Arrived in D'Dun

Today I made my triumphant return to Dehradun, after an absence of 4 years! My grandma is still as adorable as always. I delivered her some plum prunes. Here's a picture of us from 4 years ago:

Looks like I will be here for a few days to get over any jetlag or the Indian version of Montezuma's Revenge. I'll then be off to Chittorgarh, Rajasthan to visit my first health project, where I will remain for 3 to 4 weeks. The other two sites have been decided on: one is in a forested region in the state of Karnataka, and the other is way up north in the state of Himachal Pradesh, near Dharamsala, home of the exiled Tibetan government. The order in which I visit them has yet to be finalized, but I will definitely need to be back in the North by June 11th, as Ariel arrives then!

I have actually stayed at the Himachal site for a few days back in 2006, when I accompanied one of Ravi Uncle's agricultural scientists to help teach some farmers a new rice-growing technique called "System of Rice Intensification" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/System_of_Rice_Intensification). I was the official "soil sample collector", as we were monitoring the impact of SRI on soil nutrient depletion over time. Really it was just an excuse for me to go on a cool trip. Here's a picture of us plantin' some rice:

Anyway, we stayed at the Tapovan mission in Sidhbari, which is a health and rural development organization run by a woman named Kshama Metre. They are religious followers of the guru Swami Chinmayananda (http://www.chinmayamission.com/swami-chinmayananda.php). I basically decided to be a doctor the day I got back from that trip, so it will be pretty special to return. Not to mention its pretty much the most beautiful area I've visited in India. Here's an example from a mountain nearby:


Okay, now to spend the next few days learning Hindi and hanging out with Othermummy (my grandma).