The Jaipur journey begins:

11:30 in the night on the 16^th of June we landed at Sindhi Camp bus stop Jaipur. The moment we step down the bus we see a friendly man holding a placard with our names on it. For the first time I realized how a foreigner would feel on an alien land. Within seconds we were surrounded by auto-wallas, taxi drivers and coolies and it didn’t matter to them that we have got our own vehicle to take us to our destination. Somehow we managed to wade through the crowd (me already fretting and fuming at the unexpected and unpleasant intrusion).

It was a long and dark journey towards the institution- Indian Institute of Health Management and Research (IIHMR). The institution is near the Sanganer Airport and therefore in a secluded area. Though the institute looked spooky at 12 in the night, I was happy to have learnt that we will have a whole house to ourselves- apartment C1. A small but a decent living room (with a television set and a telephone), two rooms with attached bathrooms, a small and dusty kitchen (which was of no use to us through out our stay) and of course Air Coolers in both the rooms (about which Liam, unlike Zoё and me, was very excited). Liam politely insisted on taking the comparatively smaller room as he need not share it with another person, thanks to Jatin (a name which would often appear in our conversation citing how better or worse things would be with him around). With no intention to start our work on a weekend we decided not to have an early morning and so all of us went to bed. But contrary to our plan a lady and a man from the house keeping department of the institution came at 6:30 in the morning to get the details of the foreigners who have stepped into their campus the night before. By mistake they ended up making me fill my details too (in spite of my skepticism) in the same form but then they realized their mistake later. That was the start of our encounters with the department…you will soon realize how frequent we needed them to be around us.

After a vain attempt to sleep again we decided to go for breakfast to the canteen that was at a small distance from our apartment (as per the instructions given by the house keeping department). Just before we were about to leave our apartment, Liam came up with a question- he seemed pretty confused with the plastic thing in the Bathroom, which wasn’t actually a tumbler but seemed like one. Zoё and I spelt it out for him- it is a ‘Bucket’. Well now you must have fairly got an idea as to what lies in store for you guys to read in my blog. There are more of such profound questions by all three of us to come. And we tried our level best to answer each other’s strange queries.

A tar road separated our apartment compound and the institution compound. The canteen block fell in between the Gate and the main building. The construction of the institution was very impressive- (I really regret my incapacity to describe the construction-so just visit the link IIHMR on my 'worth giving a look section' of my blog). The food was good and we were bewildered because people around us called us ‘madam’ and ‘Sir’ (the sudden realization that I wasn’t a student but a professional struck me hard). Somehow it gave me a feeling that I can’t fool around anymore and that I have to be serious… don’t worry people, as you all know me very well I never caught up with the image. In fact I and Liam were sometimes so ridiculous that Zoё really had to give us the kind of look that meant- Can’t you guys be a little sensible. And it is true that Zoё was much more mature in all ways than us but don’t be mistaken she wasn’t at all a serious faced person. In fact she is the most humorous of all the people I have ever met. One could learn from her how to take life in its stride without cribbing about it. And Liam, the only person whom I felt was exactly like me in more than one ways, is lot of fun to be around. He is the kind of person with whom anyone would feel comfortable. Oh god…I think I should leave it up to you to decide how good both of them are from my blogs. So to carry on with my first day (don’t worry I won’t explain each day so elaborately as this one)…we met our Supervisor Dr Satish, a very adorable person who will give you all due respect regardless of whom you are. We decided to start work on Monday (that day being a Saturday). In the evening all three of us plan to visit the famous Jaipur bazaars to buy some necessary items like a packet of washing powder, a rope and many eatables… guys I need a break and I think you too. Bye for now!!! (God I love punctuation marks)