My dentist in Comox did a budget repair on a brocken tooth last year.
She said I would need a crown soon. It broke off this summer. I did not
have the money for a crown at the time so an intern that she had
working with her did another budget repair, for no cost. A few days
later it broke off. Previously I had lost a tooth that my mexican
partial plate was hanging off of. Then a filling popped out. I did not
have enough money to get all this work done. I decided I would have to
go to Mexico or India to get the work done. Luckily I found a buyer for
an extra motorcycle that I previously had trouble selling. Judy said she
was willing to go to India again after she finished teaching her Elder
College coarse on India. We bought our tickets in India town in
Vancouver. I worked hard and continuously for a month getting the garden
ready for the spring and preparing the house for the winter. We found a
wonderfull house sitter and booked a hotel room in Delhi.
The 13 hour trip to Hong Cong was grueling but not as bad as we had anticipated. The next 6 hour flight to Delhi was easier. I got a bit of sleep but Judy did not. The hotel bed felt so good. We both awoke about 6:30 after only about 4 hours sleep. India is one day plus 13 1/2 hours ahead of BC, so the jet lag wakes us up early. Last night, day 3, I woke up wide awake at 2:00 am. I did go back to sleep and woke at 6:30. Maybe jet lag is over now ?
I forget where I left off on my traveling blog. I can't look it up because we don't have Internet here near Gopi Ganj U.P. . We left Mirzapur, where we did catch up with email but didn't get computer time to write in the blog.
Judy always asked what the weather is like every morning. I often reply " another rainy day. Actually it's another boring blue sky with dung smoke. "
Today we had a visitor to Kusam Seagar's home: Bhagwan Das's daughter, sort of Edward Okelys adopted daughter , Ekta.
Judy's English father , Michael Norbury, came to India in 1930 to work in the carpet industry. After Judy got Polio and they left for Canada, Michael stayed behind to train Geoffrey Seager, Kusams husband who died 3 years ago; same year as my son Kyle's and Judy's mother's deaths. Edward is the chairman of OBT Limited Carpets, across the street from where Judy and her family lived on the banks of the Ganga. Bhagwan Das worked as Edwards right hand man. He tragically died last year. Edward pays for a good education of his servants children , including BD's daughter Ekta and her sister.
The 4 of us went in Edwards jeep ,5 including the driver, to visit a clinic that happens about every 4 months in a remote area . It was a bumpy ride down a pot holed paved road. When we finally got to the town/ village , the road appeared to be blocked by a wedding party. We turned back and headed for home. I noticed we where going a different way that was smoother. I checked the gps on my iPhone to see where we were. It was a way that was 3 times as far but we were already pretty close to a larger road that would take us back through a big town/city and then back to Gopi Gange, avoiding the rough roads we came in on.
When I relayed the fact that we were heading in a different way, Kusam and the driver were supprised and started asking people how to get back. The Driver actually started to turn around to go back the way we came. I finally convinced them to trust the gps and keep going away from our destination so we could connect with the larger smoother road. A few kilometers later we made our turn and were heading home.
Most of the trip was through farming villages built right to the edge of the road. Piles of dung that has been mixed with hay, straw piles, buffalos on short chains.
Wednesday december 12
The generator was just turned on so my iPhone is charging while I am using it. I used up most of the battery using the maps and gps apps, and a few videos.
Yesterday I rented a motorcycle off our friend Amrit , the battery businessman. Today I rode it along the GT road from here near Gopi Gange to the Dentist in Allahabad. I was a little apprehensive as to the danger of the ride. There are not too many rules that are followed. The most important thing about riding here is to point your machine in a predictable direction. If you think someone might move into your intended path, you beep, they will probably move over a little and won't move in your way. Speeds are lower here than in Canada. Sometimes vehicles will slip by less than an inch. Often a swarm of cars and motorcles will move across the centerline taking up the whole road. In this situation, or other head on situations, to avoid stopping or dropping off the road, the emergency signal is to flash your headlights on and off. They will all cooperate and make space for you.
The bike is an Indian 4 stroke 100cc. The bikes here are all of good quality. Sturdy with lots of torque. Low on hp, which is ok for the low speeds. Although at 85km/hr on the better open parts of the Grand Trunk road, the little 100 is near its max.
