Gokarna Pics

View while hiking

Boats on Om Beach

First steps in the Arabian Sea on Om Beach

Kudle Beach

Hiking beach to beach

After the long hike we stopped at a cafe, and some women wanted a picture with us....

Gokarna Trip 5/26 -5/29

Beach Cows on Om Beach. You know, totally normal.

You have not truly traveled through India without taking an overnight, non-AC, sleeper bus. It’s an insane experience all its own that you wouldn’t understand unless you had been on one of these buses for 13 hours for two separate nights. To say it was like a roller coaster ride would be describing it mildly. On the way there, I had a single sleeper (it’s a bed) in the middle of the bus, on the upper portion. There are no stairs to an upper level, just a couple ladder steps to help you get up.

The bus:

On the way back, however, I was all the way in the very back of the bus. These back sleepers are perpendicular to the direction the bus is moving. The other sleepers are straight in line with the direction the bus is moving- I hope this makes some sense. We left at 7:30pm but with various stops and who knows what, we really didn’t leave Bangalore until 3 hours later. I actually managed to sleep a bit, even though it was beyond bumpy. Think: worst turbulence in an airplane you’ve ever experienced, then multiply that by about 20. Janine and Katinka (the German girls) were in a double wide sleeper next to me, also lofted. I just put on my iPod the whole night and drifted in and out of sleep. We only stopped once for the bathroom- which wasn’t too big of a deal since I had given up drinking liquids since 3pm.

Enough about the bus for now…

So when we arrived in Gokarna, we decided to get off a few kilometers early in the town of Om Beach, which, according to the Lonely Planet book, was the place to stay. After an exhaustive search of the beach we really didn’t find anywhere decent enough to stay, so we had breakfast at Namaste Café for a couple hours and thought of a game plan. We ended up staying the first of our two-night-trip at the Seabird Hotel in Om Beach. While it was a decent place, it was considerably more expensive than anywhere the girls had stayed on their other weekend getaway trips, and it really wasn’t close to much. Janine and I explored the town of Gokarna and after another very scary “charging cow, bull, and calf (charging cow family!!) encounter,” we took a long walk down a path to Kudle Beach, which was just beautiful. We found a deserted portion of it and actually stripped down into our bikinis! Freedom from hot, heavy clothes at last! It was so, so very hot there- at least 10 degrees hotter than Bangalore and extremely humid. I am so glad to be staying the majority of my trip in Bangalore where the weather is so mild. After a nice swim we walked further down the beach and found what I like to call a little “hippie campout” area and met an Israeli guy who offered us some coconut. We stayed there and shared a beer for a while until we decided we better start the long walk back before dark. Janine, Katinka, and I had dinner right at the hotel, where we were the only dinner guests. I had a fish fry dish, but I swear the fish was no bigger than your standard goldfish- disappointing to say the least, especially in a town on the water that is supposed to be good for seafood! In any case, it ended up being a great first day.

The next day, Saturday, was quite an adventurous one. After breakfast at the hotel, the three of us took an auto-rickshaw from the hotel to Paradise Beach, the farthest beach away. Paradise Beach was gorgeous! The Arabian Sea was so refreshingly cool, and there were only a few other people on the beach, surprisingly all of them white. When we were ready to go, we knew we would have to hike back, since the rickshaw dropped us off in the middle of nowhere. That’s ok though, because that was the plan- get a ride one way and walk the way back. Well…the hike ended up being really intense! It really reminded me of my hiking in Cinque Terra, Italy. The terrain was so rough- dirt/rock paths no wider than a foot straight up hills-what seemed like 90 degree angles. For areas we could not find a path, we had to hug the rocks of the coast, and use all four limbs to maneuver our way through the huge boulders. You had to be extremely careful because if a rock was wet, it was extremely slippery, or if you stepped on a pebbly or leaf-covered part of the path, you could easily lose your grip and go careering down the cliff. Of course the three of us only had flip flops on….go figure. For some parts of the hike all I could think about was how much some of my running friends, who also love to rock-climb, would absolutely love this! I must admit, a few times I was afraid we wouldn’t find our way back before dark, but just as I would think that, we would find the path and signs that we were headed in the right direction. It was such a blast and I couldn’t think of a better way to spend the afternoon there. We stopped at Dolphin Bay Café on Om Beach after the hike to have some delicious Nutella crepes- see, I told you I am not going to lose any weight in India.

Unfortunately the day was a bit too long, and by the time we got back, shopped a bit, and got a shower, it was already 9:30pm and all the restaurants were closed, except for the fish place. It was such a simple place and packed with locals. They serve one thing- a fish meal! It was very yummy. We each got a whole fried fish (maybe 6 inches long? And yes, they keep the head on and the bones in. It’s literally an entire fried fish), rice, a fish curry, and a vegetable that I think might have been okra. All of this for 45 rupees, which is almost exactly $1.00.

We originally wanted to check out the Pai Restaurant, which looked good and was recommended by both the Lonely Planet and a local we met, but when we arrived they told us they were closed. Funny thing because as we walked by a second time, we saw a large Indian family of maybe 8 people get seated, right after they were turned away at another closed restaurant and after we were turned away at Pai. Janine asked the waiter why we were turned away and this large family was not, when they told us they were closing? Unfortunately we can’t stop some of the racism (I hope this is the politically correct word…I sure can’t think of a better word to describe what happened to us), and a restaurant is allowed to seat whoever they want. It was just a lousy experience to have but a reminder that of course we are the minority. After dinner we returned to our new, cute hotel called Nimmu House, which is located in the center of Gokarna and was a much more reasonable rate. I slept on a floor mat with Janine’s mosquito net over me since the windows did not have screens!

Sunday did not start off much better than Saturday ended. We took an auto-rickshaw (tuk-tuk) to Om Beach to spend the day sunbathing and eating/drinking at the beach’s cafes. On our way down the stairs to the beach, we were harassed by a group of 23 (yes, I counted) young Indian men with seemingly nothing better to do than take pictures, and probably videos, of us 3 white girls. It’s a pretty intense experience to have these guys in your face and them continually yelling ‘hello, madam, hello, hello, which country you from, hello, madam, excuse me,’ and all you do is ignore. Of course there comes a point where you can’t ignore anymore, and when one man had his camera phone a few inches from Janine’s chest, she knocked the phone out of his hand and into the sand. We walked faster and stepped into a café to lose them, which fortunately, we did. The owner of the café we had met the evening before and had previously made remarks about not being able to stand Indian tourists (he was Indian himself, though), so we knew he would probably be on our side if the harassers followed us in. Thank God they didn’t.

