Rabies

The weekend was relatively uneventful until we went to a girl's home who we met on the visit to the women's college. She fed us a lot of lunch and we chatted about arranged marriages and how she definitely does not want to be married. She showed us a bunch of family photos and I asked about a picture of two men that looked like it was from a 1970s cop movie. She said, "Oh, that is the photo they showed my sister when she was to be married. It's the first time she saw her husband."

We took a rickshaw home and the other two wanted to stop for coffee. Being that I don't drink coffee, I begged off and walked home. I cut through the dirt area that cuts off a longer corner, going by four or five homes. There were a bunch of people and kids gathered outside and a dog. A few days ago, I had heard a dog growling at me while "Photo please?"ing four kids but he seemed to be in the house so I didn't do anything about it. Yesterday, he was outside. He is blond and medium-sized. He saw me coming and started hobbling on three legs. My heart started beating faster. "Don't look in his eyes. Don't look in his eyes. Sign of aggression. Don't look." Inevitable, I want to know what's going on because I could feel him beaming his "What the hell are you, whitey?" at me. I looked down into his eyes and he was already baring his teeth. "Oh shit oh shit." I looked back up rapidly but it was too late. He had already decided he really hated me and BIT MY LEG. I screamed and one of the men yelled at the dog and he let go, then hit him. It wasn't as bad as it could have been but my leg was bleeding in three places. My fear of dogs was thus renewed severely and painfully. I limped away as quickly as possible, back to the house, where they all saw my bleeding leg. I told him what happened and he said we should probably go to the hospital to get a rabies shot. Visions of myself foaming from the mouth with a rotting brain quickly sprang to mind.

We got on the motorcycle, since it was faster than ordering a rickshaw and drove the three miles or so to the hospital. It was really small, two floors and about 50 people in the waiting room. The family father explained the situation to the receptionist in rapid Tamil while everyone else stared at the bleeding foreigner. Despite the large number of patients, I still got into the doctor in less than half an hour. The doctor spoke English, albeit heavily accented, just like most people. I assume no one else has had a rabies shot that's reading this, so I will tell you that it comes out of a freaking GIGANTIC needle!! On the plus side, no foaming from the mouth or extreme insanity yet. I made it home in time for tea.

Yesterday was the yearly statewide striking day in support of a deeper canal between Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka. If it happens, there will be much freer trade and an improved economy for both the state and Sri Lanka. [I'm sure this next part is terribly paraphrased but you get the gist]. When they began construction on the project, they hit an underground stone bridge which is apparently the path a Hindu god took to the island to find a monkey. Very holy. Now, some people are up in arms about the canal because it will destroy this special underwater path while the rest of the state wants the increased trade. All the shops on the street, offices and schools were closed. The hardcore supporters of the canal were on a hunger strike till 6pm. Today is a national holiday, Gandhi's birthday, but everything is open.

ps. just kidding about the rabies. i almost got bitten by that mean dog, but i didn't. had to spice things up a little bit.