Shaji and I followed the bus from Stanhome Bungalows for our final official day together as driver and passenger. I told him about the negative test results and the plans for the second retest the next morning. The road to Munnar was even curvier. But first we had to stop with the bus in a small, crowded village in Tamil Nadu to see Lion-maned macaques. Mammals seemed to be the only thing some of the others in the group enjoyed..
Leaving the macaques, we began traveling on a road with 41 hairpin turns. Each turn had strategically placed mirrors so drivers could see the cars coming from the opposite direction. The bus riders would not be happy but for Shaji and me it was driving as usual.
When writing this, I got my days mixed up and forgot to add something notable from the day prior, March 17th. We drove through Anamalia Tiger Reserve and we stopped to visit a small museum where I read a tribute to Magnolia Kobus Janaki Ammal. She was born in 1897 and received a Bachelor's degree in Botany in 1921. Then, choosing a life of scholarship over marriage, Janaki Ammal left India for the University of Michigan where she obtained her Master's degree in 1925. She returned to India to teach, but later went back to the University of Michigan to pursue her doctoral thesis. She was an expert in cytogenetics (the study of chromosomes and inheritance). She joined the Sugarcane Breeding Station at Coimbatore - the area we were then driving through - to work on sugarcane biology. The Genus Janakia was named for her. While I was reading the information on her display, I was accompanied by a young park employee who seemed to be keeping an eye on me.
I became more animated when I got to the University of Michigan part of Magnolia Kobus Janaki Ammal's biography. I told the young man that I was also from the University of Michigan. I don't think he understood fully what I was saying, but he got that it was significant to me. He opened the visitors log book and asked me to write about my experience visiting the museum. I wrote a full paragraph focusing on Janaki Ammal's connection and my own to the University of Michigan and how much I enjoyed learning about her. Truly, it did make me pause to consider how, in 1925, a young woman had traveled from Madras, India to Ann Arbor, Michigan. This says so much about the young Janaki Ammal, her family, her foundational education in India and, also, about the University of Michigan. She was ahead of her time and perhaps the University was too. I tried to imagine how she did it. No telephones or airplanes; only letter writing sent via the slowest of mail. Perhaps she also sent and received telegrams. Then boarding a ship (from which port?) that must have had many ports of call along the way. Then, somehow, finally arriving in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Was it thrilling for her? We think we do big things now, but when compared to the endeavors and feats of those who paved the way for us, we really don't do much. Especially when we add all of our complaining to our efforts. Reading about Janaki Ammal was another highlight of my trip. I was grateful for the stop and feel privileged to know of her.
When I finished writing my paragraph and signed my name, the young man asked me to also include my telephone number. I didn't know what he would do with that information, but I dutifully included my phone number.
Addendum: MK Janaki Ammal is remembered in the March 1, 2025 University of Michigan Matthaei Botanical Gardens and Nichols Arboretum blog article titled Outstanding in the Field: The Rich Legacy of UM Women in Botany.
The rest of our drive on this day was mostly just enjoyable. We entered Munnar where I was spending the next two nights (hopefully), and Shaji would go home for a visit with his family.
We stopped at an ATM for me and then drove to the Tea Country Resort which Shaji informed me was a government property. By their protocol Shaji would wait at the resort for our IFG to arrive. When I found this out, I asked him to join me for lunch. I checked in and was escorted to my room by a young man who hoisted my heavy suitcase to his shoulder. The sidewalks to the rooms were made with river stones. The river stones were attractive but completely impractical. It would be bumpy and noisy to drag a suitcase over them. We walked and walked until we came to the very end where my escort took an abrupt right turn into a dark, little hallway with my suitcase still perched on his shoulder. I followed and suddenly, out of the blue, I was flying through the air, landing on my right hip, right elbow and right shoulder just beyond a staircase. It was a hard, hard fall made worse by the heavy backpack I wore. I heard my camera clang against the tile floor. I had missed a step about four inches high. Such a step would never be found at this kind of transition in an American building. My escort had probably taken this step hundreds of times and didn't warn me. I was caught completely off guard. When I stood up I was shaken and breathless. But I was standing and I was okay. The fall, as hard as it was, could have ended everything. COVID was nothing when compared with the potential sequelae of such a fall.
I met Shaji in the dining room for lunch and told him what happened. He may have thought, 'this woman is jinxed.' We had a companionable and, memorable for me, final lunch after which I went to my room and he went to wait for the IFG's arrival. He knew of our plan for the second retest in the morning and he parted saying, "If you need anything, please just WhatsApp me or call me." So grateful was I to hear his words. I told him that I surely would. For my part, I said that I knew Indians were not sentimental - he nodded agreement - but I occasionally was and that I would be forever grateful for his service and professionalism and the time we spent driving in south India.
Much later, when the bus still had not arrived, and thinking that Shaji might still be waiting for the IFG, I went down to the parking lot to look for his car. I was probably also missing him. Wisely, he had left.
The next morning my second COVID antigen test was negative and, with mixed emotions, I rejoined the group.
No comments:
Post a Comment