India Political Observations, supreme court

A flurry of events last week in India were interesting to watch, for what it indicates about the advanced nature of this democracy, and the way in which politicians' behavior is similar everywhere.

The Supreme Court recently handed down a decision that was quite unpopular, at least for most politicians, in public: the constitution guarantees equal rights, and just justifies set-asides (here called "reservations") for minorities in various institutions. The Supreme Court declared that the current law cannot require quotas for private colleges that receive no government funding.

Well, this set almost every legislator on fire, with each trying to outdo the next in speeches proclaiming the stupidity of the court and the need for quick legislative action to rein in those elitist judges and ensure equal rights for all our citizens and also to regulate those independent (perhaps unlicensed, and thus vaguely unsavory) private institutions, too!

The next day, the Times of India headlines the Chief Justice's response, that if the legislature feels so strongly, then "you might as well wind up the courts" (that is, eliminate the judiciary altogether)!

Another day or two of blustering by various politicos, about the need for urgent legislative action to repair this insult to every right-thinking red-blooded son of Mahatma Gandhi.


Then, yesterday, the federal Minister for Education (or some such title), announced rather quietly (no headlines, just a story tucked in the middle of the nightly news on TV) that any new legislation would be first sent to each
of the states for their review and comment. That is typically synonymous
with sending the bill to committee, to languish quietly until the next public crisis.

The public blustering is probably accentuated by the fact that it is a multi-party democracy; so each small party has to grab the microphone every chance it can get, then the two major parties need to respond, to show that they also have the interest of the people at heart.
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And now, a couple photos of flowers blooming outside our house.

It is really quiet

The weather has been pretty good, with only occasional rain, and mild
temperatures. One note regarding the weather -- we have rarely noticed any
wind.

Another environmental note, about sound. It is quiet. I mean, quiet.
Outside, the forest muffles sound -- perhaps especially while it is so wet
-- and yet we do hear the horns of the occasional cars approaching the several blind curves on the road above our house, and we do hear the kids on the dorm basketball court 200 meters away. But otherwise, there is so
little noise at night. And inside our stone house, the quiet is amazing.
For the first time in the four years I've owned my iPod, I can hear its
hard-drive spin when it starts. And my nifty noise-suppressing headphones: in
our house, when I turn on the noise-suppression circuit, it produces a noticeable hissing sound!

Here's the view from the road down to our house

Ethnic and linguistic descriptions

Mussoorie is in the Garhwal hills—the local farmers are Garhwalis. They speak a dialect of Hindi (distant enough to usually be called a distinct language). But the townspeople and school employees are mostly immigrants from the lowlands, mostly Hindi speakers here for the commercial opportunities in this resort area. Hinduism is dominant here, but there’s a notable minority of muslims (a couple of mosques – the tailors tend to be muslim); and a group of Tibetan refugees who have settled here. And because it was a “hill station” established by the British, there are probably 6 or 7 churches remaining...the single roman catholic church was one of the oldest church buildings, but it's now defunct, though there are two parochial schools still thriving.

August touring, and conjunctivitis

Amid the very hectic school days and illnesses, we now at last find a restful Saturday.
Today is pleasant, with an hour or so of sunlight, temperatures in the 70s; now (mid-afternoon) the fog has rolled in a bit, but still, barb and I are sitting on the porch, writing journals and e-mails.

Barb has now contracted conjunctivitis (from one of her students), so she will stay home now, washing her eyes and hands regularly. Coleman and I will walk up to school for a folk dance session, and then dinner and a performance by the folkdance group. Chris will probably stay home too, as he's not real interested in dancing, and he can "nurse" mother. We went up to the health center at school this morning-- the nurse gave her some "gentamycin" eye drops which barb will take the next 5 days.

