Day 3
In India, Sunday is known as the holiday. Since most people work on a Monday-Saturday weekday schedule, Sunday is really the only day when everyone has off and time to relax. With our short time in India, we decided it would be best if we utilized our holiday to get some additional field research done. Luckily, we had met a doctor at BM Birla the day before who was willing to meet with us near his hometown on his day off, so we figured we would take advantage of that. Unfortunately, Jay had already made plans with his family for the day, so Shruthi and Erin were on there own.
Before we planned to leave and visit the nursing home (which was between 2 and 2.5 hours away), we had planned to have a lunch at Dr. Saha's home. Dr. Saha, Dr. Acharya, David, and Linda would be leaving later that day for a village and would be staying there for the next week. We used this lunch to say goodbye to all of them (since we won't see them until we are back in Baltimore) and make sure our plans for the rest of the week were finalized.
The Plan
As expected, lunch was delicious, but a little later than originally planned (good old IST). After lunch, it was arranged that Erin and Shruthi would ride to the train station with everyone else so they could keep the car and stay with the driver, Omesh, that they knew pretty well. Also, since Jay and his Indian phone were not with us, and the phone that had been given to us did not have a charger, Erin and Shruthi were planning on using Omesh's phone to help stay in contact with everyone else.
The Execution
Initially, this seemed like a solid plan for us. We would ride in the car with Omesh, drop everyone off at the train station, and then head off to the nursing home in the village. When we arrived at the train station we made our way through the huge crowds of people to the platform where there train was leaving and said our goodbyes. As we made our way out of the train station, Shruthi decided to give the doctor a call since we were running a bit later than expected. Sadly, the doctor said he was going to be leaving about 30 minutes after we were scheduled to get there to head back to the city and recommended that we do not come.
For about thirty seconds after hearing this news we were upset that we weren't going to be able to go, but then Omesh's phone rang and Dr. Acharya was on the line. Apparently the other groups train had been spontaneously cancelled and they needed us to turn around anyways and pick them up. We circled back to the train station, payed another fee to get in (the man at the booth was not in the mood to accept our ticket time-stamped 10 minutes prior) and met up with everyone else. While Dr. Saha and Dr. Acharya went around trying to figure out what to do, the rest of us stood around talking and wondering what was going to happen next. When Dr. Acharya and Dr. Saha came back it was decided that everyone would go back into the two cars, drive to Dr. Sahas and then split up to go on our way. David, Erin, Linda, and Shruthi piled into the small car and headed out of the station. We got right outside the station gate when we realized we did not know where to go or what was going on. Our driver pulled over to the side of the road and waited to hear from everyone else.
A few minutes later we got a phone call that they needed to put another suitcase in our car. The driver started backing up back into the station, but was abruptly stopped by the gaurds. To give a little perspective here, our car was directly in front of the gate out and had literally passed through about 5 minutes ago. The guards did not care and strictly instructed us that we would have to go around again to get back inside. After speaking with the other car, they decided to squeeze everything and meet us outside of the gate. Once they met up with our car, Dr. Acharya and Dr. Saha told Erin and Shruthi that they would no longer be riding in the cars because both cars were going to be leaving directly from there to go to the village. It was arranged that the two of us would take a cab and that we needed to head back down the street to the station to meet the cab.
We got out of the car and headed back down the road we came from into the station. Once again, we were stopped in our tracks by the guards who told us we would need to walk around. So after a third fake goodbye, we hopped back into the car and drove with everyone else to meet a taxi a little down the right direction of the road. This time we said our actual last goodbye and piled into a taxi.
The Results
So after a few bumps in the plan, Erin and Shruthi, were left alone, without a driver or a phone, in a taxi, headed to a guest house whose address most people did not know. Thankfully our taxi driver was very patient with us and after giving him landmarks to get us close, found some people on the street able to point us in the right direction. When we finally made it home, we were exhausted but could not help but laugh at how our day unfolded.
Apparently, Sunday's should be kept for relaxing and not doing work. Lesson learned.
