Day 25 (Tuesday, May 27): Fishery

Officially woke up at 8:30am – the longest I’ve ever slept-in here. Thankfully, class was at 9:30am, so I didn’t have to scramble in the morning that much. Breakfast: mashed rice dish, yellow rice, and omelet.

Listened to two lectures taught by Dr. Raj. Some interesting things we discussed in class:

• They are checking for MERS from Dubai to Mangalore. I remember mom mentioning the disease a few days ago, but I initially didn’t think much about it.
• Posed question: is gun violence a public health issue? Common class consensus was yes. He was referring to the Santa Barbara shooting and how mental illness is always brought up. Lindsey shared with us that there’s always more to just mental illness. It’s often how the person is brought up and the mentally ill are the ones who suffer from violence, not the other way around. Basically, Dr. Raj made a call-to-action for us to do something about gun violence. Sesen shared that Israel has a stringent process on obtaining a gun, including a mental health test. It’s an issue between personal rights and governmental control.
• Someone asked if doctors who worked at tertiary care centers make more money than primary. He said at Manipal, it’s comparable because people want the prestige of being a staff at Manipal University.
• In the biotechnology lecture, he used the example of cellular phones in the introduction. He flashbacked to the days of beepers/pagers, which were most commonly used for notification of a baby delivery. 1990’s was when everything changed in regards to technology.
• Cell phones are cheap in India. Poor people own them, even those who cannot afford to eat.

Dr. Kamath came in the classroom to deliver a brief lecture on the fisheries. Then, Sameer took us to the fish market.

It was exactly what Dr. Kamath described and showed in the slides. Women were selling fresh fish with bare hands.

We saw a lot of cutting and scraping. Occupational health issues: skin candidiasis (fungal infection), contact dermatitis (inflamed skin), and chronic paronychia (soft tissue infection around fingernails). We passed by a slum neighborhood on the way there. Blue tarps served as roofs and children were playing in an open field near an old landfill.

Traveled back to campus for lunch: two rotis, barley rice, veggie/squash stew, bean curry, a sweeter bean curry, and the coconut milk jelly dessert. I sat next to Adam, and we were both fishing in our backpack at the same time, but I pulled out my hand sanitizer a few milliseconds before he did. He was like stop copying me. Anna was wondering who’s the oldest person in our group and she thought it was me and her because we share the same birthday, but we found out Lauren is turning 22 in July! Bought my pulpy orange juice after lunch. The lady at the store front now recognizes me and automatically knows what I want. Haha loyal customer.

Walked back to the hostel with Lauren. Hoping to make some mad progress on the paper! I worked at the desk, while the laptop was charging, but eventually moved over to the bed. I uploaded pictures from the fishery and finished the field trip experience essay about Manasa Jyothi. I learned this fun fact! Karnataka only knows three seasons: spring summer, hot summer, and rainy season. I changed to a long-sleeve shirt and long pants because it was cold in my room. I ate a peanut butter Clif bar because I wasn’t planning on going to tea time. Wish I had brought more Clif bars here! Then, I decided to work in the lobby of the hostel for a change in scenery. I really like the temperature down there – clash of cold and hot air. Anna and Sahanna said hi when they left for tea time. Taniqua said hi when she came back from tea and wanted to join me in the lobby. I made some more progress on the paper. Lauren came down with Taniqua because she wanted to buy mango juice at the mini-store in the hostel. Taniqua bought a chocolate ice cream bar. Nikki, Xhonela, and Ashley came down to go buy dinner on the second floor of the cafeteria. Then, Anna entered and showed us clothes she bought from Fab India. When we no longer ran into people from our group, Taniqua and I had a thought-provoking conversation about life, religion, and love. Some advice she gave, which resonated with me: “do it for yourself because in the end, you’re gonna live with your decision, not your family.” She talked about faith as an intangible thing and people have problems with believing in something they cannot see. The only unconditional love is from God and love from anyone else is conditional. She told me to pray to God for guidance and hindsight. I expressed concern about the uncertainty of the future and she said “go with the flow. You never know what might happen. Things could work out later down the road.” I believe in that too. We talked about believing in more than one soul mate and she thinks soul mates are formed by marriage, which I’ve never thought about that way before. She wants her first marriage to be her only, even if he commits adultery. They’ll work through it. From traveling, she wants to adopt a child in addition to having her own. I’ve thought about that too. Before dinner, I gave Taniqua one toilet paper roll because she told me she needed some and I was afraid of having to take some home with me because I have about 2 full rolls left for 3.5 days. I borrowed her room bug spray because I’ve been getting colonies of ants in the bathroom.

