we're in the state of tamil nadu, not confusion

yesterday marked our big debut at the rotary district conference here in madurai. in preparation, we put together a lovely slide show, all about us and utah to present at the conference, possibly in front of as many as 2,000 people. the hall where the conference was held was indeed packed, and the crowd was boisterous. though one speaker told everyone he wouldn't continue until they quieted down (it felt a little like third grade with a mean and condescending teacher), it seeemed basically appropriate to talk, get up and walk around and answer cell phones during the speeches.

most of the speeches (except for the one given by the "quiet" guy) were very interesting. we heard from the retired supreme court justice we met the day before, and from a real life swami, who talked about how it's a not a sin to have wealth, but it is a sin not to share it. he also made a bizarre passing reference to president clinton and monica lewinsky.

after the morning "dignitaries," we were herded to lunch. this was our first major food challenge, as we weren't entirely sure how the food was prepared. i wiped down my plate with a wet wipe and went for it... so far so good. we also ate with our fingers for the first time, which was dirty but fun. we spent a lot of the lunch talking with the indian team that will come to utah in may. they are totally interesting and fun and i just hope we treat them as well as they have treated us. after lunch we decided to skip the rest of the conference and head back to the hotel to "take rest," which is where things went a little awry.

we had been getting attention all day, being the visiting team and foreigners and all, with people coming up and introducing themselves and telling us when we would visit their towns, but we were literally mobbed on our way out of the dining hall. huge groups of men stopped us every few inches, wanting us to crowd together for pictures, which was really just an excuse to touch our butts. over and over again. it was pretty gross, as were they, and it was a strange and unwelcome contrast to the wonderful and respectful treatment we had been receiving. i think the mob mentality just took over. and had there been more women around, i am sure things would have turned out very differently. when we told our caretakers about it afterwards they were entirely appalled. one of them, who comes from the neighboring province said very solemnly, "that would never happen in kerala."

the whole experience was made a little better by the fact that we met an elephant on our way to the van. seriously.

later that night we went back to the conference for our big presentation, to find that we had 10 minutes instead of 30. we cut everything down and headed in to the conference hall, now less than a third full. i guess we weren't the draw we thought we were. the people on stage were chatting throughout, and someone put up a big ladder in front of the screen where our slides were playing, but i think it was a big hit. (does sarcasm come through on a blog?) that night's entertainment, a cross between traditional indian performance and a vegas lounge act, was much more popular. we were just glad the day was over.

this morning was the highlight of the trip so far. one of rotary's big missions is the global eradication of polio. india has two national vaccination days a year, and one of them was today! we put on totally ugly "polio free india" hats and headed down to the clinic to give kids vaccinations drops. by the time we got there, just after 9a.m., they had already immunized 300 children. it will be 6,000 by the end of today. it was truly amazing to think that with this short, free visit, these children's lives would be changed and protected forever. the medical director was so pleased we had come. the kids were the most precious you have ever seen. some of them cried, and one girl spit the drops right back in my face, but their parents were so grateful. i just couldn't shake the thought of how much we take for granted. i have never even worried about getting polio, or any other number of diseases that still plague people around the world. the feeling of giving other children and parents that same peace of mind was indescribable.

we spent a few minutes after the clinic at the "interwheel" meeting, a meeting for the wives of rotarians, as well as female rotarians. another thing we are noticing is that india is very segregated. we went to a dinner the other night where the women stayed on one side of the lawn and the men on the other. we went over to the men's side to get some drinks and just stayed over there to see what would happen. sure enough, a man came over and said, "now that you have your drinks you can join our ladies." inner wheel was pretty boring, but we did run into some rotarian wives who had been with us a few days earlier, and we all decided to ditch the meeting and go shopping. it was immensely helpful to have them as our guides, haggling over prices and the quality of fabric. it was hilarious to just sit and watch and listen. we were all exhausted by the end.

in an hour or so we'll leave madurai for our next destination, which i cannot remember or spell. we are sad to leave the comfort of our hotel, but glad to see a new part of the country and spend some more quality time with our hosts. pictures are taking too long to upload, so i'll just post this as it is, with more to come!