The GT road follows the ancient Silk Road. It's famous. Full of stories. Here it more or less parallels the holy Ganges. At Allahabad it meets the Yumna and the mythical Saraswati rivers. This year the once every 12 years Kumb Mela meets here. It is the largest gathering in the whole world.
Friday 14 dec.
We moved to Daffodil school yesterday. Kusum arranged for us to stay in a guest room in the girls domintory. There are 29 girl boarders here and 120 boys in another building across the football and cricket fields. The school has an attendance of about 4000. Education is a private industry in India. The public schools are very substandard with over paid teachers who don't care much . A few weeks ago we had a tour of a college that we had no idea was there. A boy approached us in the street beside a high wall which hid the school. There are 6000 students attending it. Yesterday we went to a non- profit school which has children attending for free from the villages. It only costs $18/month to sponsor a child. It costs about $2000/
year for kids to enroll at Daffodil. Daffodil is a great school . It's large, clean and has top quality education. Last night we attended a Rotary Club event at this school. There was a small contingent from the New Jersey Rotary Club. The school supplied the entertainment for all the posh dignitaries and club members. All 11 of the girls in a dance group came from our dormitory. They did Indian classical dances. Fantastic. Better than any school performance that I have ever seen. 2 boys did very well choreographed modern interpretive dance. There was also a shadow dance. Very entertaining. The Americans each had a slide show of thier lives in New Jersey. Judy and I thought it would be quite boring, but it was really interesting. Maybe it's because they where they first foreigners we've seen since Delhi, plus I lived in East Brunswick New Jersey from 63 to 66.
Today I rode from Mirzapur to Allahabad for the dentist. I am going there because of a recommendation from Kusam. Her cousin Kamal reccomended him. I am having my doubts. Hygiene is not the best, although the west can be rather anal. But I have been to enough dentists to have an idea when things go a bit wrong. And not having the language skills to understand what's going on. I have a suspicion they are not telling me everything.
On the way to dentist I stopped in at Kamils . I actually forgot where they lived and spent a few minutes riding around before I found someone home that phoned for Kamal to come and escort me. Addresses here don't seem to work. Everything is based on a series of imbeded place names. I was looking beside the wrong hospital. She was going to go with me to fix , or get another phone. Ours failed last night. We switched SIMM cards with KusamS and hers wouldn't with it, so we figured SIMM card was fucked. Anyway, I found the phone shop on my own. The phone shop is on the side of a main round about . Traffic is mostly motorcycles with small cars and trucks causing traffic jams. There is a general direction of flow but motorcycles come from any direction. Big gets right of way but motorcycles get priority because they can flow easier in single file either side of the blockages. Unsignaled U turns in heavy traffic is common.
The shop is about 10 feet wide 7 feet high and about 6 feet deep. I guess her main business is recharging SIMM cards. She took the phone and did everything I did and it worked ? I thanked her for her magic touch.
After the dentist I went off to a shop owned by a friend of Kamals to get some good motorcycle gloves. I have been using a woolen pair that Kusam lent me. The trip to the shop was difficult. Negotiating the chaotic traffic takes a lot of concentration and to boot, I got off track right away. I had to do double duty trying to make sure I didn't get totally lost. It's hard for me to ask for directions since my Hindi sucks. I try and pick a group to ask . Often someone has basic english They point in different directions, have discussions then have a concensus on something that I usually don't quite remember or understand. I finally got the gloves after a bit of customary negotiations. 450 rupees( About $9). Then 440 for gas. About 6.3 liters 310 km . Wow : 49km/litre at 30 to 85km/hr. ; 130 miles per gallon.
Leaving from the shop, I got turned around. I got confused as to which way east was. I figured that several people did not understand that I was asking for the direction to Varanasi( Benares) . So after I crossed the familiar bridge I started to relax. To get home a little faster I took the shortcut on the bumpy road past Kusams house instead of staying on the nice GT road. My ass neck and back couldn't take the sitting, so I stood up. Standing is natural for me because of lots of dirt bike experience. It's quite unnatural for Indians so I must have been a spectacle. I past lots of bikes with their riders going slow or being severally bounced in the saddle. I am not taking that way again. It took too much out of me at the end of a long day biking. By the time I started over the Ganga entering Mirzapur , I was feeling the fatigue.