There were many other sets of white tourists around in normal bathing suits, so we made our way over to them after breakfast and set up our towels on the beach. There seemed to be an “Indian side” and a “foreigners’ side” of the beach, so we kept to our respective areas. After a long while of swimming and more awful harassing by another group of men, we went back to the café and had some drinks to get away.

Unfortunately, again, while leaving the beach, yet another group of young, clearly immature, Indian men approached and surrounded Janine and Katinka (I was in the bathroom) and did the same bit about what is your name, where are you from, taking pictures, etc. We wear t-shirts and huge baggy pants, so it’s not like they were gawking at our bodies; it was purely due to us being white girls. Katinka eventually gave them the finger which just excited them more, and the harassing continued. I met up with the girls at the top of the hill where we took the same auto-rickshaw back to the hotel. Halfway down the road, the car in front of us, which just so happened to be carrying the last group of harassers, and they opened the back door and were continuing to harass us from the road! We told the rickshaw driver what happened and he seemed very upset, and at the end of the road he got out of the car, along with some of the men from the car and another rickshaw driver and all had an argument about the situation. One guy apologized and said they were drunk, then continued to say they didn’t do anything wrong. So if you’re apologizing, wouldn’t that constitute admitting that you did something wrong? Unbelievable. It was a little scary but the rickshaw drivers were really on our side, and wanted us to file a police report. We knew this would do absolutely nothing so we just said that was OK and continued on our way. We tipped the rickshaw driver big-time for helping us so much. It was such a shame all these men had to ruin our time in Gokarna which is otherwise, such a beautiful and peaceful place. So, so sad. I won’t let the experience be completely ruined because I’ll just remember the good times with friends, delicious meals, wonderful beach cafes, and incredible hikes and beaches.

I’ll just say a few things about the bus ride back to Bangalore. First, I had terrible heartburn again and just a general feeling of not feeling well for the first few hours. Second, a man had something like an asthma attack a few hours in, and the bus pulled over, lights went on, and Janine talked to the man and tried to figure out what was wrong and how to help him. After that episode, we all settled back in and I literally flew the rest of the way home. The bumps are SO TERRIBLE and especially in the back of the bus, that you literally go airborne on the bumps. I am not kidding when I say that my entire body hoisted off of the mattress and into the air. Sleeping was a bit difficult to say the least. Just glad it’s over.

Overall I’m happy to have taken the trip this past long weekend and had a great time. It was great to have the German girls to travel with, because I certainly wouldn't have done it alone, unless it’s a flight to meet a friend. I’m hoping to go to Cochin (south of here, in the state of Kerala) to meet a friend from school in mid-June.

Old Age Home, Geriatric Clinic, & Random Thoughts

5/25/11

First I wanted to remark on my last post: I’ve had a few people tell me that I sounded a bit anti-Indian in some of it, especially when talking about not wanting to get on an elephant with 15 Indians. I must apologize for this poor choice of words- I am really not anti-Indian at all, or I wouldn’t have decided on my own, completely free will to come to India, a country I’ve been fascinated with for years and a place I’ve been dreaming of spending my two-month international field experience in for the past two years. In fact, I am enthralled with the people, the culture, experiences, and whirlwind that is India and Indian people. I merely said “with 15 other Indians” in my last post because that’s what they are- Indian! I guess I should have just said "people" instead. I hope no one took offense and apologize sincerely if anyone did.

The last paragraph of my last post contained an error as to what I was doing Monday. I actually went to an ‘old age home’ (nursing home) called the Krupalaya Old Age Home, run by nuns. The government really doesn’t have any type of old age home setup, so it falls to private organizations. In India, children are supposed to take care of their parents in their old age. Old age homes are a relatively strange concept here. These homes contain “destitute elderly” who have nowhere else to turn. I was told that one of the women residents flew down to Bangalore from Northern India with her son and her son purposefully abandoned her at the airport. This sounds insane to us but it happens here more often than people like to talk about. It was a very sad afternoon at the old age home. The elderly were so excited to see our young faces and their faces lit up when they saw us. There is a room for the 11 men and a separate room for the 9 women. Each room is dormitory style and all the beds are lined up (think “Madeline”) in a row. All of the elderly were laying down resting or sleeping but as soon as we arrived they mostly all popped up in their beds to see what was going on. I’m not quite sure of their daily schedule but it did not look like a very active one. St. John’s visits once a month to examine each resident and make sure they are healthy, and also to replenish the medicine supply.

Tuesday and Wednesday were spent in Mugalur at the rural clinic. The final Tuesday and Wednesday of each month are reserved for the Geriatric Clinc. The criteria to attend this clinic include: you must be at least 60 years of age, and if you are coming on Tuesday, you must live in one of the surrounding 6-7 villages, and if you are coming on Wednesday, you must live in Mugalur. The total population of the rural areas served by the Mugalur clinic includes about 4,500 individuals. About 10-12% of this population is defined as elderly. This is higher than the national Indian average of about 6-7%. There are more elderly in rural areas as opposed to urban. The preceding Saturday to these clinics, patients can come in and have blood drawn for ordered lab work. The results are then ready by the time they come in to the clinic either Tuesday or Wednesday. The doctors saw 61 patients Tuesday and 52 patients Wednesday. I would say nearly all patients seen have chronic medical problems, and probably 99% of the patients I saw had type II diabetes. Since this is one of my main research interests, it was so great to see effective control of diabetes in rural India first-hand. Dr. Arvind commented to me that sugar levels were quite high on average because the diabetics coming in are “feeling the effects of wedding season!”

There are so many random things I think of all the time that I’d like to jot down in my blog, but they really don’t necessitate entire paragraphs of explanation. So, I’ll just post a “random list of thoughts:”

- Cutest sandals here!! On Monday morning I went to the Oasis mall to explore, and I fell in love with about 100 pairs of shoes. They are all fairly cheap too. Too bad I don’t have infinite room in my suitcase!

- I have to bring my own toilet paper everywhere because most places (99%) do not have TP.

- A cow charged me yesterday- literally! I was walking down a sidewalk with Liz and in the very last possible half of a second, saw the cow storming towards me and jumped out of its way (and accidentally pushed Liz almost into the street…but I had nowhere else to go!), narrowly missing being pierced by its horns.

