28 sept 2006 - Letter from Madurai

"things here continue to progress. Despite a persistent stomach ache, I've gone to yoga twice this week. I dont think i will stay with this teacher, but just getting up and doing yoga on her roof while the sun is rising has been good. I had lunch yesterday with seven students from the U of wisconsin study abroad program. the food they are served in their program house is the tastiest and most varied that i've eaten in Madurai. one girl has a puppy, and playing with it made my entire day.

I experimented with potassium permangangate fruit wash last night, on vague instructions from rajeev [AIF fellowship coordinator, based in Delhi], but without knowing exactly what to do. I moved slowly. I soaked some grapes in the deep purple solution for several minutes. I ate a single grape and waited. Several minutes later my tongue went numb and i started feeling funny. I tried to rationalize the situation, telling myself that even if i had screwed something up, such a small amount wouldn't kill me. I continued eating my dinner, but stopped to write a note describing exactly what i had consumed ("one grape") and how i had prepared the fruit wash mixture ("small amount of crystals diluted with h2o"), just in case i should become poisoned and people came upon the body when i didn't show up to the office or answer my phone for a couple of days.

A woman finally came to clean my apt yesterday morning. She swept and mopped all the floors and cleaned the counters and shelves. the place looks fantastic. Last night i cleaned the dirty, dusty toaster with an old toothbrush. this morning i ate toast with butter and half a canteloupe. Then I watched Oprah (cable TV has become my best friend). She was doing a program on "a day on the inside of american prisons." She sent three 'regular' housewives into a max security women's penitentiary for a day to experience life as inmates. The housewives befriended the inmates and through them the female inmates' stories were told. For some reason, I found the stories unbearably touching. I broke down several times in the space of twenty minutes. watching Oprah. yeah...."

..........

"i don't mean to sound alarmist, btw - i think the whole fruit episode is kind of funny, and i record it for posterity and its comic relief. ditto breakdowns while watching oprah - more a sign of stress and tension relief than anything else. I never breakdown like that, only when in the throws of severe existential trauma.

but that's not bad. rather, i find it interesting. like, i'm having to completely reinvent my conception of my life, and how to do basic things for myself that i'd rather just have someone or a machine or a take out joint do- like how to nourish myself and clean my clothes and apartment out of a single bucket, and i really am doing it by myself with little help from others, hence the trial and error of the fruit wash.

on a certain level this is truly fascinating experience. and i'm probably allowing a lot of room to be melodramatic.

suffice to say, i'll be using boiled water to wash my veggies, now that i have the capacity.

and i bought a house plant. I've never kept plants but always wanted to. but i dont really know how and i've always been afraid i'd kill them. fortunately, theyre cheap here and i can buy them on the roadside. So i'm going to trial and error my way into a big collection, if I can."