There was a few games of football, and a game of cricket happening as I walked to meet Judy in the girls Hostel.
Kusam has arranged for me to get an opinion on Dr Singh' s work at a hospital next door. I might get the rest of the work done here in Mirzapur.
Dec 15
A 14 year old boy from the school, one staff escort went to the hospital next door to see the dentist. It is a spacious hospital that runs on donations. The government hospitals in the larger cities are very underfunded, dirty and crowded. The private for profit hospitals are much better.
The boy had a sore tooth. I watched as the dentist inspected the boy. He will need d root canal and a few fillings. Because it is a charity hospital his charge will be 600 rupees , $12, if I understood correctly. It was a very low class clinic. Things were dirty , there where many drip marks on equipment, grime was built up on switches, and broken bits were wired together. I will be continuing with Dr. Singh in Allahabad, as Mirzapur has only this one dentist.
Judy is earning our keep here. She spoke to the 6 grade 5 classes in two 45 minute settings. They really pirked up when they started asking questions like how she gets around at home, what Canada is like and what's our favorite things about India.
Dec 17
Rosamond and two of her friends arrived from Delhi yesterday. The Mughud Express was supposed to arrive at 6:00am. We asked Rosamond to call us when the train was at Allahabad ( 1.5 hours away) or at 8:00am. We knew the train is always at least 5 hours late, but poor Rosamond and friends: the train took 18.5 hours, not 10; 8 1/2 hours late !
They sent off to Kusams. Today they went to Varanasi with Kusam and driver. Most middle and upper class people use drivers. Most verbody else takes a bus or train or rides bicycles or motorcycles.
I went to a bigger and better dental clinic in Allahabad. Amrit says they are the best in that city. The 2 root canals that Dr. Singh did were redone at Dr. Rastogi's clinic. I was impressed with thier handheld wireless X-ray. I am going back tommorrow for a third root canal. I feel as I should pay Dr Singh something for trying, although others say I don't have to pay.
The ride back on the GT road was pretty easy. I am feeling more comfortable with the way traffic works. Most of the way is 4 lanes with ditches and large medians. There is much less traffic, even going through the towns. There usually is a few minutes where I had to slow down to about 30 as I weaved between trucks and pedestrians . The trucks are like grain trucks all decorated with intricate paint jobs. They usually change lanes slowly and are predictable. Vehicles, especially motorcycles often come opposing traffic direction on either side of the road, but they go slow and have thier lights on. When they want to come across traffic they will do it predictably by gradually changing direction.
The sights of today were: camels on side of rode feeding on high schrubs.
I had to brake for another camel bring goods into the city. One Hijra. A naked woman, just wearing tiny gstring in traffic. Solicitation ?
The other day I got caught behind an elephant in traffic a few times.
It takes 2 to 3 hours to do the commute each way. I stopped at a dusty truck stop for some fantastic subgey. I took another chi break 1/2 hr from home; plus 2 fantastically good goolob jomins ..
Dec 18
Judy went with Rosamond Barbara Peggy and Kusam in two hired vehicles to the Mirzapur Club, a still active unsegredated English club from the days of the Raj.
I went to see Dr Rastogy for another dressing change on the 2 root canals that Dr Singh did. After a long discussion with Kamal and Shaker, Kamals husband , about the 2 dentists, I decided to pay Dr Singh and go with Dr Ristogy. Dr Singh was buSsy and a few people were ahead of me. I told the receptionist I would be back in 2 hours the rode around for 1/2 hour looking for Dr Ristogys clinic. I got to the Civil Lines area without much trouble but I had to ask 1/2 dozen people where it was. I went around the huge long blocks a few times, battling the intense traffic. I was pretty frazelled by the time I got to the clinic. I talked with the Dr about the options to get some teeth in my mouth. Implants are too expensive, even here. He suggested ceramic bridges. Still expensive. I said I would think about it. His junior reamed the chambers again. Now I understand the Indian root canal method. They don't take all the root out on the first sitting.
I went back to Sangam clinic and had a long talk with Dr. Singh . I now trust his work. He is 1/2 the cost of Ristogy also. The bridges Ristogy planned for me would likely have failed sooner or later. Partial dental plates is what Singh has recommended. At a fraction of the cost of bridges.
