Day 20

Day 20

April 30, 9:41 pm, Vellore
I can't believe that my time in Vellore is so quickly coming to an end. Tomorrow is my last day of the rotation and then we'll be heading out of town on a train at about 11 pm. Crazy how fast the past few weeks have flown by!

Today was a good day, though nothing too exciting. I started off the day with an egg dosa at Aavana. It's not on the menu but they said they could make it for me. I think the egg dosa is my favorite indian breakfast food. It was good. Went to clinic today and Aurora and I worked with Anisha again. It was outpatient day again and we saw some interesting things once again. Let's see, a middle-aged man with chicken pox, tinea versicolor, eruptive xanthoma, and some more leprosy. Some fascinating things to see. Anisha was very nice again and did a lot of teaching and explaining for us. She also pimped me some on things that she had taught me on Tuesday. Some stuff I remembered, some I didn't. It was a pretty fun morning though. We took our break mid-morning and went and got some lime juice (kind of like lemonade). It was refreshing and we shot the breeze for a few minutes and then went back to work. Found out that Anisha is about our same age and she is a PG registrar, which is sort of the equivalent to a resident in our system.

We took lunch at about 1 pm and Aavana was super crowded so it took a long time. It's funny, when it gets crowded they just make you share your table. So Aurora and I had to sit and eat lunch with this two random guys sitting across from us. Strange... that would never fly back home. But lunch was great. We got our beloved baked tandori chicken. Oh man, it's so good. Plus we got our paneer butter masala again and some potato dish that was pretty good too. We always order too much food, but we enjoy stuffing ourselves. haha.

After lunch we went to check on our tickets to Ooty. They had our ticket from here to Coimbatore, which is pretty close to Ooty, and then they had to book our ticket from there to Metupalaiyam separate. We were waiting and waiting for the guy to bring that one and finally he brought it but I had to make a run for the bathroom, so I left Aurora to get it. Hopefully it was what we needed. By then it was so late in the afternoon that I didn't go back to the clinic. I just went and hid from the sweltering heat (I think the heat index was like 107 or something today) in my room. I slept some and read for a while and then ventured back over here to the computer lab once the sun had gone into hiding.

I've been trying to plan out the rest of my trip. I think this is how it might shake out: 3 days in Ooty, then spend a day taking a bus to Kodai (probably Tuesday the 5th), another town up in the moutains (can you tell I'm running from the heat?) where I will stay for another 3 days, then try to get a train to Goa on Friday night / Saturday the 9th. I should be able to spend 2-3 days in Goa (relaxing on the beaches) and then fly up to Delhi on Tuesday the 12th, probably in the afternoon or evening. On Wednesday the 13th I think I'll just pay for a day tour out to Agra and the Taj Mahal. It's a bit pricey, but I think it will be a lot easier than trying to book a train and stuff on my own. It's a VERY popular trip. I guess people really want to see one of the seven wonders of the world and all that. :) As do I. Anyway, then that will just leave me Thursday the 14th to bum around Delhi for a day and get myself to the airport by around 10 pm for my flight home, which is early Friday morning (just after midnight). How's that for a plan? I think it will be much more relaxing and enjoyable than trying to work in Mumbai, Udaipur and Jaipur. It's just too much and the trains are just too full and a hassle to try and book. Flying and the day tour to Agra will cost me a bit, but it should only be a couple hundred between the two I think. That's okay. I guess I'll have to come back someday to see the rest of the sites!

Okay it's getting late and I'm tired of this HOT computer lab. Goodnight!

Day 19

Day 19

April 29, 10:04 pm, Vellore
Yeah, you can probably tell that I fell asleep again last night while I was writing. I was so exhausted. I erased the last line of jibbrish that I had typed in my sleep. It always cracks me up to read the stuff I write as I'm dozing off to sleep. I think I had said something about seeing a lot of potential and then something about a room and I don't know... didn't make any sense.

