A day at the fair...

Coming back to Dehra Dun for the third week was actually really nice in the sense that it was familiar- I had my same room in the same some stay, the food was what I had first adjusted to, and I knew my way around the town. I decided that the best comparison to explain what Dehra Dun is like is to picture yourself at the county fair. It is hot, crowded, colorful and loud. Smells of food, livestock, and other things you would rather not know are all around. You have to watch your every step or you may end up with a little something extra than you paid for. You enjoy yourself most of the time, but sometimes all you want to do is go home. It's exciting, stimulating, and exhausting.
Here are some highlights of my last week---
While riding to clinic in an auto-rickshaw our driver tries to squeeze past a bus and ends up side scraping it pretty bad (I'm actually shocked this is the first time it has happened). The bus driver gets out and starts yelling at our driver, as us three girls are sitting with wide eyes in the back seat- our driver blows him off and keeps weaving his way through the traffic.
With that same auto driver (you think we would have learned the first time), we are on our way home from clinic and he stops twice, once to say quickly hello to a friend and another time to pick up food- because hey, he was going by it and it looked good, and why wouldn't he... So while he is getting food, we are all sitting there laughing/confused when the auto starts slowly rolling into the on-coming traffic- I guess they don't have parking breaks here?! It slips a little bit, and stalls, slips, stalls... after doing this about three times and us bracing ourselves in the back seat, the driver jumps in with his food and continues along the way.
Another evening (this really was an eventful week), we are riding in a vickram. Vickrams are the main transportation and fit usually 8 people in what would be 4 in the states. I've gotten use to staggering seating and basically sitting on others to accommodate the 4 extra people so when 12 people are packed into this small three-wheeled-go-cart-sounding vehicle, I don't think much of it. But apparently there are some rules in India, because we get 'pulled over' and watch as the driver and his compadres banter back and forth with the policemen. This scene is drawing people in and soon there are groups of people packed around watching. The driver gets out and is walked over to the other side of the road with the policeman and we are left sitting in the vickram. I guess this is as far as we go, so we pile out and try to catch another vickram- which isn't happening because so is everyone else and we end up having to pay for an auto to get to clinic!
So you think you've seen it all, and then as we are riding to clinic one evening, I look up on the rooftops of the markets and monkeys are everywhere! They are climbing all over the buildings- hopping from one to another and looking like they are having a lot of fun, looking down on us. I began to wonder, who was watching who. I'm learning that India has no limits- you never know what you are going to see!
After spending a good chunk of time here, I have begun to see things differently- in snapshots. While driving past the markets, I see a still shot of a grandfather sitting with his legs crossed in fa chair in ront of his tailor shop with his grandson standing with his chin resting in his hands looking out over the commotion, a woman dressed in a beautiful pink sari with 4 quilts tied up and balanced skillfully on her head, the 4 children squatting in front of a water source filling jugs of all sizes and another three young children carrying their already filled water jugs down the road to who know where. It is so picturesque. I have also realized there is a fine balance between exploiting the poverty and showing the story of how these people's lives through a photo. What I have noticed, from looking around and seeing the bright, beautiful colors everywhere, is that these people make the best of what they have. We all could learn a thing or two from each other.