A little bored perhaps

Dear all. I think I am starting to get used to this place. It's interesting how a routine started to settle in and the things that might have shocked you in the beginning just don't really anymore. I walk along the busy roadsides and dart across streets in an instant where in the beginning I'd have waited for the all-clear that only occurs every 5 minutes. I however am also getting a little bored and feel a slight mental block that I am creating for myself. In many ways I should be out exploring but I have some kind of aversion to just jumping in a rickshaw and telling it to go. Now meaning to sound too philosophical but I guess one often feels that journeys should have a purpose or a destination and I suppose they really don't and can we work it in their own right.

The result of the above point (as well as talking to some very convincing people) is that I am contemplating buying a scooter. Oh yes, the freedom! They are relatively inexpensive here and would offer the ideal mode of transportation and the opportunity to explore. Now points that speak against it: I have never written a motorised two-wheeler in my life because I thought it was dangerous. For this reason learning by doing in the traffic nightmare that is an Indian metropolis might not be so wise. It gets really hot here and I have been warned about heat stroke. I am partially deaf and can't here where sound comes from. I believe helmets in India are made from paper mache. Now the cases for: I have realised that I am now old enough to do things to make me feel young. I would love to just be able to truly cruise around and explore. A scooter is the ultimate accessory (I could also consider a Tata Nano). The result of this turmoil is that all I see is scooters. It's like girls who miss their periods and all they see is babies. Scooters are everywhere and they are SOOOO cute.

Anywho, enough about the scooter. Time will tell. I do have 2 funny little stories to tell. This Saturday gone past I was in the dentist office to have the two remaining wisdoms yanked from my skull. So I am in the chair and the doctor and injected me pretty well and good with anaesthesia when he asks me is I am married. I reply NO, but that I have a GF of many years. Now must places this would lead into a "what does she do", "do you live together", etc. Not here. NOOO. I get a sharp criticism and told that arranged marriages where the two joining parties have never met are much better. Basically that free choice and uncertain in a relationship is a bad thing. This leads on to the men are superior to women and that this is a scientific fact. Now the doctor is preparing the scalpel but I refuse to have my bebe and my lifestyle choices criticised to such an extent that I respectfully tell the dentist that there is no scientific basis for what he is saying that I would never want to be with someone who I didn't consider an equal. We go on a little more and so one and the finally as things are perhaps getting just a little intense he ways "The anaesthesia seems to be working, let's get started". I can proudly say the dentist stayed professional but apparently he drilled and filed quite a bit in my jaw... I came in India to experience something and I certainly am.

Also I went to the local mall which just a cinema and a foodcourt and a Tommy Hilfiger. I went to the Istanbul Kebab because I was craving hummos. Now guess what, behind a counter...a real Turk for Izmir! He's been in Hyderabad for a year! Funny that I am shooting the shit with a Turk in a Kebab shop and I start to miss Denmark.

I think I will leave it here for now. I should be travelling next week so hopefully I'll have some stories for you guys. J

Oh the contrast

India is definitely the land of contrast…

For a few days now I have felt that something wasn't entirely OK with my jaw. When I bite down there is tension on the lower right side and things just don't seem to align as they should. Now I happen to be so fortunate that my colleague's brother is a dentist, so we talk and I am told to just go visit Dr. M and he'll sort me out just fine. As I have been throught Hyderabad once today with auto rickshaw I opt for a cab. Now one of my colleagues was good enough to help with this and the cab should have arrived by 18:00. At 18:15 I walk back to my flat to drop my laptop and notice the government plated Tata Indica. I walk back to the office, read the paper, etc. I finally I push my colleague to find out where the cab is and we finally figure that it is coming. Now as I come out I see the very same Tata roll up. The driver didn't know where exactly he was supposed to go so he just parked halfway down the road and expected that things would sort themselves out.

I arrive at the dentist office/muslim prayer room and announce my arrival. I spend few minutes reading a booklet on Islam and am then introduced to Dr. M. Now Dr. M is in his thirties and has a very long beard and is wearing a taqiyah (Muslim skullcap). I come in and am introduced to his friend who is a famour cricketer! Dr. M has lived 5 years in Chicago and I can only say that he is one of the kindest gentlemen I have met in a long time. We chat about family and being in Hyderabad and what I am doing here. I explain the ailment and he looks and finds a few cavities and we go to have an x-ray taken. Now it turns out that I have a wisdom tooth coming in horizontally, something akin to someone slapping down a door with a log. Do yeah, we know what this means. Now it is about 19:30 so he tells me that I need to go to another clinic to have another type of x-ray taken. My reaction of course is "well I can do that tomorrow and I don't really know how to get there". This would be normal in any of the countries I have ever lived in, not India.

Now Dr. M says to me "Abdul here is studying to become a physiotherapist, he will take you to where you need to do". I get introduced to Abdul who asks is we should take his motorcycle…noooo. So into a auto we go and drive 5 min down the street to a little clinic. I am starting to get used to the standard of things in India, but this clinic looks something like what I imagine the worst social services office in New Jersey would look like. 1 x-ray image of mouth 300 Rs. Do I pay, noooo, the clinic will sort that out. Also Abdul paid for the Auto. As we wait Abdul and I talk about all matter of things, including religion. Abdul is rather devout and finds it a little difficult to believe that I don't attend church. Never mind that, I still think I am invited to his wedding next month.

Back to the clinic and I have exchanged numbers with Abdul and we may hang out sometime soon. We drill out a plan for removal of the first tooth…how about Saturday? When is good for you Rasmus? Make sure you eat a meal first! And now the other thing, as anyone who has even seen me smile knows, my bottom row of teeth is fucked. So yeah, I may need to get braces. Now I believe when I was around 13 my mother and I spoke to the dentist about me getting braces and it was something like 2,000-3,000 and this is 10-15 years ago. They could offer financing, etc. Now India is the same in terms of financing…but the whole thing should cost me around 10,000 – 15,000…Rupees! So basically about 1/10^th of the price.

I also get the prescription for the necessary antibiotics to be taken before and after the op. Off to the pharmacy? Hell no, yes get the drugs the reception. 3 different meds, total cost 140 Rs. So basically at the moment I am in dentistry paradise (did I mention I didn't say for the consultation). And it's not just here. I also needed to have blood tests done as a requirement from the Indian state. Full blood works for AIDS, syphilis, hepetitus, etc. Now I think in Denmark this would usually take about 3-5 days. In India: 2 hours.

On the flipside at work we have had a shipment stuck in customs for over a month. Daily calls and visits do not seem to be able to budge them and we are constantly led to believe that tomorrow will be the day that it gets released…Yeah, contrast.

On the topic of friendly people I met a man in the swimming pool and chatted so well with him that I am now suffering from the worst sunburn I have ever experienced. This was Saturday (today is Wednesday) and my shoulders, back, chest and stomach are still red and tender though my forehead has started to peel. This shocks Indian and they don't really get what is happening to the white man who resembles a leper. Anyways, the gentleman in the pool was a pristine example of the educated, well-to-do class here. Owns his own IT company, lives in Columbia, wife works in the company and is supposedly very independent, mother is a journalist and feminist writer, and so on and so on and so on.

It takes all types and India has them.