Living in Himachal

I really have a very comfortable living situation here, which Anya found for me before I arrived. It's an apartment on the second floor of a mud brick house. As it turns out, despite the dustiness, mud houses are much better to live in than concrete houses, the alternative around here. The walls absorb the moisture during the rainy season, keep the house cooler during the summer, and warmer during the winter.

This particular house has three apartments on the top floor, one is unoccupied, but the third is occupied by Vandana, a girl from Delhi who recently came up here to work for Jagori. We have already become friends over a love for books and have shared several meals. On the first floor lives our landlady Dr. Kusum and her husband. She is a medical doctor in a local clinic and is an incredibly sweet woman. She is always coming up to see how I'm doing and giving us organic fruits and vegetables from her garden.

My apartment consists on three rooms, each opening separately onto the balcony. First, there is my bedroom, secondly, my kitchen, and thirdly my bathroom. I have uploaded some pictures of each. My bedroom has a desk, shelves, a little closet, a plank bed, and a large pad mattress on the floor. I've taken to sleeping on the floor because it is much more comfortable than the plank bed, which makes a nice couch. I don't have internet at home, however, so I have to find an internet cafe or use one of the NGOs' computer labs when I want to check my email and such.

My kitchen is pretty simple with shelves, a sink, and a stove. The stove is connected to a gas cylinder, which I have to buy about twice a year. I am still in the market for a small refrigerator, but most people around here make do without one. Unfortunately, I share my home with some insects, namely 'silver fish.' Vandana warned me that they like to eat through books, clothes, and food. To combat that, I got some insect repellant pellets to stash on every shelf and in every drawer, and socked up on air tight plastic containers. Also important to my kitchen is a pressure cooker. I have to boil water in that every day to drink so as to kill any bacteria and amoeba in the water that could make me sick.

My bathroom, well, that's even more simple. I have a sink just outside the door, and inside there is a toilet and several spigots for washing. Traditionally, Indian's use a little water bucket to clean themselves after using the toilet instead of toilet paper. I have yet to master this, so I got some toilet paper up in McLeod Ganj. Bathing happens in the same space as well. There isn't a shower or any hot water. I fill a large bucket with some water, than use a smaller scooper bucket to pour it over me. This morning I discovered how to use my heating coil, a coil of metal that when dropped into the bucket will warm up the water, and I can already seen that that will be very nice come cooler weather.

The area I live in is at the foot of the Lesser Himalayas. And, for being 'lesser', these mountains are incredibly impressive. The slope of the land here isn't so steep, but it begins to tire you out when you're always going up or going down. I'm sure I'll get stronger legs and lungs soon enough.