I have caused a bit of gossip surrounding the suggestion that I didn't have to pay Dr Singh. I surmised that was only said because of a misunderstanding that Singh had done something wrong when Actually it was all my perception due to the different techniques used in India.
It was a pretty uneventfull ride back. I had to hit brakes hard for one dog. I stopped at a chi stand and was invited to a tent beside it where there was a large birthday party for a 2 year old boy.
The 13 hour trip to Hong Cong was grueling but not as bad as we had anticipated. The next 6 hour flight to Delhi was easier. I got a bit of sleep but Judy did not. The hotel bed felt so good. We both awoke about 6:30 after only about 4 hours sleep. India is one day plus 13 1/2 hours ahead of BC, so the jet lag wakes us up early. Last night, day 3, I woke up wide awake at 2:00 am. I did go back to sleep and woke at 6:30. Maybe jet lag is over now ?
I forget where I left off on my traveling blog. I can't look it up because we don't have Internet here near Gopi Ganj U.P. . We left Mirzapur, where we did catch up with email but didn't get computer time to write in the blog.
Judy always asked what the weather is like every morning. I often reply " another rainy day. Actually it's another boring blue sky with dung smoke. "
Today we had a visitor to Kusam Seagar's home: Bhagwan Das's daughter, sort of Edward Okelys adopted daughter , Ekta.
Judy's English father , Michael Norbury, came to India in 1930 to work in the carpet industry. After Judy got Polio and they left for Canada, Michael stayed behind to train Geoffrey Seager, Kusams husband who died 3 years ago; same year as my son Kyle's and Judy's mother's deaths. Edward is the chairman of OBT Limited Carpets, across the street from where Judy and her family lived on the banks of the Ganga. Bhagwan Das worked as Edwards right hand man. He tragically died last year. Edward pays for a good education of his servants children , including BD's daughter Ekta and her sister.
The 4 of us went in Edwards jeep ,5 including the driver, to visit a clinic that happens about every 4 months in a remote area . It was a bumpy ride down a pot holed paved road. When we finally got to the town/ village , the road appeared to be blocked by a wedding party. We turned back and headed for home. I noticed we where going a different way that was smoother. I checked the gps on my iPhone to see where we were. It was a way that was 3 times as far but we were already pretty close to a larger road that would take us back through a big town/city and then back to Gopi Gange, avoiding the rough roads we came in on.
When I relayed the fact that we were heading in a different way, Kusam and the driver were supprised and started asking people how to get back. The Driver actually started to turn around to go back the way we came. I finally convinced them to trust the gps and keep going away from our destination so we could connect with the larger smoother road. A few kilometers later we made our turn and were heading home.
Most of the trip was through farming villages built right to the edge of the road. Piles of dung that has been mixed with hay, straw piles, buffalos on short chains.
Wednesday december 12
The generator was just turned on so my iPhone is charging while I am using it. I used up most of the battery using the maps and gps apps, and a few videos.
Yesterday I rented a motorcycle off our friend Amrit , the battery businessman. Today I rode it along the GT road from here near Gopi Gange to the Dentist in Allahabad. I was a little apprehensive as to the danger of the ride. There are not too many rules that are followed. The most important thing about riding here is to point your machine in a predictable direction. If you think someone might move into your intended path, you beep, they will probably move over a little and won't move in your way. Speeds are lower here than in Canada. Sometimes vehicles will slip by less than an inch. Often a swarm of cars and motorcles will move across the centerline taking up the whole road. In this situation, or other head on situations, to avoid stopping or dropping off the road, the emergency signal is to flash your headlights on and off. They will all cooperate and make space for you.
The bike is an Indian 4 stroke 100cc. The bikes here are all of good quality. Sturdy with lots of torque. Low on hp, which is ok for the low speeds. Although at 85km/hr on the better open parts of the Grand Trunk road, the little 100 is near its max.
The GT road follows the ancient Silk Road. It's famous. Full of stories. Here it more or less parallels the holy Ganges. At Allahabad it meets the Yumna and the mythical Saraswati rivers. This year the once every 12 years Kumb Mela meets here. It is the largest gathering in the whole world.
Friday 14 dec.