- Raju, the tea-wallah or tea/coffee/snacks man that works in the Dept. of Community Health is so sweet. He is always bringing everyone tea and coffee. He noticed me sitting in the hallway on the bench today and goes “you come sit inside, why you sit out here?” He also asked if I drink coffee and has told me today he will start making me some each day.

- Yesterday while heading out to Mugalur in the school van, we had to shift to the other side of a major road because the one side was completely closed due to a HUGE tree that had fallen on a bus! We went by too quickly for me to get my camera out.

- I met a monk from Tennessee, who now lives in Rome, at Mugalur (the rural clinic) who is staying there for two months. In such a rural area it’s cool to run into another American and talk about our experiences thus far in India.

- Everyone speaks a mixture of Hindi or Tamil (Or Cannadha, not sure if I spelled that right) and English. So even if they are speaking another language there are usually enough key words in English that I can follow along and get the gist of the conversation.

- Last night I went with the German girls and Liz to the KR market, which is supposed to be one of the must-dos in Bangalore. Maybe because it was the middle of the week, around 6pm, and raining, but the market trip was a bust. Nothing really that great there and it was a much more scary, dirty part of the city than where St. John’s is. Not sure if I should attempt to go back again on a weekend to see if the market is any good.

- I’ve become a huge fan of chai, the tea everyone drinks that is made of about half tea, half milk, and a tablespoon of sugar and served in an itty, bitty cup. Most cups, plates, and bowls here are made of metal so steaming hot chai in a metal cup gets quite hard to hold! Everyone has chai at least twice a day, both between breakfast and lunch and between lunch and dinner at a minimum. I think I'll have to keep the chai drinking to a 1-a-day maximum because of all the sugar. I hope I don't get fat here :( but the food and tea are so good!! Coffee is also pretty popular here.

- Everyone here is obsessed with knowing if you’re eating. They are always asking, “have you taken your lunch?” and “where are you finding your meals?”

- I asked for some Neosporin for a cut on my leg when I was at the Mugalur clinic. One of the residents gave me a tube and told me it was OK to open it, so I did, and applied a bit to a bandaid. I was putting the tube back when another resident asked me what I was doing, and I told her not to worry, that I applied the Neosporin to the bandaid and not to my cut. She proceeded to tell me I used a tube that was for sale, and asked me why I didn’t just ask her for the tube they use on the patients. I had no idea! I felt terrible, and she didn’t really help matters. I offered to pay numerous times (it probably wouldn’t have been more than 10 rupees ($0.25) because of how subsidized their drugs are), but they wouldn’t let me. I even came back ten minutes later with my wallet but they still wouldn’t let me pay and wouldn’t tell me how much it costs. I know this doesn’t seem like a huge deal, but in a country where I am trying to fit in as best as I can and respect people properly, I didn’t like making a mistake like that.

- Two bicycles were stolen in Mugalur- one yesterday, and one today. This is a huge scandal at the rural clinic because these types of things just don’t happen. I was present when the staff and the head of the department were discussing what to do and they decided to wait it out a few days and see if the bikes turn up. If they don’t, they’ll figure out some way to make things right and “beef up security.” This place is literally in the middle of nowhere and things like this shouldn’t happen, so it’s hard for the people of the community to hear about this.

- I’ve had terrible heartburn the past 24 hours! I’m not sure what from, either, because I’ve been eating roughly the same spiciness level of food throughout the trip and have not experienced heartburn until now. I woke up around 2am last night to this fire in my throat and chest, and took a few tums before falling back asleep. I’m not sure what exactly caused it, but it’s been frustrating. Liz is going to give me some ranitidine to help suppress the stomach acid. If it helps, I’ll be buying some tomorrow.

5/26/11

Last night after dinner at Gramin , a lovely Indian restaurant nearby that was recommended in the Lonely Planet book, Janine, Liz and I went back to my room to try a bottle of Pinot Tage from South Africa. My heartburn had been so bad all day and Liz gave me some ranitidine to take before bed that seriously worked wonders…heartburn completely gone this morning! Woohoo!

Today will hopefully be a busy, but great day. At 9am I am meeting Liz and Janine to go on rounds on the pediatric unit and explore the rest of St. John’s Hospital. I have yet to go in the hospital and am really curious to see what it’s like. We should be done around 11am or noon, at which point we will probably have lunch and then I’ll head to the Department of Community Health in the medical college for my first official day of “work.” I really hope they have found something for me to do in which I can utilize my epidemiology skills, as that’s the point of the internship! I started my communication with this department back in October, so you would think they would have thought once or twice about what I could potentially do here. I’ve found that Indian culture is pretty laid back and nonchalant about a lot of things that Americans are usually pretty uptight about. That being said, we’ll see what happens today! I will hopefully also get some workspace; I’ve been sitting in the hallways on a bench to use my laptop, but obviously this is not ideal.

Tonight the German girls and I will be getting on an overnight bus to Gokarna, a beach town on the west coast of India. The ride will be about 12 hours, and we each have a bed. I’ve never been in a sleeper bus before so I have no idea of what to expect. As bumpy as the roads are and as crazy as the driving/traffic is, I highly doubt I will get more than an hour of sleep total. There are no trains to Gokarna and bus is really the best and cheapest way to get there from Bangalore. The beaches there are supposed to be gorgeous and from my research, it seems like it’s a sleep little pilgrim-town, so I hope it’s a nice getaway. We get on another overnight bus home Sunday night to return by 7:30am Monday morning.

This is a health education session taught by one of the residents. She is teaching a geriatric class on COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease).

This was super cool- this lady is holding up her EMR (electronic medical record)!!! There is a research project going on in Mugalur to give about 100 patients these USB cards with their health record on it. They can also access their records on the web and if that isn't convenient or there's no computer around, they can send a text message to a number and give their patient number, and all the records are texted back. Awesome!!!

This is Namo- he was a birthday present to Liz from some girls from Oman staying in the guesthouse. Pretty ridiculous looking, and scary too. He comes out with us for dinner sometimes.

I won’t be posting again until at least Monday or Tuesday, so check back then to hear about the trip! Hope everyone has a great weekend.

