Delhi Belly

by Anna Ferguson (JD '08),

Ok. I had a lovely first 3 days here. I will get to those in just a bit. First, I would like to tell you about Delhi belly. I won't get into too much detail. It comes from drinking non-bottled water or eating contaminated food. Both of which I tried to avoid. I do have some faint memory of brushing my teeth during a jet lag induced semi-coma. I believe I used the faucet instead of bottled water. So from Sunday night until Tuesday I was very very sick. I would have come home but there was no way I was leaving the air-conditioned confines of my room (and nearby facilities). I tried to go to my internship on Tuesday morning and was there for a good 2 hours before I absolutely had to leave. The heat didn't bother me when I was feeling well but now it is one of the worst things I have ever experienced. Don't get me wrong, I still like India, but with my stomach on edge already, the heat, noise, smells, and activity were a little more than I could handle. I was planning on seeing a doctor Tuesday night after it cooled off a bit but I ended up sleeping all afternoon and into the next morning. Having force fed myself and drinking as much as I could, I felt well enough to attempt going to work again.

I am hanging in there pretty well now. It is hot but I sit near a fan. I share a cubicle with an intern from New York. She speaks Punjabi, which is similar enough to Hindi that she can act as a translator when we work with people who don't speak English. So far I have not been given anything to do other than read past publications of their bimonthly magazine "Combat Law". Initially I was supposed to work in the human trafficking unit but when the head guy found out my background is economics he switched me over to a new project analyzing government expenditure in education, health, food, etc. I think I will be excited about it when I feel better. If you are interested, the website for the Human Rights Law Network is www.hrln.org and there is a link to Combat Law.

Stay tuned for stories of my pleasant days before Delhi belly...I saw elephants on the street and a place that could put Vegas to shame!