Eye doctor and x-ray

So Gopal needed to see the eye doctor, Dr.Chandrashekar.

Then, for me, we went to get a cervical x-ray, which is what serves as a bone density test here.

Sitting outside the x-ray office, this is what we look at.

Then we turn right, heading back to the main road, passing other medical storefronts.

Mount Road ahead.

Fixing the scratches on my car

This is the before picture, with scrapes.  (One day shortly after we got the car, I drove through the gate at the Taj Hotel en route to my yoga class, and the security guy opened the gate too  forcefully so it bounced back against my car as I went through the gate, scraping the left side visibly.)

After

And the view of the hills from the driveway

An update on our birds

It's so hard to get pictures of the birds,these photos are not going to be very exciting.  But we now have many, many birds (mostly sparrows) feeding, and we now have converted our Brooklands mailbox into a two-nest box.

Although we feed mostly sparrows, pigeons, Nilgiri Wood Pigeons, and chipmunks also feed.  We feed the ravens and crows cooked rice far from this feeding area.

This is the bird bath and a feeder.  But the birds actually eat mainly from the floor.

Near our front door is an electrical box high on the wall next to our kitchen window.  That's where we put the nest box.

Gopal at the front door.

Around the back near the clothes line is another feeder that doesn't get much action, but a little.

Exciting, huh?

La Belle Vie restaurant opens near us

On 15 January 2009 I did a post about Bhoomi Shanti Project where they served vegetarian organic food beautifully, French style.  They moved to Ooty, not doing well up by Nankem Hospital.  They've been gone for months, and we miss their food.  In the meantime, an old, large English bungalow, fairly near our house, which had eventually served as a maternity hospital and then had stood vacant for a long time has been refurbished to become an elegant small inn.  Fado, Peter and Christopher of Bhoomi Shanti have been brought in to do the restaurant.  But it turns out they have also designed the guest rooms, so I'm not sure what the arrangement is.

So we have been waiting and waiting for the restaurant to open.  FINALLY, today was the opening of the restaurant, and they invited their loyal customers to the opening.  Here are the pictures.

This veranda is the entrance to the restaurant.

The dining room

Christopher and Peter (Did I say Christopher, Fado and Peter were all from France?)

View from dining room

Also from dining room.  I know it doesn't do it justice.  The view is gorgeous.

By the way, I took a journey through Google Help after my last post, posted a question on their forum regarding controlling uploaded photos, and someone responded, giving me the knowhow to do it correctly.  This is going very smoothly.  I'm so happy about it.

This is the other dining room, known at Christopher's room (Peter and Gopal).

Gopal and Fado

Fado and Peter

Shanthi worked for them up by Nankem as a waitress and is now the boss (per Peter).  Not sure what that means, but may be that she's in charge of the kitchen which would be wonderful for her.

The next couple pictures are the kitchens.

Since they also serve non-veg food, all the veg and non-veg are cooked separately, even separated into different refrigerators.

Guests

As we were leaving, Fado asked if she could show us a couple of the rooms.  I was really interested in that, so......

From the first dining room is this hallway to the rooms of the inn, all still under construction.

View from the hallway

This shower stall may not look like much, but I have not seen one since I've been in India.  sigh

Doorway off the corridor - lovely

Lovely sitting area near that door.

That's it.  Unfortunately, they are only open from 3:30 to 6:30pm weekdays.  Because they offer really good coffee and fresh baked bread, I would love to go there in the morning.  They open very late morning on Sundays for brunch, however.  Hmmm.  Really looking forward to being able to walk over there, ya know?

New pictures of The Clinic for the Poor

Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday morning, I volunteer at The Clinic for the Poor run by the University Women's Association of Coonoor.

This is the first waiting room as you enter.

The next room in is the reception desk where I work.  This is the view of the initial waiting room from my room.  They take a number from my desk and wait until that number is called (in English which most of them don't understand).  I'm working on that, and Parvathy who works with me helps with language.

Jyoti is an employee of the clinic and kindly brings me hot water shortly after I arrive.

Me at the reception desk.  That day, Nargis Barucha was at the desk, but didn't want her picture taken because she had spilled so much oil on her hair, she couldn't get it out, and didn't like how she looked.  Nargis is 85.  Most days there are three of us at this desk - me, Nargis and Parvathy, a psychiatrist who has lived in London for the last 35 years.  When all three of us are there like that, I often help in the pharmacy.

Parvathy cleaning up the medical-records

When the patients register, they sit and wait across from the reception desk.

This is where I lost control of this post.  The program they have now in Blogger doesn't work very well, and I am unable to control or label my photos.  I had them in a logical order to show you how the patients make their way through the clinic, but the photos jump around and are impossible to return to their place.  So I need to tell you that after the patients leave the the 2nd waiting room near my reception desk, they go to see the doctor in the next room.  Then they go to the pharmacy. 

Promila Dhar distributing medicine in the pharmacy

Pharmacy (in the next room)

Sarah is the nurse, here working in the pharmacy

The room after Reception is the doctors' office.  The male doctor is Elias Jacob; then Dr. Sheila Chandran, my friend and landlady.

Doctors' office