Bannerghatta National Park

5/23/11

It’s 9:30am on Monday morning and I’m sitting here on my bed having green tea and lychees. Lychees are the most amazing fruit I’ve ever had! Do we have them in the U.S.? I’ve only ever seen lychee-flavored things, such as a lychee martini or something of the likes, but I’ve never seen the actual fruit in the stores (unless I didn’t know what it was when I saw it). They’re about $2 for half a kilo. SO DELICIOUS! The German girls traveled for the weekend so they gave me about 7 Bangalore maps and an electric water heater, hence the tea. Too bad I only figured out how to use the water heater this morning. I tried other times this past weekend and only today realized the 2 outlets I tried weren’t working. So, 2/4 outlets in my room work…go figure.

This weekend flew by. I was nervous it would drag on because all the girls I’ve met here went traveling for the weekend, but somehow I managed to fill the time pretty easily. Yesterday I ended up going to Bannerghatta (pronounced (Bah-NAH-gah-tah…I know, what?) National Park. I walked about half an hour towards the Dairy Circle bus stop to catch the 365 bus to the park. I could have easily taken a tuk-tuk, but I needed the exercise and I’m glad I walked because I got to see all the shops on the way. I asked a few women while I was walking where Dairy Circle was, to make sure I was headed in the right direction. One lady was so sweet- she told me she would pass the bus stop and told me to come with her. She was on her way to work at one of the grocery markets. She told me never to ask any of the men here for directions, because they will tell me to go the wrong way! I told her I haven’t been asking any men anything and have pretty much been avoiding them.

The bus ride was only 40 minutes. The ticket line at the park was insane!! It moved pretty fast and I was only in line about 20 minutes, so it wasn’t too bad. One of the first things I did while in the park was go on the “grand safari.” Being one single person helped a lot; when they needed to fill the last seat on one of the buses, I got pulled up to the front of the line. I sat in the front seat next to the driver. I would say the bus held about 30 people, and was completely caged on all sides to prevent any disastrous wildlife encounters. The driver and his assistant kept asking to take my camera to take pictures for me, but I never let them because I’m sure that would require a hefty tip. I took great pics myself…no need for them! We saw lions, tigers, bears (oh my!) and white spotted deer. Thought it was hilarious how excited everyone was for the deer since I grew up with them in my back and front yards and they’re considered a nuisance in Maryland. Overall the safari was really fun and I’m glad I paid the extra 100 rupees for it ($2).

There were some creepy Indian men who thought it would be a good idea to take my picture, so I became a zoo exhibit myself. I just put my hand up in front of my face and give them dirty looks, and sometimes I ask what they’re looking at. 90% of Indian men are creepy and immature, I think it has something to do with the macho-man attitude here and also most of these men having such little education. Pretty funny because the average Indian man is probably 5’6” and 110 pounds. I also ended up meeting a few Americans at the park, including a lady from Jacksonville, who were all here on business. So funny how easily it is to pick out white people and especially Americans here. After a stroll around the zoo to see all the other animals and, of course, the elephants, I had a popsicle and headed back.

Here are some pics from the park:

The line to get in...thought I would be there all day but it only took 20 minutes

Tiger on the safari

The elephant rides. Looked awesome but I didn't feel like being shoved in between 15 Indians. I'm sure I'll have another chance to ride one somewhere else.


Had to have a popsicle to cool down a bit before I left :)

The scramble for the 365 bus back to B’lore was crazy. Everyone pushes and crams to get on a bus, only to be left standing because all of the seats are taken. A girl around my age ended up standing too and when we saw another 365 bus pull up behind us at the station, we ran out of the bus together and got good seats on that next bus. They don’t turn on the AC of course, until the bus starts moving, so it was miserable waiting about 10 minutes for the bus to leave. For 35 rupees (less than a dollar), it was a good deal though, and only took 40 minutes to get back.

I remembered seeing a modern-looking pub called Manchester United on the walk to the bus stop, and made it my mission to find it on my walk back so I could stop in and have a much-needed beer. The bar was really, really nice, cleaner than any bar I’ve been to here and one of the best atmospheres I’ve seen. The bartender was from Manipur and his name was Myopin but then when I asked him a few minutes later to say his name again, he paused and said “Stanley!” Haha, I have no idea what he was talking about, but I think he was trying to translate what his name would be in English. I ended up having a few Kingfinger Premiums (the ONLY beer on tap anywhere) and a delicious buffalo chicken wrap (side note: I NEEDED protein, I’ve been craving it the past few days and have noticed that while I’ve been here 10 days, I have only needed to shave once- my hair is literally not growing from lack of protein). I also met a few nice girls at this pub. One was from the U.S. (NY) and has been over here almost a year working for Goldman Sachs and living out of a hotel not too far from where I’m staying. The other two girls were Indian, but one was born and raised in Dubai, and her native language is English. Leonne (NY), Michelle (Dubai) and I ended up going to another pub in Indiranagar, about a ten minute tuk-tuk ride away. It was cool to see other areas of Bangalore and I’m sure I’ll be going back to Indiranagar again. It’s more of the trendy area of town. Also got some great recommendations from these girls of other places in B’lore I need to check out.

I don’t have to be at the department today until 1:30pm, so I think I’ll go walk around and get some more bottled water and maybe check out the nearby Oasis mall. This afternoon I think I’ll be going to the rural clinic in Mugalur again for a geriatric clinic. Geriatrics really aren’t my thing but hopefully it will be interesting. Tomorrow will be the eye clinic in Mugalur, Wednesday will be the geriatric clinic (not sure if it’s the same one as today), and Thursday I will start my research project in the department. Dr. Farah and Dr. Twinkle, both faculty in the dept., are supposed to talk to Dr. Dominic today about the possibility of me working with them on some cardiovascular disease research. Everyone here always has to check with the head male in charge of whatever they’re doing before being allowed to proceed with anything. It’s so ridiculous, but I guess that’s the way the U.S. used to be way back when. I hope India eventually makes some progress in equality of the sexes, but it doesn’t look like that will happen any time soon.

General Hospital in Anekal and Weekend Plans

5/20/11

Today I went with Dr. Farah and Dr. Nandeesh (a resident) to a much bigger government run facility- the general hospital in Anekal. The structure of the government’s health system is as follows: primary health centres are the lowest level and provide care to the least amount of people, community health centres cover a larger number of people, and general hospitals are the largest. This general hospital has 13 primary health centres under it.