Dinner: two rotis, barley rice, potato and veggie curry, black bean curry, peas and potato curry, and yogurt. I feel like I’ve been eating a lot lately. Talked to Drew about his Fab India purchases and his birthday. Then, Adam arrived and I asked him what he got at Fab India. He showed Lauren, Kelsey, and I his purchases: an Indian-styled red shirt, a western red button-up shirt, and a western gray button-up shirt. I really liked them.

Went to library café with Kelsey and Lauren to work on the paper. I really wish I could Shazam the songs played in there. It’s like Indian EDM. Haha. I purchased Darjealing tea and a mango cup.

Anna, Adam, and Drew came into the library café too. I finished my paragraph about ASHAs. I think that’s the most interesting/well-written part of my paper.

Went back to hostel with Kelsey and Lauren. I washed clothes (I love the hand-washing routine now. It brings me so much joy. I’m weird) and showered. I submitted my field trip essay at 2:30am, which was around 777 words when Dr. Raj wanted 500… hopefully that’s okay. I always write too much.

Day 24 (Monday, May 26): We’re on a Boat!

Woke up at 7:15am. Wore my blue swirl-patterned kurti with the blue swirl-patterned pants I borrowed from my mom. They match so well! Reviewed all of the PowerPoints again before going to breakfast at 8:45am: two onion pancakes, omelet, and tea. While eating, I studied my handwritten notes. On the way to the library, Adam was quizzing Lauren and I.

In the classroom, Dr. Raj passed back quiz 2. Everyone was talking about how poorly they did on it yesterday after checking online, but I waited to see my score in person. I received 16/20 points. Adam got the same score. People were skeptical about one question and asked about it. Dr. Raj said he would give a 0.5 point back, so yay I guess. Took quiz 3. It was on the same level of difficulty. I didn’t know the answer to a couple of the questions. Sigh. Hopefully everything will be fine in the end, grade-wise. Adam, Lauren, Taniqua and I talked about the answers after class. Downstairs in the lobby, Adam said he finished his paper and wants to peer-edit with others. That’s my favorite part of the writing process – editing.

Walked to the cafeteria to meet Dr. Raj at 10:15am. He took us to the Public Health Department on campus, where we met a woman that accompanied us on one or two previous field visits.

We walked a couple blocks to the campus hospital (Kasturba). Lindsey and I were at the front of the pack and we had a conversation with the woman. She asked how we have liked India. We both said good. Lindsey told her we’ve been very busy. She asked us what a typical day is like back in the states. Lindsey talked about how it varies because people choose different class times – not structured at all. We learned about how the Kasturba Hospital manages solid and liquid waste.

Returned to the hostel around 11:30am. Knocked on Taniqua’s door to head to lunch together at 12:30pm: roti, barley rice, 2 types of curry, and yogurt. Kelsey R went to lunch today! She and Lauren went to the doctor’s earlier. She got a malaria blood test, but they suspect it’s only a viral infection. Dr. Raj stopped by the cafeteria and gave her acetaminophen and a loaf of white bread – so cute. Purchased my go-to orange juice.

Back in the room, I worked on the paper and finished reading the 200-page document. I felt tired by the end of that, so I took a one-hour nap between 3-4pm. Woke up and thankfully read the email from Dr. Raj informing us of a boat ride and to meet in front of the library at 5pm. On the way down, I ran into Lindsey.

We boarded the yellow Manipal bus and Dr. Kamath came with us also. I sat with Lauren. The group was divided into two for the boat ride. I went on the first one.

Vlogged with Lauren and enjoyed the peace and serenity of the water.

A professional photographer was snapping pictures of us and the landscape.

Then, we waited while the second group went on the boat ride. Dan jokingly said to me that he found me a seat on a little boat hanging off the edge. We met the Chancellor of Manipal University and took a group picture with him.