We moved to Daffodil school yesterday. Kusum arranged for us to stay in a guest room in the girls domintory. There are 29 girl boarders here and 120 boys in another building across the football and cricket fields. The school has an attendance of about 4000. Education is a private industry in India. The public schools are very substandard with over paid teachers who don't care much . A few weeks ago we had a tour of a college that we had no idea was there. A boy approached us in the street beside a high wall which hid the school. There are 6000 students attending it. Yesterday we went to a non- profit school which has children attending for free from the villages. It only costs $18/month to sponsor a child. It costs about $2000/
year for kids to enroll at Daffodil. Daffodil is a great school . It's large, clean and has top quality education. Last night we attended a Rotary Club event at this school. There was a small contingent from the New Jersey Rotary Club. The school supplied the entertainment for all the posh dignitaries and club members. All 11 of the girls in a dance group came from our dormitory. They did Indian classical dances. Fantastic. Better than any school performance that I have ever seen. 2 boys did very well choreographed modern interpretive dance. There was also a shadow dance. Very entertaining. The Americans each had a slide show of thier lives in New Jersey. Judy and I thought it would be quite boring, but it was really interesting. Maybe it's because they where they first foreigners we've seen since Delhi, plus I lived in East Brunswick New Jersey from 63 to 66.
Today I rode from Mirzapur to Allahabad for the dentist. I am going there because of a recommendation from Kusam. Her cousin Kamal reccomended him. I am having my doubts. Hygiene is not the best, although the west can be rather anal. But I have been to enough dentists to have an idea when things go a bit wrong. And not having the language skills to understand what's going on. I have a suspicion they are not telling me everything.
On the way to dentist I stopped in at Kamils . I actually forgot where they lived and spent a few minutes riding around before I found someone home that phoned for Kamal to come and escort me. Addresses here don't seem to work. Everything is based on a series of imbeded place names. I was looking beside the wrong hospital. She was going to go with me to fix , or get another phone. Ours failed last night. We switched SIMM cards with KusamS and hers wouldn't with it, so we figured SIMM card was fucked. Anyway, I found the phone shop on my own. The phone shop is on the side of a main round about . Traffic is mostly motorcycles with small cars and trucks causing traffic jams. There is a general direction of flow but motorcycles come from any direction. Big gets right of way but motorcycles get priority because they can flow easier in single file either side of the blockages. Unsignaled U turns in heavy traffic is common.
The shop is about 10 feet wide 7 feet high and about 6 feet deep. I guess her main business is recharging SIMM cards. She took the phone and did everything I did and it worked ? I thanked her for her magic touch.
After the dentist I went off to a shop owned by a friend of Kamals to get some good motorcycle gloves. I have been using a woolen pair that Kusam lent me. The trip to the shop was difficult. Negotiating the chaotic traffic takes a lot of concentration and to boot, I got off track right away. I had to do double duty trying to make sure I didn't get totally lost. It's hard for me to ask for directions since my Hindi sucks. I try and pick a group to ask . Often someone has basic english They point in different directions, have discussions then have a concensus on something that I usually don't quite remember or understand. I finally got the gloves after a bit of customary negotiations. 450 rupees( About $9). Then 440 for gas. About 6.3 liters 310 km . Wow : 49km/litre at 30 to 85km/hr. ; 130 miles per gallon.
Leaving from the shop, I got turned around. I got confused as to which way east was. I figured that several people did not understand that I was asking for the direction to Varanasi( Benares) . So after I crossed the familiar bridge I started to relax. To get home a little faster I took the shortcut on the bumpy road past Kusams house instead of staying on the nice GT road. My ass neck and back couldn't take the sitting, so I stood up. Standing is natural for me because of lots of dirt bike experience. It's quite unnatural for Indians so I must have been a spectacle. I past lots of bikes with their riders going slow or being severally bounced in the saddle. I am not taking that way again. It took too much out of me at the end of a long day biking. By the time I started over the Ganga entering Mirzapur , I was feeling the fatigue.
There was a few games of football, and a game of cricket happening as I walked to meet Judy in the girls Hostel.
Kusam has arranged for me to get an opinion on Dr Singh' s work at a hospital next door. I might get the rest of the work done here in Mirzapur.
Dec 15
A 14 year old boy from the school, one staff escort went to the hospital next door to see the dentist. It is a spacious hospital that runs on donations. The government hospitals in the larger cities are very underfunded, dirty and crowded. The private for profit hospitals are much better.