We set up in a large back room of the hospital and saw 34 pregnant women. First Dr. Adrian weighed each woman and took her blood pressure. Next, either Dr. Farah or Dr. Nandeesh sat with each woman and looked over her health history, which each woman presented in a small notebook she brought with her. Since I work with electronic health records, this part was particularly interesting to me. These women take care to have all their medical records in one place and remember to bring their notebook to each clinic visit. Many also brought ultrasound scans with them. The doctor asked each patient if she could feel fetal movements (depending on gestational age) and then examined the woman on a bed. There were two beds with a blanket on each. There was no hand sanitizer in sight, the blankets were never changed, and no one ever washed their hands, despite there being a bathroom in the back of the room with running water (and I believe I saw soap too). It was just so, SO different than any clinic visit or hospital I had ever experienced in the U.S.

The doctors wouldn’t turn any patients away, even at 1:30 when it was half an hour past when we were supposed to leave. We finally got out of the hospital around 2:15 and by that point, we were all starving. We stopped somewhere near the hospital and Dr. Farah treated us all to glasses of cold badam (almond) milk and bags of treats. All the treats here are either pure sugar or fried…kind of like at home! I tried some of this sticky yellow stuff..looked like twisted wet straws of sugar. I think it was called 'jalebi.' I wasn’t a huge fan of any of the treats but the badam milk was to die for! I’ll have to get that again, and also try a lassi (yogurt drink) at some point.

5/21/11 Running and My Plans for the Weekend

This morning I woke up at 6:30am, AGAIN, without an alarm. I know I went to bed at 9:15 but geez, this waking up before 7 has got to stop! I decided right then and there that I would get dressed and go to the sports complex across the street from the college and attempt to run. Last Saturday I saw the track and knew I would have to eventually try it out. However, it has been intimidating me all week and I finally got up the nerve this morning. It’s been one of the best decisions I’ve made all week. It felt AMAZING to run! I only ran 3 miles, but wow did it feel liberating (in a country where women aren’t nearly as free to do things as in the U.S.). Of course there were plenty of stares from the men warming up for a cricket game, 1) because I’m white, 2) because I’m a white woman, and 3) because women really don’t participate much in sports, from what I have seen so far. (However, traditional women get a ton of physical activity with all the home care, child care, and chores they must do) By my third or fourth time around the dirt track, the stares lessened and I fell into a groove. The temperature around 7am is perfect too, around 70-75 degrees with an overcast sky. The endorphins really started pumping around mile 2, and I was almost kicking myself for not having gone out there earlier in the week. Everything in time. I’m getting braver by the day! The track is specifically open to joggers from 6:30-8am, and again in the evening, so I will have to make sure to run at least a few times a week. I think the gym membership can wait.

Tomorrow my plan is to go to Berenghatta National Park, about 25km south of Bangalore. The park has tigers, elephants, and a whole host of zoo animals, and safaris. I saw something too about elephant rides, which I would love to do if the price is right and it looks as if the elephants are being treated OK. I’ve been researching how to get there by bus, and it seems quite simple. Hopefully everything works out tomorrow and I survive my first solo adventure. The walk to the bus stop will take about 20 minutes, I think (love all this walking!!! And I live on the 4^th floor too = lots of exercise!), and the bus ride should take no more than 1-1.5 hours. We’ll see…Should be a nice little local adventure!

If I have time tomorrow I will also go exploring the Oasis Mall, which is another nice mall very close by. It shouldn’t take more than 10 minutes to walk to. There is a KFC/Taco Bell across the street from that mall! I’d love to just take a look at the Taco Bell menu, since there is no beef-eating here.

I’ll report back on my weekend in a few days! Hope everyone has a nice weekend!

Urban Health Centre (Slums) and Gov't Primary Health Centre (MCH)

5/19/11

I went with Dr. Avita, my host country supervisor, to the 5 month-old Urban Health Centre in the slums yesterday, about a 20 minute drive from St. John’s. The clinic is staffed Monday-Saturday from around 10am-1pm. The faculty in the Department of Community Health at St. John’s rotate to staff it. For the slums, the clinic was actually very nice. It had 4 rooms- the wash room, the main room where the patient sits at a stool and talks to the doctor, and two exam rooms. There were only a handful of people that stopped by yesterday—the real value in the trip was what I did, which was actually go out into the slums with one of the sisters from St. John’s.

We talked to many people and asked them all sorts of questions such as: what are the main occupations of the people? What is the average monthly salary? (answer: the U.S. equivalent of $40/month), etc., etc., etc. It was certainly an eye-opening experience to see how these people live, and definitely made me quite thankful for what I have and how I grew up. These children don’t know any better, but it is still sad to see them live this way. Children just pull their pants down and relieve themselves anywhere they feel like it, and with open sewage throughout a large part of the slum, this is really the only thing to do. No one wears shows, either, so just imagine walking around in all the sewage. We walked over to what looked like a ‘river’ or ‘stream,’ but it was really just the sewage, and it’s incredible to see that peoples’ actual homes are lined up right along it. The smell was almost unbearable and to think people live there and cook while smelling that smell- unbelievable. I’m sure the smell gets 1,000 times worse during the heat of the summer and during the monsoons, in which the sewage all floods the streets and homes. Despite the sad conditions, there seemed to be a lot of happiness and productivity. There were men using tools to pound metal, a lot of construction, women doing laundry on their front steps, shops selling food and even a pharmacy. The kids seemed happy too and were playing games in the streets. I saw one little girl doing some construction (she must have been around 7) and got into a conversation with the sister about how prevalent child labor is and how so many kids are taken advantage of and hardly paid. Most kids in the slums do not go to school at all- their families see no value in sending them, even though the school is free. I must have had at least a hundred kids come up to me as I was walking through the street and they just yell “hi! Hi! Hi! Hi! Hi!” and smile and wave. It’s hard to tell if these kids were in school or not though because it is summer vacation here.

Pics from the slums:

Here is St. John's Urban Health Centre, opened about 5 months ago.

This is a daycare in the slums. Just a small room with 0 toys and some rugs on the floor. The kids were having a blast, though. Far cry from any Goddard I've worked at!

I thought this little kid holding a kitten was adorable.

Here is the sewage I was talking about. On the far right side of the picture, those are all homes with their front doors facing this mess.