From 6:30-7:30pm, I uploaded the day’s pictures on the computer and updated my word doc journal. Stopped by Lauren’s room at 7:30pm and also knocked on Taniqua’s and Kelsey’s. Taniqua said she was taken aback by the force of my knock and I teasingly said I wanted to trick her for what she did to me during lunch. I offered to get her lemonade and she told me to make sure there are no bugs in it. When I returned with the drinks, she told me there was one and I was very concerned, but she started laughing and said just kidding. Taniqua and Kelsey R bought food upstairs. A small group of us were eating downstairs: Kelsey F, Paul, Drew, Adam, Lauren, Alvian, Dan, and Sesen. Lauren and I exchanged sentiments that we both liked the cafeteria food still. It’s weird that I am just now craving it when it’s the end of the trip. Dinner: two rotis, barley rice, potato and veggies, a more bland curry, and yogurt. Adam was giving me weird looks the entire dinner and I called him out jokingly. Then, Paul started narrating him eating and I teasingly said that’s what you get. Sesen and I talked about how we both found a document that includes everything we want to talk about in our final papers. Then, she asked what day I’m on for the blog. I said day 10. S- “How about the fake blog?” Me- “I’m caught up until yesterday.” I asked her about her journal and she said she stopped at the Tuesday before Mysore. She’s counting on my detailed accounts to finish hers. Haha. Dan asked if I’ll upload them when I get back home. I said probably. Adam reminded us to let him know when we’re done with the paper, so that we can exchange and do peer-editing. I said okay that’ll be my motivation to finish. Lauren waited for me to finish eating, so that we could walk out together.

She went to the library café to get work done. I went back to the hostel, washed clothes, showered, talked to Arif, read his email, and listened to the songs he sent. I started typing for the paper, but the thoughts were not flowing. Hopefully I can sleep and wake up tomorrow with a fresh mind and find the flow. I worked from my bed and eventually fell asleep, but woke up around 2:15pm (Ohio time) to Skype mom real quick. She was at work. It was an interesting call… One of her fellow waiters kept creeping on our conversation and I talked with another worker. He asked how I was and I asked how he was. Mom tried to get me to speak Spanish with him, but I hesitated because I already have problems hearing English on the other end, so that would have been a disastrous communication problem. He asked how everything was over here when mom informed him I am in India. Then, the waiter came back and creeped again. He said I was good looking, asked if I have a Facebook and I quote “I told your mom I’ll make her a grandma.” Hold up, what? Is that supposed to be a pick-up line? Hahhaha. It’s a bit funny, but not acceptable. Fastest way to turn a girl off. It was a nice change in scenery for a Skype date with mom though.

Day 22 (Saturday, May 24): Cashews

Woke up spontaneously around 3:30am and again at 7:15am to the alarm. I walked to the bathroom to brush my teeth and spied a colony of white and black ants climbing on the wall surrounding the sink. I used my bug spray on them, so now they’re all dead on the wall. Admittedly gross, but better than hundreds of them crawling around. I was imagining the movie, Bugs Life and wondered if the ants could communicate with one another (i.e. letting fellow ants know about my attempt at using bug spray to decimate them).

Outfit of the Day. Haha.

Left for breakfast around 8:35am. Ran into Anna and walked down with her. Breakfast was good, but didn’t have enough time to finish my plate: potato pancakes, omelet, peas and bean curry. Sesen said she refuses to believe that I’ve worked at Hollister and heard not many people like to work there. People were surprised when I said I actually loved it. They asked what I did there. I said operate the cash register, greet people at the front, and fold clothes. The real reason why I probably liked it is because I love folding clothes. Everyone looked at me quizzically and said they hate folding clothes. Only Lindsey admitted she likes folding too.

Dr. Kamath, Dr. Raj, and most of the group waited outside the library. Dr. Kamath wanted to formally present a mini PowerPoint about occupational diseases among cashew factory workers in South India in our regular classroom on the fourth floor. The information was really interesting. Topics included: where cashews are heavily exported and imported (Brazil, India, West Africa, and Vietnam were producing countries), diverse uses of cashews, steps to produce an edible cashew,

1. Clean, Dry
2. Steam, Cool – dangerous3. Separate shell from kernel manually and mechanically – dangerous
4. Peel
5. Grade
6. Pack

the acidity of the shell, demographics of the workers (mostly women, no skills or education required), and common diseases contracted (contact dermatitis- dark brown dead skin from anacardic acid).

• Tried to introduce glove usage, but it’s inefficient for grip and speed, so most workers choose not to use because they are paid on efficiency and output. Creams (e.g. paraffin, polyethylene, glycol castor oil) are used as a treatment option. Mechanization isn’t a 100% solution. Machines cause unemployment. Eventually the skin renews, but long-term implication = cancer.
• Other health problems: back, knee, and shoulder pain.
• Older people cut and separate, while younger people peel and grade (lower pay).
• 50-100 rupees to ESI health insurance. Injuries covered.

