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Notes, observations, reflections,and memories.

Monday, December 18, 2006

Welcome to Sambhavna

Dada: His real name is Kallol Dutta, and he is the computer tech guy at the clinic. He doesn't work here for the money, since he has a private software development business. No, he works here because no else knows jack about computers. He cracks me up, because he's always complaining and giving Sathyu a hard time during the meetings when he's not sleeping during them. But he's a good man, reminds me of Papa.

Saba: The librarian of the clinic, she is always smiling and cracking jokes. She's extremely educated and is one of the few people at the clinic who can speak English fluently. She's leaving the clinic soon; I'll miss seeing her scurrying about in the library, stressed about how there's too much to do but no one does what they are supposed to.

Amita: She works in the pathology lab, for whom I'm entering the pap smear data into the computer- not the most exciting job, but necessary nevertheless. When I first met her at the weekly staff meeting I was a bit intimidated by her aggressive personality. The one-on-one conversations I've had with her, however, have led me to believe that she's not a scary person, quite human actually :) She's the type of woman who isn't afraid to express herself, and I truly admire that about her.

Natasha: She's only a few years older than me, so we get along well. This girl eats a ton yet has to safety pin her salwars tighter because she's so skinny! We both are in love with two songs from the movie Anwar: "Maula Mere Maula" and "Javeda Zindagi". They are played at least 10 times daily and it drives Shweta insane, but Natasha and I- giggling like schoolgirls and playing the song one last time- derive immense pleasure from it. She's Punjabi too and we both pig out on chole bhature whenever we go to Manohar Dairy, a reasonably priced restaurant that has become the clinic hangout for the volunteers.

Biju: He's originally from Kerala, and Hindi is his third language (after Malayalam and English), but he is by no means uncomfortable speaking it. In fact, he's quite the talker. The "cool dude" at the clinic with his studded ear, short pony-tail, baseball cap and tattoo on his hand, he takes care of his male Panchkarma patients during the morning and flirts with the ladies in the afternoon, all of whom call him "bhai" to his utter dismay. He's the clown who isn't afraid to speak his mind during meetings either, even if no one agrees with him.

That just gives you an idea of the diversity the clinic has to offer. There are plenty of interesting people that work here, some of whom I'm getting to know better than others. Some people love their jobs, others can't stand it- it's like any other work environment. There are internal politics, there are allegiances, it's the day-to-day reality for these people.

Oh, I saw Dhoom 2- great action, bad songs, women with skimpy clothing, and gorgeous guys. It's Bollywood at its best, but in the words of Levar Burton, don't take my word for it.

3 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Pragya: The cutest chica on the block. She's super passionate about what she does. Enters pap smear data, though not the most exciting job, does it anyway coz its Bhopal. Interesting plans she has made for her interim between college and grad school...and she's my part-time idol of sorts :)

...yea thought i should write one for you :D

4:20 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

You all are doing something very admirable and very inspiring, unfortunately right now all I can offer is words .....

11:53 AM  
Blogger Mary said...

hey p. dearie! sounds like you've found some good friends there =) actually quite a few of my classmates are from kerala! pretty neat. i miss talking to u!

8:58 AM  

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