Happy Day After Thanksgiving!

I started this week with a touch of bronchitis, which seems to be somewhat inevitable in this very dusty and polluted place. I took the opportunity to try out the local clinic, and was seen on a walk-in basis for 100 rupees, or $2. As an American I am just tickled when a visit to the doctor is quick and inexpensive! The clinic was ultra-modern, well-staffed and very clean. We were told recently (by a German yoga teacher who has lived in India for 7 years) that India is a great place to have dental work done. She was amazed by the price, and her country has national health insurance!

I was feeling slightly unproductive sitting around our empty apartment and trying to communicate with the maid, so I set out trying to make connections this week. I met with the head of the Karnataka Deaf Athletic Association last week, and he gave me some numbers to call. I spoke with the heads of the Technical Training Centre for Deaf Adults in Bangalore, and the pediatrician who volunteers at the Sheila Kothavala School for the Deaf. Tomorrow I will visit the technical school, and today I met the doctor at the deaf school. She has just made an educational documentary about her research into the causes of deafness in Karnataka. Amazingly, she found that 50% of the deaf children in Bangalore are the offspring of consanguinous couples - in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, it is common for uncles and nieces, and for first cousins, to marry each other. It was a way for families to preserve their property and wealth, and in the lower income brackets (in India this means a monthly salary of something like $20), it is still somewhat common. The film features children and families from the school speaking about their experiences; the doctor is hoping to release it on television in India.

I am planning to volunteer at the Sheila Kothavala School, and the headmistress and teachers were very welcoming. I will probably go there three times a week, as the commute takes an hour in each direction and is a bit tiring. I rode a bus for the first time in India. It is very inexpensive but somewhat difficult, as the signs are only in Kannada and it is difficult to jump on and off the buses. On the other hand, there is a special section for women at the front of the bus and the men are chivalrous about vacating their seats.

I decided to stay at the school for the afternoon, and the headmistress let me take a class of 11 9-year-olds on my own. Needless to say, they were quite a handful. They sat at their desks for about 15 minutes and then promptly began fighting, shouting, stomping, and tugging at each other's clothes. When they want to work they do, and they seem bright. They follow the same curriculum as hearing children except that they are not required to study three languages! The school is English medium and the teachers use "Total Communication," which means signing and speaking together. The unfortunate situation in India is that the children have trouble communicating with their parents, who often do not speak English and presumably do not sign either.

I also met several members of the Bangalore Overseas Women's Club. This was an entirely different experience, as most of the women are here as a result of a company transfer and have all the luxuries of the ex-pat life. Riding in their chauffeured vehicles was a far cry from standing for an hour on the 333 bus! The women were very nice, and I have arranged a language exchange with a Colombian woman, which will not help us learn Kannada at all!

At any rate, I am looking forward to spending more time with the deaf children and finally starting my film!