It surprises me that I’ve never really thought about the field of occupational health before – health issues associated with work, so this was a topic I really enjoyed learning more about in India.

Boarded yellow Manipal bus and sat with Taniqua. I initiated a conversation with Dr. Kamath, who sat across from me. I questioned, “do you work at Manipal’s hospital?” K- “Yes.” Me- “What do you do?” K- “Public health (…)” Me- “You’re a doctor too?” K- “Yes. Do you doubt me?” Me- “Noo! It’s just I don’t think you’ve talked much about yourself.” He went to Manipal University for his education. The accent barrier made the conversation more awkward than I would have liked because I found myself leaning in further to put my ear closer to his mouth, so that I could hear better. I told him my plans of attending medical school next year and possibly getting an MPH too, which is what he did. He said he really likes the combination and it helps to explain many maladies. He shared some examples of how he understands more about a person’s problems by looking at the public health side (i.e. occupational). I said I really liked that aspect. He asked me about my background (education). I said I am majoring in Neuroscience and planning to attend medical school. He also asked about my heritage and I said I’m born in Columbus, but my mom is from Vietnam and my dad is from Malaysia. He mentioned Vietnam as a leading producer of cashews and I told him I remember that from his lecture in the morning. He shared he went to Malaysia last week and I said “really?? For work?” He said yes and that it’s a really beautiful country. He asked if I’ve ever visited. No to Vietnam and yes to Malaysia, but the trip was when I was a year old, so I don’t remember anything. He listed all the countries he’s been to – 12 countries mostly for work/conferences. He asked what my parents do. I said my mom is a waitress at a Chinese restaurant and that I am a first-generation college student. He said a lot of Indians here are too.

Visited a Rotary Hospital. Talked to Dr. Shetty.

I asked him what Rotary means. He said I made a nice observation. Essentially, it’s a teaching hospital for medical students (MDBS). Typically, students work for one year on an internship.

• The hospital sees about 100-200 patients/day and performs 2-3 deliveries/day. Send the mothers back on day 4. Perform 25 operations in a month.
• Other services: cataracts, vaccinations for 8 diseases, cancer screening, OBGYN.
• Serve rural population.
• Setup: common wards and private rooms.
• Affiliated with public health department and focus on community health and preventative medicine.
• Rotary International founded and built the hospital. The land was donated to Manipal University.
• 3-H grants to provide accessible care to poor people.
• Biggest challenge: shortage of medical staff because of rural environment.
• Netherlands sends interns here for 1 or 2 weeks.

Visited the ophthalmologist in the hospital.

Most common ailments he treats are cataracts and glaucoma. Used to be free with grant, but it’s decreasing. Common beliefs- watching too much television or going outside (sun damage). Myopia is extremely common in school-aged children.

Arrived at the cashew factory and received a tour. Afterwards, we hung out in the owner’s office, while waiting to purchase cashews. Our whole group played word riddles to pass the time. At one point, the phone rang and Dr. Kamath picked it up. It was funny because the owner had previously picked up the phone last time it rang, but since the office was overcrowded with all of us, Dr. Kamath picked this one up. Then, another man ran around the exterior of the office, told Dr. Kamath to open the window, and took the phone outside. Hahah.

I bought two ½ kg bags of cashew. I am planning to give one to my mom and the other to Arif. In line, Adam told me he had a dream with me in it talking about free medicine. Coincidentally, he was in the background of my dream last night too! Taniqua told me I was knocked out asleep on the way back to campus.

We ate lunch in the cafeteria. They had these hush puppy-like balls in curry that was so good. Went with Lauren to the hospital to get her swollen bug bites checked out. Kelsey R and Adam came also. Lauren got some medication to relieve the swelling and itching.

Went back to the hostel afterwards. After tea time, went with Lindsey and Adam to the library to see if the Wi-Fi guy was there, but he wasn’t. I read case studies until dinner at 7:30pm. Taniqua mentioned how it’s crazy we have one week left and a lot of people are longing to head back home, but I shared my wisdom about appreciating every single day no matter how bad it gets because it’s inevitable that we’ll be leaving. The day will come whether we ask for it or not, so why not enjoy every moment you can? I went back to the room after dinner, washed clothes, showered, and tried to finish the case studies that Dr. Raj sent out. But I gravitated over to my bed around 11pm and fell asleep before a Skype date with mom. Oops.

