Time for a moan, whinge and a foot stamp or three. Today has been one of those days. Hope you're comfortable because this may be a long one.
6.30am realisation that there is no hot water in the house. Why? Who knows.
After checking all my Child Manuals, on the web and with NHS direct I deduced that Ellie was no longer contagious as all her chicken pox blisters had scabbed over by last Saturday. So today was back to school for her, or so I thought. We got up, had all the usual rows about what she was wearing, how she was going to brush her teeth and how slowly she could eat her breakfast and finally left for school.
Guilt trip #1 I dropped her at her class and to my surprise, after over a week away, not one of the teachers asked her, or me how she was, but just teased her about how clingy she was which made her worse. Not surprising really when she is in her little class where no other girls speak English and don't include her in anything. I finally settled her and left.
Guilt trip #2 Half way home en route to collect Luke to take him to his playgroup I get a call from the school nurse. "Ellie has visible spots and cannot stay at school". I had checked and double checked, she's not contagious, she's not even itchy...
"But in the UK"...but apparently not in India.
We do a U turn and return to school, where I find Ellie in 'the sick bay'. "She's hot and has a fever still." Well she would, wouldn't she, lying on a bed covered with a plastic sheet and wrapped up to her chin in a woollen blanket in 30+ degrees. She hasn't had a 'fever' since the day before her spots appeared, but here in India EVERY AILMENT is described as a 'fever'. So, I got a friendly lecture on how India perceives Chicken Pox...not as one of those 'normal' childhood illnesses apparently. At least 20 days to recover apparently. Doctors note required to admit her back to school apparently. Neem leaves are the best treatment apparently.
OK. So I listened, I took her home. Luke missed his playgroup. Pushpa was concerned why she hadn't stayed at school and I asked her what Neem leaves were?? She disappears into the garden and returns with some, just like that, and explains why the Indians use them. Neem leaves are the answer to everything apparently and have healing and anti bacterial properties. If anyone in a household is ill they sleep on them, and if a woman is at 'that time of the month' then Neem leaves are hung outside the door. She probably sleeps on them as well. In the case of chickenpox Neem leaves are ground up and mixed with water and some sort of powder, the packaging is all in Tamil and no-one was able to offer a translation, and applied to the spots. Pushpa offered to do this for Ellie and before I knew it, and just as I was 'down the garden' paying the Pool Guy, she had been stripped, standing on a stool and having the brightest green concoction smeared all over her before being washed off with water. She hated it, and looked more like the alien that she doesn't want to be. But, half an hour later, I have to admit, her spots had faded.
Guilt Trip # 3 This evening Pushpa told me how the Tamils treat Chickenpox. The child stays inside their house for 3 weeks or more, they don't go out to play, they certainly don't go shopping (!). They sleep every night without cushions on the floor (with their mother) wrapped only in her Sari on a bed of Neem leaves. 3 months to the day that their spots appeared they go to The Temple with their mother and sleep the whole night there on the floor. After this they are cured.
My other irritations involved shopping, most of the time I don't mind visiting 4 shops in different corners of the city searching for one ingredient but I was short on time and only looking for 'long' beansprouts. In the third shop, which didn't have any but had fresh mushrooms and strawberries, my search was constantly hindered by a very young and glamorous Indian woman, more than likely a Tamil actress judging how everyone was bowing and scraping to her every want and need. I had my two things and went to patiently wait at the un-manned till to pay while all the staff practically kissed her feet. When she was finally done two staff returned to the till with HER basket and began ringing it all up on the till. HELLO!! I've been waiting here 5 minutes...they looked at me with complete disdain and carried on. Irritated beyond belief I just dropped everything I had (not much) on the checkout and walked out. Their loss, because 'ex-pat prices' are far higher than Indian prices...yet another irritation.
The fourth shop had beansprouts and Ellie's favourite chocolate milk, thank goodness and all was going well until...the checkout. One man decided his needs were greater than mine, and, because men in India can, he shoved me out of the queue to get there first...here at least I'm a bit of a regular and the woman serving gave him short sharp thrift, well that was my interpretation of their Tamil exchange anyway and he finally conceded. Good job because by this time I was in no mood for any more arguments.
2 comments:
Just another day in "Paradise"
HA. Hang in there, we all have THOSE days every now and then.
I've had it out with that nurse also. She calls me at least once a month claiming that my kid has a "fever", but by the time I get there, the Tylenol has worked and said kid is fine. It's irritating because when I ask, she only measures their temperature under the arm (not very accurate) and often right after recess or gym! No wonder they have a fever!
The picture of the Neem leaves on Ellie is priceless. You can use it when she is dating. :)
Interesting how some illnesses are such a big deal in one country but not in another. In the US, pink eye is treated very strictly and your child cannot return to school if their eyes are at all pink and they must have a doctor's note stating they are well. Here, they practically ignore it. It's so common that it has it's own regional name - "Madras eye". Great, huh!
Here's to hoping for some better days -
Teresa
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