JSS Cont'd.

Just a few extra photos of JSS Hospital.  

The entrance to the outpatient department.  

The outpatient department after hours.  The place can be packed, wall to wall, in the mornings.  Especially Monday morning.  

Yeah immunizations.  And I'm going to go ahead and say that's how the British spell immunization center?  

This guy sort of manages the scooter parking lot in front of the OPD.  He uses his whistle liberally, and has no problem doing the whole thing barefoot.  

Begging for alms at the rickshaw stand out front.  

Meet Fazil

Meet Fazil.  He has what is arguably one of the best jobs in the world.  He hand picks every sari that is sold in his store, and he doesn't do it from a catalog.  Several times a year he travels around India visiting villages and wholesalers, where he sits in a room and people line up to show him their saris.  They unfold them and shake them out and wave them around and Fazil is surrounded by a phantasmagoria of Indian fabulosity.  He doesn't seem to be as enamored with the job as I am, so I've decided this is somehow going to be the underpinnings of my backup plan if medical school doesn't work out.  

I made him pose with the phone.  If he'd had his way, he'd have showcased his watch instead.  

On Fridays we wear white.  ("Mean Girls" anyone?)

Click on the picture for a better look at the detail work.  

Me pretending to be Fazil.  All I need is an iPhone and a pair of those amazing shoes.  

Bollywood Bombshell

So one day, as I was going about my lovely little routine and heading out to catch the bus, I noticed a commotion at the bus stop. 

 

Not quite sure what was going on, but I took out my camera anyways. Being the only foreigner and, oddly, the only person with any kind of a camera, I quickly attracted attention and was singled out to go meet the "hero."

It turns out they were filming a Bollywood movie.  If you haven't seen one, rent one and fast-forward through all the talking and watch the song and dance numbers.  For whatever reason I find these to be incredibly endearing and I'm always slack-jawed and completely in love with the Hero after two minutes of their synchronized dancing.  

Everyone was insanely, almost unbelievably nice.  They found a piece of paper and did autographs all around, and the director insisted upon taking this "creative" photo of me and the Hero.  He was definitely dressed way more Western than I was and I'm pretty sure his English was better than mine, too.  Also note he's probably the only Indian man who put his arm around me the entire trip.  

Hampi

If you're wiling to take a nine hour bus ride in the middle of the night you can wake up the next day in Hampi.  

I dropped off my bag in a little hotel (silk blankets, turquoise walls, drapey mosquito nets, elephant sheets, $7 per night) and walked down the steps to the river.  

Apparently he "doesn't really like his job, its just what his father did."  Dad, if only you were an elephant washer!  Her name is Lakshmi and she gets a bath every day.  Her handler uses a rock to scrub her all over, but he has a special brush he uses on her trunk.  She lives in the temple.  I want to live there, too.  

Best. Moment. Of. My. Life. 

The old Hampi Bazaar.  

Meet Hussein Basha.  He drives a rickshaw and showed me all around Hampi.  He drove me around to temples, bargained down prices for me, and took me swimming in a river surrounded by giant rock formations.  Best of all, he let me drive his rickshaw.  Unfortunately there are no pictures because he was a little preoccupied with making sure I didn't destroy anything.  I plugged in my iPod and drove him and his friend through the jungle listening to "Sweet Home Alabama."  

I visited a temple where the god Rama waited out the monsoon season before continuing his quest to rescue his wife, Sita (wikipedia "Ramayana" for more details).  This particular place was built as a venue for weddings, and it features built in "musical columns."  Each individual post has a unique pitch.  It's been quite a while since my musical theory days, but I'm pretty sure they were relatively in tune.  The flower in my hand fell from a tree where, apparently, Rama gave puja during his stay.  

Abass is charming, cheerful, and charismatic.  He runs a little jewelry shop where he sells jewelry he makes himself.  He also had a lot to say about Hindu-Muslim tensions which, it seems, run very deep in Hampi.  

These two boys are from Rajasthan, where fabulous, fabulous shoes are made.  The one on the left is 18, and his brother to the right is 15.  They live in their shoe shop and make the best masala chai.  

Elephants and temples and waterfalls aside, do you really need any other reason to come to Hampi?