Madurai

It's afternoon, a balmy 95-degrees-plus, and I'm in the guest house of the Aravind Eye Hospital, tapping out the Mediabistro newsfeed and drinking endless bottles of water that I trust has been somehow purified (the seals on the caps are all broken). I spent the morning meeting the doctors I'll be working with, taking a tour of the hospital's paid facilities, and hanging around for a bit in my so-far-empty office (one step up from cubicle life already!).

So far, after propeller flights and motorcycle-rickshaw rides, I am a little stunned by the chaos. Not in a bad way -- just the constant movement and energy, and cows blocking the road while slicky-boys on mopeds weave around them and in between massive trucks, constantly honking horns. Somehow, all of this has triggered an even deeper calm in me than I'd already been feeling after leaving behind my job and all of my other responsibilities in New York.

I mean for this blog to be mostly video, but I haven't shot much of interest yet, so I figure it's not a bad idea to just get started with some photographs. I'll try to add a little to this every day or two throughout the summer.