That night was a drastic change from the way I spent my day. I went out to dinner with some new friends from the guesthouse to celebrate Liz’s birthday the next day. We stayed up having birthday cake, some beer, and champagne at midnight outside of the auditorium in the back, where there is an open seating arena. It felt like I was in high school again, being somewhere we technically “weren’t supposed to be.” Although, we didn’t know that, and security guards occasionally passed us and said nothing. Alcohol is strictly prohibited on campus and visitors are not allowed in the Annex (where I live), but I never got a rule book and no one ever told any of the foreign students these things. Well, eventually the security guards kicked us out! They told us that between 6pm and 6am, you need special permission to enter. We played dumb and apologized, and the security guard told us we could stay “twenty more minutes,” so we did.

Thursday I went with Dr. Rashmi, plus another doctor from the department, and 15 nuns to a government run primary health clinic In Dommasantra. While the clinic takes general patients, they specialize in prenatal care and normal (not high-risk) deliveries. They also have an immunization clinic—it seems as if the mothers really understand that immunization is a necessary evil. They see their babies have huge needles stuck in each leg and the babies scream and cry, yet the mothers comfort them and are on their way. It was so awesome to see such great public health in action!!

The immunization clinic

We got back very early—around 11:45am, so I spent the rest of the day meeting more faculty in the department, having lunch at the Hospital Canteen, and working on starting the research for my special project. The Hospital Canteen was pretty good. I had chicken biryani and sat in the doctors/staff dining room…it’s way less sketchy than the general public dining room. I’ll keep eating in that room until someone kicks me out, which I don’t think would ever happen!

I always get to the department before most of the faculty and then watch them leave around 4:30pm too—I’m there longer than they are! I try to get in around 8:30am so I have some time to check email and take care of things online before we leave around 9:30 for whichever health clinic. The wifi worked very well today and I found the signal is still strong even just outside the department in a common area with comfortable sort-of-reclining benches. The power outages were minimal today too. When the power geos out no one even blinks an eye…it’s extremely common. Computers, I think, are on generators. I don’t have a desk (yet? Maybe I’ll get one eventually?) or a computer, so I just kind of mosey around with my laptop in the hallways and hang out in the conference room if it’s free.

I have a 3-day weekend this coming weekend, as I have Monday off. I really wanted to visit my friend Marc in Mumbai. He is traveling there for work for two weeks, and he arrives Friday night. The only problem is I would definitely have to fly there and flights are about $250 roundtrip, which I don’t think is worth it for a weekend. I can just stay here and explore Bangalore, work out, and work on my special project. The school will be open Saturday for half a day (most people work in the mornings on every Saturday) and of course it will be open Monday too, so I could potentially get a lot of special project work done.

Smog, Mysore, and First Days of My Internship

When I blow my nose, it’s black. When I clean out my ears with q-tips after a shower, it’s black. The smog here is awful! Apparently the tuk-tuks (tri-wheeled scooter type things…kind of like a taxi, but open and much smaller) produce 50 times more pollution than the next-highest polluting vehicle. I have yet to run while I have been here, and am almost afraid to try due to the smog. I will definitely bring my albuterol inhaler with me the first time I try to run, just to be safe. No, I don’t have asthma, but since I’ve had pneumonia a few times, I decided to bring along an inhaler just in case I started wheezing from the smog. Pretty much packed a whole pharmacy for this trip! I hope to find a good gym here soon, and I’ve already seen a few close to the school. Wish I could find an AC one, though!

Mysore

On Sunday, Liz and I traveled to Mysore, which my supervisor here told me is known as the “crown jewel of Karnataka.” It is south of Bangalore- I’m not sure how many kilometers- maybe 120? We left the guesthouse at 7:30 and did not arrive in Mysore until after 1pm. We first took a city bus to the main bus depot in Bangalore, which is also where MG (Mahatma Ghandi) Road and the train station are. MG Rd. is known for its nice hotels and the restaurants and bars. Hopefully I will check out this area very soon as it is considered “the happening spot” in Bangalore, from what I hear. I’m getting sidetracked here… Anyway, we left the main bus depot on an “ordinary” (lowest class bus) bus for Mysore at 9:00am. The poor old bus had a terrible time getting up any hills we encountered, and at times I thought we would start rolling backwards. The hills aren’t that steep, but this bus seemed to be on its last leg. The bus ride was certainly interesting. We stopped many times and a few of the times we stopped at bus depots, where little begging children got on the bus and repeatedly poked and prodded us, saying “madam madam madam madam madam” while we kept shooing them away. If any of the beggars spot white people, they’re all over you!

Once we arrived in Mysore, we decided that our priorities were first to get lunch (totally starving at this point), then check out Mysore Palace, then look for the market and then head back to B’lore. We had lunch at Parklane Hotel, located at #2720, Srl Harsha Road, Mysore 570 001. It was delicious! Liz and I both got the chicken biryani, which is a seasoned rice dish with big chucks of chicken on the bone, and it also came with a curry and a curd side. They don’t use knives to cut while eating, so I had to use my spoon to pull the meat off the bone. We finished off dinner with some strawberry ice cream! J The hotel was very nice. The restaurant was upstairs and was packed- we even spotted a few other tables with white people sitting at them. I recommend the hotel for a meal if you’re ever in Mysore.

Lunch at the Parklane Hotel

Mysore Palace was also packed. We paid our entrance fees and crammed into line with tons of others, as we filed through a metal detector, which kept incessantly beeping, although they never stopped anyone to check them after they walked through the metal detector. Pretty pointless if you ask me! We walked around the outside of the palace and across the walkways and lawns taking pictures, then we had to check out cameras in lockers before entering the palace (no cameras allowed- I even saw a security card take away a camera from a young boy who snuck one in!). Shoes also had to come off. If you know me well, you know I absolutely HATE HATE HATE to get my feet dirty. Ever since I was a little kid I freak out if my feet get dirty. Anyway, I had to grin and bear it, so I took off my shoes and put them in my backpack. No way was I leaving them outside with thousands of other shoes- I would never find them again! The palace was absolutely beautiful from the inside and outside. The inside had many artifacts from the ruler who lived there. Amazing stained glass in a few of the rooms lined the ceilings. Gold-leaved columns, ivory carvings on the doors, and unique artwork were some of the things we saw inside. We weaved through the palace with thousands of others for about twenty minutes before exiting. There was a stage set up in front of the palace and it looked as if they were setting up for a concert for later. While we were picking up our cameras from the camera-check, we heard the sound check loud and clear- they played Hotel California!

