the states, those who dip. Foul.

Dharwad Pedha and Bandh

Our work has slowed right now because we're waiting to hear back from printers and translators, so the past two days have been pretty relaxed. It was really nice to run around and do personal errands. Doing laundry by hand can actually be calming.

Deshpande's son is getting married this weekend in Hubli, and they have graciously invited our whole team to the wedding. So I had an excuse to go clothes shopping. We had some Dharwad pedha from a local bakery. This is a type of sweet that's unique to Karnataka apparently. It's truly amazing. It has a texture that really melts in your mouth. It's sweet and has a thick milky taste. So good!!! And it'd be really hard to find in the US, even at Indian stores, so I'm gonna make sure I get one every time we're in the city.

There was a nation wide 'bandh' today, because of land revocation at a temple. It's essentially a strike. Things shut down and there are riots. But locally, we also had a truckers strike, so everything really was shut down today. We saw a small mob forming, and people waving flags. Hopefully the restaurants will open so we can eat dinner….

Chew gutka? NO WAY!!!

Chewing gutka could kill you. Tell your friends to say "no" to gutka!

--an example of some characters we are using for the anti-gutka campaign for kids