I don't feel much like writing tonight, so I think this will be somewhat brief. I'm tired. Things have been going pretty well though. Dermatology is good. It's been pretty interesting and they are pretty friendly and helpful about explaining things and teaching us. I really like Anisha, she's nice and helpful. Maam (as they call the female attending) is also great. She is very kind and also makes sure to include us in her instruction. We've already seen a lot of crazy cases! It seems that people don't come to the doctor for a long time here, so when they finally present, they have rather severe cases. I saw a case of leprosy yesterday and we've seen a number of bad cases of pemphigus. I've also seen some psoriasis, lots of tinea, moluscum contagiosum, melasma, HSV-1, cutaneous amyloidosis, tinea versicolor, candida, scleroderma... just lots and lots of interesting things. Dermatology is a good rotation to do here because even if you can't understand what they are talking about with the patient, you can always see what is going on with the skin. It makes outpatient clinic a lot more interesting than some of the other things we've rotated through.

Yesterday I watched Anisha do a couple of biopsies, one of them on the bad pemphigus patient that was admitted yesterday. Today we had rounds and then procedures in the morning and into the afternoon. Anisha let me do cryotherapy on one of the warts on a patient's foot. We also injected a keloid scar. I watched a removal of a mole on the face of a young lady and then later we watched a hair transplant. That was very interesting. This young man had viteligo, which caused a white patch of skin and hair just above his forehead. So they took a bunch of plugs of hair from the back of his head and then transplanted them into that patch and apparently the pigment from the hair follicles will get taken up and take care of the white patch. Interesting. It was fun to watch.

Tonight dinner kicked my butt. Seriously. I got the chicken biryani from the canteen here at the hospital and it was so flaming hot I could not stand it. I couldn't even eat half of it, it just hurt too much. I felt like everyone in there was watching me, the poor white boy who couldn't take the heat. Probably they really weren't, but it sure felt like it. I felt bad leaving so much food sitting there, but I really just could not bear it. It was sad, because I thought that I was doing better with the spicy foods. I still think I've improved, but I guess I'm not Indian yet.

Not much else going on. I've been trying to plan out my trip after the rotation ends this week. I guess I'm going to be traveling on my own for a while, and I'm still trying to figure out what that means. I don't know if I should change my itinerary because I'm going to be alone or what. I wasn't really that worried about it, but certain family members (probably all of them, I just haven't talked to them all yet) think that I'm going to die if I travel by myself. Hmmmm.

Okay, I'm tired of thinking about it so I'm going home to read Eldest and forget about it for now.

day 19 photos

Day 18

Day 18

April 28, 10:32 pm, Vellore
My goodness I am tired. It was a pretty good day today. We made it
back to Vellore by train, arriving at about 4:45 am. I actually slept
pretty well, though I don't know how. Every time I woke up I felt
miserable, hot and sweaty. But the trip went by pretty quickly. I had
to sit separate from the rest of the gang, but it turned out okay. I
talked to a really nice guy for a little while before he got off the
train. His name was Zach. Very friendly. The only complication we went
though was when Jerry realized that he had left his bag on the train.
Of course, it had already left the station. I'm not sure what ever
happened to them. We left them in lime at the counter.

After coming home and sleeping / bathing (which actually felt
awesome), I headed to dermatology. It was an outpatient day. I worked
with Dr. Anisha, who was very nice.

Day 17

Day 17

April 27, 8:17 am, Kerala backwater

Well I feel bad, I actually missed a day. I was going to write last
night but ended up falling asleep early. I guess 1 day out of 35 is
not bad, but still I wish I hadn't missed a day.

Yesterday and the day before were pretty much just spent humming
around Fort Cochin. It was nice. We ate good food, worked the shops,
just relaxed a lot. We ate a couple of times a the tea pot, which I
thought was fairly good. Not as good as kashi cafe though. We did get
the death by chocolate, and I really enjoyed that. It was basically
just a warm chocolate cake but it was good.