In India, Sunday is known as the holiday. Since most people work on a Monday-Saturday weekday schedule, Sunday is really the only day when everyone has off and time to relax. With our short time in India, we decided it would be best if we utilized our holiday to get some additional field research done. Luckily, we had met a doctor at BM Birla the day before who was willing to meet with us near his hometown on his day off, so we figured we would take advantage of that. Unfortunately, Jay had already made plans with his family for the day, so Shruthi and Erin were on there own.
Before we planned to leave and visit the nursing home (which was between 2 and 2.5 hours away), we had planned to have a lunch at Dr. Saha's home. Dr. Saha, Dr. Acharya, David, and Linda would be leaving later that day for a village and would be staying there for the next week. We used this lunch to say goodbye to all of them (since we won't see them until we are back in Baltimore) and make sure our plans for the rest of the week were finalized.
The Plan
As expected, lunch was delicious, but a little later than originally planned (good old IST). After lunch, it was arranged that Erin and Shruthi would ride to the train station with everyone else so they could keep the car and stay with the driver, Omesh, that they knew pretty well. Also, since Jay and his Indian phone were not with us, and the phone that had been given to us did not have a charger, Erin and Shruthi were planning on using Omesh's phone to help stay in contact with everyone else.
 |
| Outside the Kolkata train station |
Initially, this seemed like a solid plan for us. We would ride in the car with Omesh, drop everyone off at the train station, and then head off to the nursing home in the village. When we arrived at the train station we made our way through the huge crowds of people to the platform where there train was leaving and said our goodbyes. As we made our way out of the train station, Shruthi decided to give the doctor a call since we were running a bit later than expected. Sadly, the doctor said he was going to be leaving about 30 minutes after we were scheduled to get there to head back to the city and recommended that we do not come.
For about thirty seconds after hearing this news we were upset that we weren't going to be able to go, but then Omesh's phone rang and Dr. Acharya was on the line. Apparently the other groups train had been spontaneously cancelled and they needed us to turn around anyways and pick them up. We circled back to the train station, payed another fee to get in (the man at the booth was not in the mood to accept our ticket time-stamped 10 minutes prior) and met up with everyone else. While Dr. Saha and Dr. Acharya went around trying to figure out what to do, the rest of us stood around talking and wondering what was going to happen next. When Dr. Acharya and Dr. Saha came back it was decided that everyone would go back into the two cars, drive to Dr. Sahas and then split up to go on our way. David, Erin, Linda, and Shruthi piled into the small car and headed out of the station. We got right outside the station gate when we realized we did not know where to go or what was going on. Our driver pulled over to the side of the road and waited to hear from everyone else.
A few minutes later we got a phone call that they needed to put another suitcase in our car. The driver started backing up back into the station, but was abruptly stopped by the gaurds. To give a little perspective here, our car was directly in front of the gate out and had literally passed through about 5 minutes ago. The guards did not care and strictly instructed us that we would have to go around again to get back inside. After speaking with the other car, they decided to squeeze everything and meet us outside of the gate. Once they met up with our car, Dr. Acharya and Dr. Saha told Erin and Shruthi that they would no longer be riding in the cars because both cars were going to be leaving directly from there to go to the village. It was arranged that the two of us would take a cab and that we needed to head back down the street to the station to meet the cab.
We got out of the car and headed back down the road we came from into the station. Once again, we were stopped in our tracks by the guards who told us we would need to walk around. So after a third fake goodbye, we hopped back into the car and drove with everyone else to meet a taxi a little down the right direction of the road. This time we said our actual last goodbye and piled into a taxi.
The Results
So after a few bumps in the plan, Erin and Shruthi, were left alone, without a driver or a phone, in a taxi, headed to a guest house whose address most people did not know. Thankfully our taxi driver was very patient with us and after giving him landmarks to get us close, found some people on the street able to point us in the right direction. When we finally made it home, we were exhausted but could not help but laugh at how our day unfolded.
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| Fancy decorated vegetables with Erin and Shruthi's dinner |
Apparently, Sunday's should be kept for relaxing and not doing work. Lesson learned.
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