Day 6 Bobble heads

First, some Gwalior sights. These are dumpster cows, bovines of the streets. For being holy, you'd think people would treat them a little better. I mean, if you think these beasties are your transport into heaven, you think people would feed them or something. But then, I guess it's tough enough just feeding yourself and your family. Can you do that?
Day 6 was my last full day in Gwalior. The guy who runs the faux hospital wanted me to teach CPR and BLS to some nursing students. I'm just a little EMT who doesn't speak Hindi, but I was willing to give it a try. Thanks to Ann, the nurse I met in Nepal, I had notes to teach from (they asked me to teach after I'd already left home). I was able to rustle up an infant dummy and a half a rescue Annie. I found the one bag valve mask in the hospital and even an AED.

About 30 nursing students showed up, which was unnerving. Also unnerving were their bobbling heads. In Nepal the horizontal head wobble means, "Yes." In India it means everything. When the auto rickshaw guy does it he is either agreeing on the price or asking for more money. It means, "Yes you can take my picture" and "The picture looks good." When I asked if they could understand me they wobbled their heads. When I asked if they'd been taught all this stuff before they wobbled their heads. When I asked if they had any questions, they wobbled their heads. So what does that mean? Is this new stuff for you? Do you have any questions or not? I can see their bobbling heads now, a whole audience full of them. I wish I could have gotten it on video.

Here are a few of the nurses with two of the staff's kids (Raju's cutie is the guy with the stripped shirt in front).

I didn't think the lecture went all that well. I'm not the best teacher. Paige helped out some, which was nice. I'd have been more comfortable if people had gotten up and actually practiced stuff. Explaining CPR is a lot harder than letting people just do it.

The nice thing was that I got two questions at the end. One guy asked if he should give CPR to a stranger on the roadside since he wouldn't have a mask. We had a good discussion about keeping the rescuers safe and taking care of ourselves. Another one asked for clarification on controlling bleeding on head wounds. So they were able to understand me after all and I wasn't boring them to tears. Paige said all the bobbling meant they were paying attention and totally enthralled.

Afterwards, one of the doctors from a different hospital told me that if I come back he'd love to put on a class where small groups of students could practice their skills. He said he wished he'd had more notice that I was coming because he would've liked my help. He was very nice and was only the second Indian I'd seen with green eyes. He was a big head bobbler to.

Afterwards we were able to make it to Mercy Home one last time. Bahshootum (I know I'm not spelling any of these names right, but it's how they sound) was our driver this time. He's the one who gets out and interacts with the kids. Poohbah really likes him.

We found one of the kids lying on the floor looking postictal (like he'd just had a seizure). Paige and I picked him up and put him in bed. There wasn't anything else for us to do. The wounds I'd cleaned before looked pretty good and the guy who was sick looked like he had more energy. Poohbah, for the first time, was wearing pants. Pushba convinced me to give her a piggyback ride again, but this time Poohbah and another little kid wanted one to. They wore me out because they don't just want to be carried around, they want me to run. They'd yell in my ear until I picked up the pace. Insatiable.

It was sad to leave, as usual. Especially knowing that I won't see those kids again. I won't be able to check on them to make sure they're being taken care of. The volunteers at Snehalaya are the only people who care about them.

That evening I realized I wanted a video of the Indian head wobble. It is so darn adorable. Paige called it my snake in a basket. Paige's husband saw a picture of a fake snake in a little wicker basket and he wanted one. So when Paige was in Delhi she went in search of one. She ran in and out of shops exclaiming, "Snake in a basket?" At the time she knew the Hindi word for "snake," but not for "basket" so she was asking half in English, half in Hindi. She wasn't having any luck and it was getting late when someone came running after her... with a snake in a basket. She bought it and proceeded to do a victory dance down the street. After searching in dozens of shops, she'd found her snake in a basket. She was overjoyed, the same way I would be if I could capture the elusive head wobble on video.

Raju was up when we got back. He brought us dinner and I asked if he'd be willing to wobble his head for me. He's a big tease. He shook his head back and forth, which isn't the same. Anyone can do that. I went to bed that night wondering how I could find my snake in a basket.