After Mysore Palace we roamed around the streets of Mysore and came across the market. After, we found a grocery store and purchased some snacks (dinner) for the bus ride back to B’lore. We absolutely lucked out at the bus station- they had an AC bus pull up right as we got there. So for the ride back, we had AC and a coach bus…reclining seats! Although I tried as hard as I could to stay away on the ride back, I fell asleep a few times. We thought by taking the AC bus that we would get back a little faster, but it took the same amount of time to get back as it did to get there. Did not return back to the guesthouse until almost 11pm. It was a very long day-trip but I do not think there was too much more we would have liked to have seen in Mysore, so it wasn’t worth staying the night. Also, this was Sunday and I had to be back for the beginning of my internship Monday morning.

Internship

Here I am in front of the Community Health Workers Training Centre in Mugalur

Monday, my first official day of my international field experience, I traveled with some of the resident doctors to Mugalur, a rural area about 45 minutes outside of Bangalore. St. John’s has a rural clinic they operate here, as well as a community health training center. On this particular day I was designated to observe in the ENT clinic, which they operate maybe once every two weeks. I sat in a room with a fan, a medicine cabinet, a table and 4 chairs, a TV, and some medical equipment, along with two resident doctors- Dr. Prathibha and Dr. Adrian. There was no computer, only huge paper logbooks the doctors use to document the consultations. The power went out twice, once for about ten minutes and another time for just over an hour. They mentioned that usually there is a generator in case of power outages, but for some reason, there was not one today. Dr. Prathibha was the resident ENT doctor and she was the one who consulted with all the 17 patients we saw that day between 10:30am and 1:30pm. This day was actually quite boring, as I just watched Dr. P examine ears all day. There were a few highlights though: watching Dr. P use an endoscope with a camera, so we could see down the patient’s throat on the television, and observing a new piece of equipment being used for the first time on patients. One of the residents from St. John’s had constructed a tool using a Kodak Easy Share camera and an ear scope (not sure what they’re called…sorry to all clinical folk), so that community health workers from Mugalur could go out into the communities and examine patients’ ears, take a picture or video of what they saw inside the ear, and then bring it back to the clinic for the doctor to examine when he/she came in. It was really pretty innovative of them. Here is a picture of what this device looked like in use:

The second day of traveling to Mugalur was actually spent in Sompura, one of the rural villages nearby. I, Dr. Ashwini, and a community health worker went around households, “door” –to-“door” and surveyed families with disabled person(s). The point of the surveys was to determine whether or not the patient could be referred to Unit of Hope, a rehabilitation clinic run the third Friday of every month from Mugalur. We talked with nine patients or their families about their condition. A five page survey, which Dr. Ashwini administered in their language, consisted of questions about the specifics of the disability and assessed their daily living and communication abilities. Health, education, livelihood, empowerment, and social aspects were also examined. It was the first time in 5 years that the St. John’s/Mugalur people went out into this specific village to talk to the disabled and determine whether they are good candidates for Unit of Hope. Two patients were referred- a 4 year old boy that had cognitive and motor developmental delays (he could not walk and scooted himself around on the floor, with no pants/underwear on), and a 23 year old man who was normal until age 8, and then developed a fever (possible meningitis) and was never the same. He could not walk, had deformed feet, could not take care of himself independently, and had barely any type of speech. It was sad to see the disabled in this community but hopefully at least some can be rehabilitated to enjoy a better quality of life.

Back in Bangalore, I went out for dinner that same evening with Liz, two German girls I met (Jennine and Katinka), and Jos, one of the Indian residents. I had my first dish of butter chicken and rice, which was spicy but very, very good! I would definitely order it again. I also had my first Indian beer- Kingfisher, which apparently is the only type of beer they serve in India. It was pretty generic, kind of like a Bud Light. The restaurant started blasting the music, a mix of Hotel California (again!), Eminem, and Soulja Boy, as soon as we got in there. Pretty crazy…Also, the waiters were all Asian, but they do the Indian head bobble just the same as the Indians! It was great to get out with other students and have a fun evening. Thursday is Liz’s birthday so we have more plans to go out then.

KNOCK ON WOOD, so far so good with the eating and drinking in India. I really enjoy spicy foods, other cultures’ foods, and I’m not picky, so it is not difficult to find yummy things here. Just have to follow the rule “peel it, cook it, or don’t eat it.” Also, there are quite a few grocery stores, so I’ve been able to get snacks and easy-to-prepare foods. Just the other night I made some Ramen-type noodles in the small pot I brought. Downstairs in the guesthouse there is a hot plate. Also, there’s a water filter which I have not been brave enough to try yet. I’ve tried the fruit here—just oranges and kiwis (tried a papaya but hated it). I have to make sure it’s something I can peel so as to not come in contact with the outside of the fruit, which is washed in the tap water. I brought a fruit peeler with me, too! My point here is, I’m following all the rules about eating so hopefully I won’t encounter too much illness. Everyone from back home that thought I would lose weight while being here: DON’T GET YOUR HOPES UP! This is fair warning that I might be coming back exactly the same!

Today (Wednesday) I will be going to the Urban Health Center in the slums. It should be a very interesting experience, to say the least! I’ll fill everyone in on the adventure in my next post.

Pics

This is my room at the guesthouse at St. John's Medical College- not too bad


This picture was taken at the Mysore Palace, which is a 5 hour bus trip south of Bangalore. Made for a long, but fun, day.


First Indian meal- South Indian Thali at a restaurant close by to where I live. Delicious! Those are puffed pastry-type things..don't remember what they are called, and those are different curries and curd for dipping/mixing.

St. John's Medical College front entrance

First Few Days in India

Written on 5/14/11

Where do I begin?! First, you may be wondering how my 21 hours of flying went, and truthfully I can say it went very well. None of my flights were delayed and I had ample time in between each flight to get a snack and get ready for the next one. I napped on and off on the 14 hour flight from Atlanta to Dubai, and it really didn’t feel like 14 hours at all—much less! The airport in Dubai was nice, although nothing about it was over-the-top. The Bangalore airport is fairly new. The one thing I can say about the Bangalore airport is that it was very strange that no one really talked while in line at immigration/customs. Kind of eerie, although it was 4 in the morning! I was the only white person and only non-Indian-looking person on the entire flight from Dubai to Bangalore, and there were at least 200 people on the plane. Got both of my checked suitcases as soon as I got out of customs—based on bad previous experiences with lost luggage on international flights, this was pure bliss!

