Dear friends and family,
We’ve made it to Pondicherry! Now Caitlin, Lauren and I are beginning our second (and last) five-week research project of the semester at Vector Control Research Center. And like my bird survey at Mudumalai Wildlife Sanctuary, it looks like it will be another experience that I can only have in India. The reason why is this: I will be doing a little project involving filariasis, aka elephantiasis, a tropical disease that’s a big problem in some parts of India (google it).
Today I spent the morning in the clinic with one of the doctors here interacting with patients with the swollen filariasis legs that I’ve only see in pictures. My project will involve developing questionnaires on patient hygiene and also some lab work on the bacteria that often make this condition worse. It’s such a unique opportunity and my mind is just racing with the desire to make the most out of it. This is exactly what I wanted from this semester: a project involving the wildlife in this beautiful country; and a project involving patient contact with people afflicted with tropical disease. This is what I want to do with my life and when I send off those medical school applications, this is what I will talk about!
Anyway, that’s what’s going on now. Since I last updated, travel break has ended. We made the most out of those two weeks: a moving kathakali dance (by all means google it!), a backwater boat tour, a tea plantation visit, and best of all, a nine-hour trek through Periyar Tiger Reserve.
The trek was the highlight of my travel break. The four of us started at eight in the morning and saw barking deer and black langur monkeys within minutes. By noon we had made it up a 1000-foot mountain and taken in some of the breathtaking beauty of the Indian rainforest. Our guide seemed to know everything and the armed guard carried a huge gun in case of elephants, which is a good thing since we came across fresh dung. But then it started raining and elephants seemed like a distant concern compared to the dozens of leeches crawling up our bodies. That’s right. Leeches. They were bad enough when it was dry, but when the afternoon monsoon rain came they went on the march, crawling up from the ground onto our shoes and up our legs. I pulled two leeches from the base of my neck, and I made one leech a very happy, blood-engorged leech… until I pulled it from my back and popped it! Okay, I’ll stop.
In other news, the Indian food has finally started to get to me, so you may all be hugging a softer, squishier Isaac when I get back around Christmas. The problem is, South Indian food is really soupy, and the way you eat it is by taking a big scoop of rice with each bite in order to sop it all up. But it’s so messily delicious! Then again, I may be able to avoid turning my body to cookie dough since I just joined a gym near where we’re staying. Three-hundred rupees a month, why not?
I hope Thanksgiving is wonderful there – we might put on a little celebration of our own since we get to cook for ourselves here. But I’ll be thinking about the fam! Have a great holiday and know that I miss you.
Again, I am ever your loving
Isaac H.
pseudoisaac 