Recently we went to a more official tourist part of Mussoorie, the Library Bazaar:


Our sons are happy now, that we have satellite TV (provided as a service by the school!)-- among many Indian channels of varied languages, we get HBO and CNN and TCM and BBC and CNBC and a couple of sports channels, and the GOD channel along with a couple of other U.S. Christian channels; and also some radio channels, too. I've asked the kids to go through and document all the channels so we know better what all the options are.


They're also happy to have received a CARE package from grand-dad, with some rice krispy cereal--here's the joyous celebration.

A Night at the Hospital

The previous journal entry on Sunday afternoon noted Coleman's ongoing cramps -- those worsened through Sunday night. Monday morning the school jeep/ambulance drove us up to the school gate at 8am, and Barb took Coleman to the health center. They kept him through the day, tried to get him to drink fluids, and even injected some anti-nausea medication. Nothing helped.

At 3pm, while I was in the classroom waiting to teach my last class of the day, one of my colleagues came in to relieve me, with a note saying that I needed to escort Coleman to the hospital.

I hurried down to the health center, to find them getting paperwork for Coleman's move. One of the employees carried Coleman pick-a-back to the (small) parking lot and put him in the school ambulance ( a white jeep with a red cross painted on the side, and a bench seat in the back). I carried his school bag and accompanied them, for our first visit to nearby (2km) Landour Community Hospital:
http://www.eha-health.org/hospitals_landour.htm

As the LCH website notes, it was built in 1938. The website does not note that it has not substantially changed since 1938. The staff is very friendly, rooms are vaguely clean, and the important instruments are sterile. We at first were placed into a small private room with shared vaguely-clean toilet. The nurse immediately put Coleman on an IV drip to rehydrate him. Coleman was groggy, but most worried about getting another shot -- those previous attempts had evidently been painful, and it still hurt to sit down! We assured him that all medication would go through the IV in his hand. Dr.KarenWilson ordered some anti-nausea and antibiotic (Cipro?), which took effect surprisingly quickly (The pain eased within an hour; and the cramps subsided within 3 hours.). Doctors' rounds came soon, with several medical students watching, Dr.Sam Thomas inspected Coleman, pronounced him reasonably healthy -- that is, nothing besides bacterial dysentery. Agreed that he could likely go home after 24 hours.
Fortunately, Dr.Wilson found that the official guest room (intended for visiting medical students) was vacant, so she transferred us there: a private room with two beds, and its own actually-clean toilet.
Barbara took a taxi up to the hospital, carrying some food for my dinner, and a change of clothes for us.

An Amazing Coincidence
Walking Barbara to the front door of the hospital, to call a taxi, the one phone rang (only one phone at night, when the office is closed). It was an old colleague of mine from the States! He had received some email notice of my new address, then tracked down the school's phone number and called there -- the receptionist had heard that I was staying at the hospital, so he transferred the call, which happened just as I was walking by the phone.

The guest room was actually rather nice and clean, though the mattresses were typically hard. The nurses came in every couple of hours to check temperature and blood pressure, etc., so our sleep was interrupted. Coleman felt much better in the morning, though still weak. Dr.Wilson pronounced him fit to return home after he had eaten some lunch successfully and demonstrated that his kidneys and lower-intestine were functioning fine. [Stool samples at the hospital are collected in small clay bowls--reasonably sterile!]
The school ambulance came back to collect us, walked Coleman to the health center for the rest of the day, and I could teach my usual 2 classes, back to normal!

Lesson learned? Don't be fooled by temporary relief of symptoms: after any severe cramps or diarrhea, go to the health center!
Doctor Wilson noted that her standard practice had changed recently: she now attacks this sort of dysentery quickly with antibiotics, rather than the previously-usual practice of waiting 24 hours.

We're glad to have seen the hospital first-hand, in a relatively good experience.
Another newbie colleague, a young frail single woman, had to go there alone, when all the private rooms were occupied, so she spent the night with several Garhwali women in various states of illness -- a completely foreign experience. Her own illnesses and allergies did not abate, so she quit and returned to Missouri in mid-August.