On Saturday night we went to a performance of Kathkali. It's a
traditional form of play / dance storytelling that comes from the
area. They paint there faces quite intricately. It is actually pretty
strange. They don't talk, so everything is acted out with these
overdone facial expressions and then also hand gestures, almost like
sign language. But they do these really crazy faces... it's quite
amusing but a little creepy too. It's only guys, so the guys play the
girls. And then there are a couple of people playing drums and one guy
singing and banging these little cymbals the whole time. At one point
I thought I was going to go crazy because they were so loud and
repetitive.

I almost made a big purchase and bought a nice patchwork bed cover,
but after three visits to the guy, he wouldn't come down to the price
I wanted to pay and so I walked out. He was being a punk. He was upset
because I was in there dealing with him and Amy and Aurora were there
too and they were trying to talk him lower and I was listening to
them. He didn't like that. I think he knew I wanted it and so he felt
like he could rip me off a little, but then I started listening to
them and so he got upset and wouldn't go any lower. The guy wanted
over a hundred dollars. Maybe it was worth that much, but I don't
know. I'll keep looking while I'm in India, maybe I'll find something
somewhere else.

Yesterday morning we took a couple of taxis down to Allepey where we
had arranged to rent a houseboat overnight. There are all of these
waterways here and lots and lots of houseboats that navigate them.
It's pretty neat. The people live out on these narrow stretches of
land and use the water to get around. Most of them have little canoes.
They also use the rivers to bathe and to do laundry.

It's very pretty out here, very relaxing. Our houseboat has 3 bedrooms
and a common area out in the front. It's nice. So we basically just
cruised around. They fed us lunch (fish) and dinner and then we parked
for the evening and now we are heading back to Allepey.

It was really nice watching the sun go down last night. It was finally
cool and we could really enjoy it. Then as dusk fell bats started
flying all around and that was fun to watch too. But then as night set
in, the bugs came out. Oh my. It was insane. They were swarming
everywhere. We tried to eat dinner, but eventually just gave up as the
number of mosquitoes we could count on our plates started reaching
double digits. It was actually quite comical watching everyone
smacking themselves in the face and picking bugs out of their food and
spitting them out when they would fly into their mouths. Ah, good
times. We accepted defeat and surrendered our food to them.

Then they decided to bring out the bug light, which they hung out on
the front of the boat. It basically just attracted most of the bugs to
it so they would leave us alone. But by then it was kind of too late.
We retired to our rooms. I read for a little bit and then fell asleep.
I didn't sleep that well though because I had no sheet, and it got
cold with the AC. I thought about stealing Aurora's or Katherine's,
but couldn't bring myself to do it. I tried to cover myself with some
pillows instead. Haha.

Okay I guess the trip is over. We just docked, so I better go.

day 17 photos

Day 16

day 16 photos

Day 15

Day 15

April 25, 7:34 am, Fort Kochi
Sorry again, I fell asleep again last night while I was trying to
write. I kept banging my head on the wall when I would nod off. Haha.
So I just gave it up. I guess I was pretty tired from the night on the
train. But I feel great now. I slept like a baby last night.

So anyway, we made our way over here to Fort Kochi from the train
station in Ernakulam. The area of Kochi is made up of some islands and
peninsulas. Some are connected by ferries, some bridges. Ernakulam is
the main busy city area but Fort Kochi is the place to be. It is so
laid back and quiet compared to the mainland. After looking around a
little, we found this great place to stay. It's perfect. The rooms are
nice, nice bathrooms, AC, and there is even a nice new computer in the
little lobby area with Internet. And they have wifi. Imagine that!
Yeah, so the place is great. The guy who works here, Babish is awesome
too. He's super friendly and gave us really good info on where to go
and what to do an stuff. He's cool. Unfortunately the Internet hasn't
been working since last night... I guess just a little reminder that
we are still in India after all.

Fort Kochi and this area was were the Portuguese and Dutch and Chinese
all did a lot of business back in the day. I think Kerala is kind of
the spice capital and tea capital. Vasco de Gama lived here and
actually died and was buried here. They later moved his remains back
to Lisbon, but we went and saw the church and you can still see the
tombstone where he was buried. Anyway, so the area has a nice feel to
it. The architecture has sort of a Portuguese feel I guess.

