like a fish needs a bicycle...

update

so i’ve survived my first couple of weeks, but i’m still feeling like hell off and on… i’ve decided it’s my wretched anti-malaria medication (anyone out there ever taken larium?). my worst sick days seem to follow my weekly doses of larium, and my mom had a chat with my doctor back home – she said my symptoms (nausea, weakness, lightheadedness, dizziness, unsteadiness, disrupted sleep) are pretty typical responses to larium. so if it is the larium, that would certainly make more sense than if it were some crazy multiple-week stomach flu. i truly hope we’ve found the culprit, though, because i’m really freaking sick and tired and being sick and tired. i’m ready to just be well, stay well, and enjoy my experience in india.

of course i had heard all the horror stories about larium (terrifying vivid nightmares, paranoia, sleep disturbance, vomiting, etc. – i even heard one story about temporary amnesia). so when considering my options for anti-malaria medications, i really tried to get on something else – but health professionals in the US apparently really like to push larium, and every doctor and travel nurse i talked to recommended it to me. why, i don’t know. but i ended up getting a prescription for it and taking it – i’ve taken several of my weekly doses now, and i think it’s making me miserable. according to a couple of the european interns here, they don’t prescribe larium in france or the UK at all anymore. now i see why. i’m going to try to switch my medication this week, hope to God that i start feeling normal, and reassess from there.

meanwhile, i did get to go out a bit this weekend (before my most recent dose of larium and the ensuing illness). my neighbor from school, pete, happens to be in delhi doing an internship this summer, too, so he and i have been hanging out. we did some sightseeing this weekend – we went to see the old fort and india gate, which was cool (see pics below). i also did some bazaar shopping and started accumulating souvenirs to take back – i did the smart thing and went shopping with some cool indian girls here… and i had an altogether fabulous time hanging out with akhila and adhithi this weekend (also see pics below).

the ruins at hauz khas marketplace

men playing cards inside the shade of the ruins (i had to do this one quickly and stealthily, so it's kind off-center)

at the old fort (purana qila)

jungle gyms in india are shaped like hindu temples

the monsoons have begun (such a strange sentence -- never thought i'd be saying something like that)

a monkey at the bazaar -- next to the "baby girl" tee, of course

akhila, adhiti, and me

delhi from the balcony

on a more general, philosophical level… i find it so interesting being here. apparently, delhi is not the greatest place to be. anyone who knows anything about india keeps telling me i would be much better off in mumbai or south india or somewhere else… the consensus is that delhi is the hottest, dirtiest, most socially un-fun of the big cities. but that’s where the jobs are, so that’s where i am, and where the 20 others interns in my office are.

also, i have been noticing that there are soooo many men in this city and so few women... i was wondering what was going on, and beginning to wonder if i was imagining it. but again, anyone who knows anything about india confirmed for me that, for some reason, delhi has the highest ratio of men to women, and that for some other (perhaps related?) reason, the women who are in delhi just don’t go out. you see almost all men on the streets.

another relevant observation is that i get stared at everywhere i go. at first i thought it was just because i was obviously a foreigner (my dark hair and skin don’t fool them – they just know. and it’s not my clothes that give me away either, since some women here do dress western-style – they really just know.) but now, locals have also confirmed for me that all women get stared at in delhi. not sure why, but that’s how it is. so even when i do succeed in getting some native clothes made for me (tailors are good and cheap here, so i’m looking forward to that), i’m thinking i’ll still get stared at. that’s just how it is.

in some ways, i’m getting the worst of both worlds… i get stared at on the streets, so i can’t really blend in and pretend i’m a local, but then whenever i go into restaurants or shops, people look at me and expect me to speak hindi – they’re rather surprised and sometimes annoyed when i don’t.

… so i’m making some adjustments, as one always does when arriving in a new country. but i’m not really culture shocked. my only real complaint is that i’ve been sick – if it weren’t for that, i think i would be having a marvelous time. i hate feeling sick, i hate not being able to go out and do what i want to do, and instead having to depend on others… and i especially hate being a burden on others (particularly when the others are not my family or close friends, but are people i’ve just recently met).

but everyone here is cool, they’ve been very friendly and helpful, and i’m enjoying getting to know them and working with them. i’m also excited to learn more about international law, to get a good feel for NGOs and human rights work in this part of the world, and to work on projects that build my legal skills. this could all be really good in lots of ways.

so the plan now is to just hang in there, do my best to feel better, and try to enjoy myself along the way.

Posted by naseem at June 21, 2006 03:24 AM