I could get used to this

Location: International Student Hostel

Written: 6/16/09, 2:00pm

This past week was fairly uneventful compared to week 1. At this point, I feel like I am getting to know the little corner of India where I am staying. I am getting used to the oppressive heat and the nonstop sweating. I find myself craving the spicy food that initially I couldn’t stomach (although I am missing the fresh vegetables of home – especially sweet Indiana corn!). I am also getting used to the celebrity-like attention we get for being non-Indian. The other day I was shopping in town and a woman literally ran up to me and gave me her baby to hold. I have also been asked to pose in several pictures with children. These kinds of experiences have made me appreciate the diversity in the US in a way I hadn’t anticipated. While I am more than happy to hold babies and pose for photos, the underlying fixation with light skin is hard to ignore. Billboards rarely have Indian models and every commercial break has ads for skin-lightening cream. The seeming acceptance of these “light is better than dark” messages is both infuriating and embarrassing.

Me with a beautiful baby girl on the streets of Vellore
(photo courtesy of Alicia)

The one thing I will never get used to is the transportation in India. Lane lines are futilely drawn on some roads. The concepts of right of way, one car per lane, turn signals, driving on the correct side of the road, and keeping a respectable distance from surrounding vehicles seem to be lost (although I can’t imagine they were ever here in the first place). Cars share the road with behemoth buses, 3-wheeled autorickshaws, motorcycles, mopeds, bicycles, oxen, goats, stray dogs, and pedestrians in a pandemonium similar to the running of the bulls. I manage to survive these rides by holding on to whatever I can as tightly as I can – that combined with the occasional scream seems to be working so far!

Traffic and view of downtown Vellore

On Friday, we finished up our Community Health Program course that we took with the second year medical students. Most of last week was spent doing a “Health Planning Exercise.” My group was assigned the task of organizing from the ground up a health care initiative for the slum-dwellers of Vellore (a population of approximately 100,000 people). The problems that we addressed included: 1) finding an affordable and sustainable way to guarantee clean water access 2) fixing the human waste drainage system 3) increasing institutional deliveries in a population with low access to transportation 4) nutritional programs for children and pregnant women 5) figuring out some ways to end the cycle of poverty-poor health-unemployment. This exercise was a challenging and enjoyable way to wrap up what we had observed during the week of site visits. This week I will be rotating through the Low Cost Effective Care Unit (LCECU). This unit provides care to the poorest people in Tamil Nadu. Tomorrow, I will be visiting a slum with some physicians to provide health care in homes there. I am both excited to see the door-to-door visits and anxious about what is certain to be an overwhelmingly heartbreaking confrontation with reality.

This past weekend I went to Pondicherry with Mike, Alicia, Elwyza (a medical student from Holland), Sharron (a graduate student from Holland doing some awesome research about the stigma and quality of life of patients with HIV/AIDS in South India), and Jake (an economics graduate student at Brown). Pondicherry (or Pondy) is a former French colony that is a beautiful blend of French and Indian culture located on the Southeastern coast of India. We enjoyed spending time of the rocky beach that reminded me a lot of Maine (although the 100 + degree weather sort of throws the comparison away). We also went to a paper factory that sells gorgeous handmade paper products (I basically bought one of everything!). The factory uses recycled paper and plant products to make eco-friendly products.

Hanging out on the beach in Pondy
(Alwyza, Alicia, Me, Mike)

A man cycles in front of the French Consulate in Pondicherry

Pondy is famous for Sri Aurobindo Ashram, a center for spiritual education. The ashram was very peaceful and filled with guests meditating around beautiful gardens. We finished the evening with great French cuisine (including seafood which made all of the Bostonians very happy!). We are planning on taking several more weekend trips including a trip to Dehli and near by Agra to see the Taj Mahal.

I’m craving a samosa and some pineapple juice. Until next time, thanks for reading.