Another interesting thing about Kerala (the state that Kochi is in),
is that it is India's only socialist / communist state. That is who
has been elected since like the 50's and you still see the hammer and
sickle symbol all over. Suprisingly, though, it has been very good for
the state. My book was explaining that it has a much higher literacy
rate than the rest of India, a much higher life expectancy, and
excelled in some other statistics too. Kind of interesting.

The people here are known for being more friendly and I think I agree.
People do seem to be generally more happy and friendly towards us,
like Babish. It all just makes this a nice place to be. We even played
a little cricket with some guys down the street at the park. It was
funny.

We went to breakfast yesterday at this Kashi cafe and it was amazing.
I got French toast and a bunch of fresh fruit. The French toast was
honestly some of the best I've ever had. It was so good.

After breakfast we walked around and saw some of the old churhes. One
is supposed to be the first European church built in India. We also
hit up some shops and vendors. I bought a couple of these leaf
painting things. One of Shiva and one of Ganesh on these leaves.
They're kinda cool. We bargained a pretty good deal when we bought
four of them. I think I'll frame mine and maybe put them in my office
in my new house. We also saw the old Chinese fishing nets out by the
water. I guess they are a remnant of the influence of Chinese traders
here. I also bought a shirt. He started at 300 and I said 200 and he
said 250 and I said 225. Not bad. I'm finding that in the tourist
areas, at least, you should go really low because I think their prices
are way high. Plus it is off season here, so people are willing to
give us better deals.

Anyway, later we took the ferry to ernskulam. It was busy and crazy
and we really just walked around for a while. We hit some stores and
some people bought clothes and then we wandered back to the ferry and
back to the quiet of Fort Kochi. For dinner we went to this Seagull
Hotel restaurant. The service was a joke. The guy got our drinks but
then I think he didn't realize we were going to eat so we found
ourselves waiting forever. And I was starving. Finally he got the idea
that we all wanted to order. Most of us got the most expensive thing,
tiger prawns. Mine came out as something different than what I
ordered, but I ended up really enjoying it. They were basically the
size of normal shrimp back home, I guess jumbo shrimp. But I don't
know about tiger prawns. I think they were supposed to be bigger. But
anyway, mine was masala and it was pretty spicy but I really liked it.
I ate it with paratha (sp?), this flaky delicious type of bread and it
really just hit the spot. I ate like 10 or 11 prawns because I ate
some other people's after finishing mine. Mmm. Holy cholesterol. I was
so full and so satisfied. Everything was right in the world. Haha.

After that we just came back to the hotel. We caught American idol on
tv, saw Noop dog get sent home, and Lil Rounds. Today I think we're
getting Ayurvedic massages! I can't wait. Kerala is where Ayurveda was
born. They have places all over here. So it wouldn't be right not to
try it while we're here, right? Tomorrow we're going to rent a house
boat, I think for a full 24 hrs before we head back on Monday night.
I'll keep you posted though, of course.

Oh yeah, one funny thing before I go. Mullet. The guy who snagged us
and brought us over to this hotel to check it out is this auto driver
with a killer mullet. He was nice, but kind of annoying at the same
time. He really wanted to take us on a tour in his rickshaw and so he
kept following us around. He would like pop up out of nowhere. Like
after we ate breakfast he came zooming up. We're like, oh no, mullet
is back. We half expected him to be sitting at our hotel waiting for
us when we got home last night.

day 15 photos

Day 14

Day 14

April 24, 1:57 am, train between Vellore and Kerala

What is it about trains? I just love them. I'm not sure why.
Especially here, because it's not like there is really that much to
love about it. But there is just something magical to me about riding
trains.

We're currently on an overnight train, heading towards Kochi in
Kerala, over on the southwest side of India. We left Vellore at about
10:00 pm and will arrive sometime early in the morning... maybe six or
seven? I can't remember exactly how long it is.

