Week of Rest

the project jeep dropped me off on the road in front of my apartment on saturday afternoon after a long last week in the scary house. when it pulled away, i was standing there with 2 roll-up beds, my computer, and about 8 bags with equipment, pots and pans, and clothes. i was preparing myself to make lug it all of that up the stairs to my apartment when all the neighborhood kids came out and grabbed bags and carried it up with me. at the top of stairs, my next door neighbor was waiting with open arms to help too. it was really very touching and welcoming. what a relief to be back in ponnampet for the week! here are 2 pictures of the little town in ponnampet. it has a margin free (grocery store), chemist (drug store), bakery, bank, etc. the next town over, gonnikoppal, is larger and about 15 minutes away by rick shaw which costs 60 rupees or about $1.50. the bus is 5 rupees, but i usually treat myself to a rick shaw.


the next picture is of the little girl that lives next to me. she is 2 years old and very sweet. she comes into my apt every now and then, but is pretty shy. her mom draws on her eyebrows every day. i asked my field assistant about this. she said that it is to make the eyebrows grow in thick. her mom didn’t do that for her, that’s why her eyebrows are too thin.


nothing too exciting to report on the research front this past week. i mainly entered my data – which takes hours – and tried to catch up with my emails (and sleep). i also spent a couple of days at the forestry college to check the traps, get equipment ready, and speak to the team and their boss about logistics for the coming weeks. i cut my finger on one of the traps – which is becoming a weekly event. they had no bandaids at the college, so the lady that was cleaning the floors wrapped my bloody finger in a rag/skirt that she had around her waist. it was really very sweet, but also very dirty. i cleaned it thoroughly when i got back to my apartment and it is fine.

sometimes trying to get anything done at the college is like entering in a time warp – you can be there for hours and get nothing done. all the doors to the rooms are locked with pad locks and there seems to be only one key, finding out who has the key and if you have permission to use it alone can take half a day. then the boss’s office is like a bus station. two assistants sit in the office and there is always a queue of students, faculty, and visitors waiting to talk to the boss (or “sir” as they call him). even when you are talking with him, there are people coming in all the time, so it is difficult to have his undivided attention and get anything accomplished. he has a bell on his desk that he rings and people come running at the sound. one evening when i was leaving the college, “sir” was walking to his car with my 2 female research assistants in tow, one carrying his lap top for him and the other his lunch while his arms were empty. it is very much like a paternal relationship that he has with his student and the project team. he will ask me, “how are my boys and girls?” even though all of them are in their mid to late 20s. it is quite interesting. (picture is of a temple with the om symbol which is the sign of god and his three pronged fork - i thougt at first it was the devil's pitch fork)

most of the other people in my field team went to their “native” or their home town during this week off. they are used to taking 6-7 hour night buses on sunday night and then coming into work on monday morning. i don’t know how they do it. the mother of the woman who married out of her caste prepared a special pooja which means worship or prayer for her. she believes that one of the bad gods has been with her for the past couple of years causing her hardships in her life. the pooja involves serving 25 children a meal and then hopefully the god will leave her. these 2 little girls in the picture were walking by one day when we working on the site and i took their picture. the kids like to see their pictures in the digital camera after you take it.


my roommate was gone all this week for field work. she came back only on saturday afternoon, then left again on sunday evening. it was good to see her for a bit though. we had a bbq with some of the european researchers on saturday night. it was really nice. we made homemade veggie burgers, potatoes and onions, and vegetable kabobs on the grill. four of the other researchers have left in the past 2 weeks and my roommate leaves in 3 weeks…that will just leave the 2 french researchers, one who is studying carbon sequestration in the coffee farms and one who is studying the hydrology, and me (who is studying mammals :)