When I arrived in Bangalore at 4am, I found the bus depot across the street and found out that bus number 7, the one that goes past St. John’s, did not leave until 6:10am. To kill an hour and a half I got a cappuccino at a Café Coffee Day (India’s equivalent to Starbucks) and observed the rats scurrying around. When the bus departed (on time!) I was one of only 3 or 4 passengers, and I had a gentleman tell me when the bus stopped at St. John’s. After getting off the bus I basically schlepped around campus for a while with my two ~50 pound suitcases and my backpack until a young man was kind enough to carry both my suitcases and help me find the student guesthouse (I paid him 10 rupees).

Surprisingly enough, my room is actually very nice! I have a pretty view of some of the grounds, a desk and chair, double/full sized bed with sheets and two pillows, nightstand, wardrobe, window with screen and curtains, high-powered ceiling fan with 4 settings, and my own bathroom with a big shower and sink. Normal toilet, in case you were wondering. Everything was generally pretty clean but I brought my own Clorox wipes to give everything a once-over! J They come around and collect trash once a day and whenever you want the room cleaned and sheets changed, you just leave the key at the desk on your way out in the morning. Pretty good deal.

The business of “registering” as an observing student and getting an international cell phone SIM card has been another story. I guess not everything can go off without a hitch. The registration process and paying of fees for an observing student was tedious and annoying, and consisted of 2 days of running all over campus to get various signatures, off-campus to get passport photos made, then running back to different offices to get more signatures and receipts. The good news is, I am all registered, the student fees are paid, my first month in the guesthouse is paid, and I’m all set to begin my internship on Monday. The bad news is, still no cell phone! The paperwork necessary to get one won’t be ready until Monday. I will be off-campus in a rural area Monday and won’t be back until possibly 4pm, and I don’t know if the office will still be open then. Hoping to have a working cell phone by Tuesday at the latest.

Some good news though—I have a working land-line in my room I can receive calls on. The number is 22065770. From the U.S. you FIRST have to dial 011-91-80, then the number. You then have to tell them my room number, which is 307. Love hearing from the U.S.!

Internet access is another funny story. I thought my host country supervisor would have mentioned that they don’t have internet access here at the college, but she did not. The only internet available in the college is that of certain professors who have bought their own routers. Unless I meet one of them or get on one of their projects, I am a little bit screwed. Not sure how I am supposed to conduct research without the internet? I especially want to know how the heck I’m supposed to efficiently do my special project, which is a literature review!! There is no internet in the guesthouse (where I live) either, but I knew about this before so it’s not really an issue. I’m thinking of purchasing an internet USB stick, but it’s only a 3.1mbps speed…which is probably the best I’ll get here, anyway! Does anyone have any input on these internet stick things? I don’t know much about them. It’s apparently pre-paid. There is also an internet café on campus and I’ve gone a couple of times now. Extremely cheap! For 45 minutes I paid 10 rupees, which is about 22 cents in the U.S. The computers are verrrry old and slow, so I’m not sure if that will work out for my special project research, but for emailing and facebook, the café is just fine. I’ll try to scope out any coffee houses in the area that might have free wifi, but that’s probably like finding a needle in a haystack, assuming that needle actually exists!

By the way, the time difference is 9.5 hours- Bangalore is 9.5 hours ahead of the eastern U.S.. It’s 4:45 and most of you all are not awake right now, as it is 6:45am Saturday morning! I was hardly jetlagged and got on Bangalore’s schedule immediately, going to bed around 9pm my first night here and waking at 6:30am. And maybe it’s because I live in Florida and spend a lot of time outdoors, but I promise, it is NOT THAT HOT HERE!!! My internship supervisor told me summer here is April and May, so it is coming to a close. Monsoon season starts in June. That will be fun. Anyway, it’s been similar to Florida weather and humidity..mid 80s during the day. At night it’s low 70s. I leave the window open (there’s a screen and guess what? I have 0 bug bites so far…) at night and the fan on high, and I swear I didn’t sweat a drop last night. It was actually more comfortable than my nights at home where I frequently wake up in a sweat! So far, I really only sweat when I’m running around campus or running errands.

I met another American girl named Liz, and she has been a godsend. She’s spent the past 9 months traveling on medical school rotations and the last 6 of those have been all over India. She’s a pro at figuring out where things are and being resourceful, and she’s teaching me a TON, even though she’s only been here a week! She also showed me 3 gyms so I can take my pick. Memberships are super cheap- the one I want to join is 750 rupees for a month, which is about $17. She’s also showed me safe places to eat, ATMs, and a grocery store.

Bangalore seems very safe so far to me, although I’ve only been here a day and a half. It gets dark around 7pm so I am sure to be in by then. It’s not really as crowded as I pictured it would be and you’re not going to believe me, but I have not seen a single beggar! Everyone stares at me but that’s understandable, because the only other white person I’ve seen here is Liz. You just have to not stare back and simply ignore!

My internship seems like it will be fulfilling and interesting. I met with my host country supervisor, Dr. Avita, yesterday. She’s very sweet and seems like she will be a good person to work with and excellent resource. She drew me a map of everything important surrounding campus, such as malls and restaurants. We also drew up a plan for my first few weeks here. These coming weeks I will spend at the rural clinics. Here’s the schedule for my internship:

5/16 Monday: Ear, nose, and throat clinic
5/17 Tuesday: Eye or community-based rehabilitation clinic
5/18 Wednesday: Urban health clinic (slums)
5/19 Thursday: Government-run UHC
5/20 Friday: Maternal and child health clinic
5/23 Monday: Off (might travel!!)
5/24 Tuesday: Eye or community-based rehab clinic (whichever one I haven’t done yet)
5/25 Wednesday: Geriatric clinic
5/26 Thursday: Start research projects (work) at St. John’s
5/27 Friday: Psychiatric clinic

5/30 Monday: Cataract surgery clinic (while everyone else at home is BBQ-ing it up on Memorial Day!)
5/31 Tuesday: Research projects (work) at St. John’s
6/1 Wednesday: Research projects (work) at St. John’s
6/2 Thursday: Maternal and child health clinic
6/3 --- 7/7: Research projects (work) at St. John’s

That’s all for now. My next post will be of some pictures I’ve taken so far. Many more to come!