I told myself I would be surprised if everything went smoothly on our
first train ride here. But I have to say I am, so far, surprised. We
figured out the little sign that told us where our coach would be,
down at number 14, and when it arrived it was only a little ways off.
We found our coach, S1, without any problem and came straight to our
seats. There are a number of different classes and we are travelling
sleeper class. It is non AC, and each little section has six beds that
face into the middle (stacked 3 high) and then another 3 that are
across the aisle. It's kind of confusing until you actually see it.
But the middle bed on each side folds up and down so that you can
either have people sitting in a row or else bring up the bed and
everyone can lay down. It's not the lap of luxury by any means, but
it's not bad. It's pretty roomy, except for head room when all the
beds are out. It's probably about 2 ft height wise. The windows are
just open an have bars on them, so you get the breeze and also the
view, though you can't see too much at night. We all agree though that
this is the way to travel in India. It is much much better than a bus
or even an AC taxi. Really, I'm quite impressed by their rail system.
I'd probably be even more impressed if I was in an AC coach. Haha.
It's fun though, watching the nighttime landscape of India roll by
with the stars overhead. It feels like this is some sort of dream and
I'm not really here.

So yeah, about yesterday and today, just to finish up... the golden
temple was sweet. It was pretty crazy the amount of security they had
though. We went through three separate checkpoints and each time they
found something it cost more and more to store it. Aurora had managed
to keep her camera on her until the third checkpoint and then it cost
like 20 rupees I think to store it. I had to leave my camera, video
camera, pocket knife, and for some reason my flash light. Go figure.
They didn't want me shining it on Amma I guess. Apparently the light
shines from him. That's what happened when he was like 17 and was on a
bus, a beacon of light went from him up into heaven and that is when
he came to embody Narayani. At least that's what Aurora read in her
book that she bought there. I can't remember, did I mention how the
ground was so hot in some places that it was scorching our feet? Oh
man, so painful. Yet they would not let you take your shoes on the walk.

Like I said, today (well, yesterday now) there was some strike. No
buses were running and apparently the drivers at CHAD were included in
the strike. This meant that there was no one to drive us out to the
villages for doctor run clinic today... so we basically had the day
off. We went to the computer lab, and I should have written my paper
for this rotation but I just couldn't get around to it. I started
getting kind of anxious about our 2 weeks of travel after the rotation
because we hadn't really planned it all out yet and got train tickets
and stuff. But Katherine informed us today that she isn't going to
travel with us. Her dad is going to come and they are going to travel
together. So I guess Aurora and I will just do our own thing, unless
she decides to leave early to go home. Really I wouldn't mind just
travelling by myself if she decided to do that. I actually think it
would be kind of fun.

But I know we are at least going to Ooty together. We went to Angel
travel agent today and asked him to get us tickets on Sunday when
tatkal opens. We'll leave Friday night, May 1, and do another
overnight out there. Ooty is this town up in the mountains that is
supposed to be really nice. And it's supposed to be a lot cooler up
there, temperature wise. That will be nice. Anyway, we're excited for
that. I still need to figure out the rest of the journey though.

Okay, well I'm going to try to get a little shut eye. Later.

4:16 am, still on the train
Every time someone on this train coughs I swear I'm going to get TB.
There is this one guy on the other side of the train from us that
keeps coughing. I'm convinced he's either got TB or cancer. Sadly, I'm
hoping he has cancer for our sakes. Or maybe he just has a cold. Ha,
right.

The non AC is getting to me a little now. It's getting less
comfortable the longer this train ride goes. I just feel so sticky and
my skin sticks to the seat.

10:12 pm, Fort Kochi
Ah, what a day. What a super day. This place is great, even better
than Mamallapuram or Pondicherry. It feels so great to be here and not
in Vellore. We made it off the train at the right stop, and
immediately found ourselves at the mercy of the rickshaw drivers. I
hate not knowing a town because I think they take advantage. Oh well,
we probably didn't get ripped off too bad. We took two rickshaws over
from ernakulam.

day 14 photos