First Thoughts of Dandeli

Dandeli is built around the paper mill. Most everyone that lives in the town either works at the mill or supplies something to people that work in the mill. Raju told me he thought there are 100,000 people living here, but I don’t know because I have only seen a small portion of it. There is a whole community within the gated portion of the mill. I think most people that are employed by the mill live here, there are a lot of buildings that look like apartments and there are more that are houses, like the house I’m staying in. I’ve also seen a temple and a hospital. All the buildings look pretty run down from the outside.
The house I am staying in has three different rooms for people to stay in. I think it used to be a normal house and they converted it into a guest house. My room is pretty simple, but I have cable tv (the only thing I’ve watched so far is their music station and it is so awesome, I love Indian music videos, they crack me up), a little fridge and my own bathroom. And two twin beds right next to each other, so the room is a little cramped. I think the room next to mine has two guys sharing it, but I haven’t actually seen them, I’ve only heard them. And I’ve heard everything. I think one of the guys must be sick because he sure has the runs a lot. Totally gross. There’s only a false ceiling, so all the sound carries right into my room. I had to sleep with earplugs last night because their tv was on so loud and the guy keeps coughing over and over and then going to the bathroom over and over.
Anyway, my bathroom is just an open room and there is a shower, but I couldn’t get any hot water out of it this morning, so I used the buckets and scoopers to wash up. It worked and wasn’t as bad as a cold shower would have been.
We have each of our meals at another guest house where there’s a big kitchen and an open room where all the people visiting the mill eat. I guess there are two different places we can eat; we’ve been going to the vegetarian house to eat since Raju is Hindu. It’s all Indian food and has been pretty good so far, some of it is a little spicy for me, though. And I’m trying not to get sick while I’m here, so I’m only eating things that are cooked. They’ve given me a couple of desserts, but I have passed on them because they’re made with milk. I’m sure I would be ok, but I just don’t want to risk sounding like my neighbor. The other house has some non-Indian style foods since there are people here from Germany, Japan, China and other parts of India starting up different equipment at the mill. I’m not the only white person eating there, but I am the only female eating there. And I haven’t seen any female engineers in the mill. I think that must be why I get all the stares from everyone else working there. It’s kind of annoying.