The boy had a sore tooth. I watched as the dentist inspected the boy. He will need d root canal and a few fillings. Because it is a charity hospital his charge will be 600 rupees , $12, if I understood correctly. It was a very low class clinic. Things were dirty , there where many drip marks on equipment, grime was built up on switches, and broken bits were wired together. I will be continuing with Dr. Singh in Allahabad, as Mirzapur has only this one dentist.
Judy is earning our keep here. She spoke to the 6 grade 5 classes in two 45 minute settings. They really pirked up when they started asking questions like how she gets around at home, what Canada is like and what's our favorite things about India.
Dec 17
Rosamond and two of her friends arrived from Delhi yesterday. The Mughud Express was supposed to arrive at 6:00am. We asked Rosamond to call us when the train was at Allahabad ( 1.5 hours away) or at 8:00am. We knew the train is always at least 5 hours late, but poor Rosamond and friends: the train took 18.5 hours, not 10; 8 1/2 hours late !
They sent off to Kusams. Today they went to Varanasi with Kusam and driver. Most middle and upper class people use drivers. Most verbody else takes a bus or train or rides bicycles or motorcycles.
I went to a bigger and better dental clinic in Allahabad. Amrit says they are the best in that city. The 2 root canals that Dr. Singh did were redone at Dr. Rastogi's clinic. I was impressed with thier handheld wireless X-ray. I am going back tommorrow for a third root canal. I feel as I should pay Dr Singh something for trying, although others say I don't have to pay.
The ride back on the GT road was pretty easy. I am feeling more comfortable with the way traffic works. Most of the way is 4 lanes with ditches and large medians. There is much less traffic, even going through the towns. There usually is a few minutes where I had to slow down to about 30 as I weaved between trucks and pedestrians . The trucks are like grain trucks all decorated with intricate paint jobs. They usually change lanes slowly and are predictable. Vehicles, especially motorcycles often come opposing traffic direction on either side of the road, but they go slow and have thier lights on. When they want to come across traffic they will do it predictably by gradually changing direction.
The sights of today were: camels on side of rode feeding on high schrubs.
I had to brake for another camel bring goods into the city. One Hijra. A naked woman, just wearing tiny gstring in traffic. Solicitation ?
The other day I got caught behind an elephant in traffic a few times.
It takes 2 to 3 hours to do the commute each way. I stopped at a dusty truck stop for some fantastic subgey. I took another chi break 1/2 hr from home; plus 2 fantastically good goolob jomins ..
Dec 18
Judy went with Rosamond Barbara Peggy and Kusam in two hired vehicles to the Mirzapur Club, a still active unsegredated English club from the days of the Raj.
I went to see Dr Rastogy for another dressing change on the 2 root canals that Dr Singh did. After a long discussion with Kamal and Shaker, Kamals husband , about the 2 dentists, I decided to pay Dr Singh and go with Dr Ristogy. Dr Singh was buSsy and a few people were ahead of me. I told the receptionist I would be back in 2 hours the rode around for 1/2 hour looking for Dr Ristogys clinic. I got to the Civil Lines area without much trouble but I had to ask 1/2 dozen people where it was. I went around the huge long blocks a few times, battling the intense traffic. I was pretty frazelled by the time I got to the clinic. I talked with the Dr about the options to get some teeth in my mouth. Implants are too expensive, even here. He suggested ceramic bridges. Still expensive. I said I would think about it. His junior reamed the chambers again. Now I understand the Indian root canal method. They don't take all the root out on the first sitting.
I went back to Sangam clinic and had a long talk with Dr. Singh . I now trust his work. He is 1/2 the cost of Ristogy also. The bridges Ristogy planned for me would likely have failed sooner or later. Partial dental plates is what Singh has recommended. At a fraction of the cost of bridges.
I have caused a bit of gossip surrounding the suggestion that I didn't have to pay Dr Singh. I surmised that was only said because of a misunderstanding that Singh had done something wrong when Actually it was all my perception due to the different techniques used in India.
It was a pretty uneventfull ride back. I had to hit brakes hard for one dog. I stopped at a chi stand and was invited to a tent beside it where there was a large birthday party for a 2 year old boy.
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