Tandoori Summer: Rajasthan

Wednesday evening we flew from Hyderabad to Rajasthan (three states in one day). Exhausted, we checked into a fabulous hotel in Jaipur around midnight. “Fabulous” means there was a shower curtain, and TWO towels, and AC. Luxury.

By 7am, we were off in a car with our driver, Ram, to an area 130km from Jaipur called Tonk. Unicef had again set up our visit, which was depressing as ever. Despite the 20 babies in the NICU, not a single one wore a clean diaper. All were laying in their own pee and poop, while the nurses stood around chatting. If I knew how to change a diaper, I would have done them all myself. Mothers aren’t allowed in this NICU, so had no idea the conditions in which their sick newborns were being kept. Still makes me sick to my stomach

to think about it…

We gathered quite the crowd outside the hospital, which was packed with Muslim women completely covered in black. A pig roamed around the front of the hospital.

Per Unicef’s suggestion, we decided to head even further into the rural areas to Malpura. Ram was hesitant, since the roads there were so bad and monsoons frequent. But we wanted to see what kinds of challenges people in remote areas faced – including how they received and repaired equipment without paved roads. Turns out Ram was right. The roads were so uneven and flooded, we bottomed out several times, eventually breaking the radiator and causing the car to gush steam out of the hood. We passed camels, small villages, and children playing with rocks. A few hours later, we pulled a smoking car into

the clinic’s driveway. We left Ram to attend to it while we toured the sparse facilities.

After some interviews, measurements, and masala tea, we met Ram and a smokeless car outside. Within a few minutes of driving, however, we had to pull over to pour water on the radiator and engine. The next five hours consisted of driving for 15 minutes, stopping when we found a well, filling up our water bottles via the pump, and pouring the water under the hood. None of us had eaten that day, so we subsisted on ginger chews Booth had brought from Trader Joe’s. We managed to visit a few more clinics along the way, and finally sputtered into our hotel at 11p. Lordy.

Friday we spent the day visiting private and government hospitals in Jaipur, chauffeured by “New Ram”, a smiley guy who giggled at everything we said. We had dinner at the rooftop restaurant of our Turkish-looking hotel while listening to the Indian musicians and clinking of the dancers’ ankle jewelry.

Saturday was finally a day of rest/play! We hired Bhati, who promised we could ask him anything about Indians and he would reserve judgment. We took him up on it. Why do the mothers line the babies' eyes with thick, black eyeliner? How early do arranged marriages get, well, arranged? What are the varying levels of dowries? What are the puffy balls people eat on the streets? Is mutton goat or lamb?

Bhati drove us all through Jaipur, which is a beautiful city walled with pink buildings, displays of colorful block printed fabric, camels, and begging children. We visited a mausoleum of Jaipur's emperor, the Amber Fort, a gigantic paper factory employing 300 people, and a number of small stalls selling rugs, purses, fabrics, and sarees. I bought a gorgeous 8'x10' rug for $200, and had some purses made while I waited. We returned back to our lovely hotel, exhausted, to eat on the outdoor rooftop again. Bhati promised he'd facebook us. We liked Jaipur.