Day 21 (Friday, May 23): “It’s Not How Much We Give But How Much Love We Put into Giving” -Mother Teresa

Woke up around 7:45am. Wore the green white-flowered sleeveless Kurti. Breakfast around 8:35am: round bread, veggie curry, omelet, and tea. Received some compliments on my Kurti. Rachel was interested in getting her pants fitted after someone mentioned that the store where I purchased the Kurti provides free tailoring.

We took traveling vans to Manasa Jyothi. Our Mysore minivan crew got excited to see Chand again, but sadly he wasn’t driving. Adam was my seat buddy! He complimented that my Kurti makes me look more oriental. I was like “I know.” I’ll embrace my Asianness. Haha. Dr. Raj rode in our van also. It was a 45-minute drive. Adam and I talked about dreams, X-Men, and my lizard story. Manasa Jyothi has been my favorite field trip so far. The woman from the Netherlands has really done something spectacular, and she’s only 37 years old. Truly inspiring. I hope to pursue a passion like that.

As we passed through the white stone-walled threshold of Manasa Jyothi, I felt an indescribable feeling of happiness and comfort. A trampoline and playground emerged with numerous joyous children swinging, riding bikes and running around. At first glance, one would not suspect that these children have suffered more than we could imagine. The story of how Maartje van den Brand and Shobha Madhyastha founded and manage the school inspires my future endeavors in life.

Manasa Jyothi is a residential school for mentally and physically handicapped children. They recently moved to their current resident in Kundapur. It’s a modest-sized school that has grown gradually over the last ten years (started in 2000). They have around 18 children between 5-18 years old. The infrastructure can hold up to 35 children. Services include individualized programming based on each child’s needs, free medication and medical care, good hygiene and health practices, daily teaching, exercise, yoga and free medical equipment (i.e. wheelchairs, helmets, back braces). They are challenged to be independent by making their bed, washing their hands and brushing their teeth. The primary goal is to keep the children healthy and clean according to western standards. The secondary goal is to provide a safe and educational home. Tertiary goal: inclusion of disabled children into normal schools. When the Government passed the Right to Education Act in the parliament, disabled children were not included in this article. It is one of ADAPT’s greatest achievements that after much lobbying an amendment of the Right to Education Act was made. This means that more than 30 million disabled children will now have a right to education in India as well. Inclusion in education of children who are differently abled in India still has a long way to go. Two of the students will attend a normal school next term.

A range of staff is available and needed, such as teachers, volunteers, a psychologist, physiotherapist, speech therapist, and occupational therapist to provide unique care for each child. The philosophy is that the children learn best when they are safe, happy, and valued. Every child has this right. They aim to build the children’s self-esteem by teaching them to value themselves and develop other positive qualities (e.g. independence, honesty, integrity, respect for others). They have a non-violence principle and focus on verbal and visual (sign language) communication. The school is funded privately by a trust and does not request money from the parents. This is important for children who do not have loving parents to take care of them properly at home. Manasa Jyothi serves as their home, education and transition into society. In India, the stigmatized status of disabled children renders an unhealthy and sometimes dangerous lifestyle. The children end up on streets, beg for money to survive or are abused. The vision of Manasa Jyothi is to change the stigma by showing the interaction between handicapped children and care-takers.

I enjoyed seeing and hearing Maartje talk about her humble beginnings with Manasa Jyothi. Maartje is a physiotherapist from the Netherlands. Her father has been an inspiring force in her life as he has dedicated the last 15 years of his life working for UNICEF and the UN to improve human rights of people in prison. After graduating and volunteering for an NGO for a year in the slums of Indonesia serving mentally and physically disabled children, she felt a calling to do something good for the world in 2007. She gave up her physiotherapy practice and left family and friends to move to India. She found her way to Manasa Jyothi and was only planning to volunteer for three months in order to improve the health care and education. As time passed, she learned of the horrid things that were happening to the children, such as molestation and abuse. She was so disturbed that she went to the police, which is uncommon to do. People told her to “look the other way”. After three years, she decided to leave and started a foundation in 2009 with help from family and friends in the Netherlands. She mentioned that in our countries (US and Europe), people would be willing to help, but here no one wanted to get involved. “Foreign people come here and think ‘oh this place is too nice. Why do you need more funding?’” It’s a struggle retaining workers at the school because of the stigma behind disabled children. Frequently, workers leave before getting married because “what will the neighbors think if she works with handicapped children?” The woman’s status decreases if she works with handicapped children rendering her less desirable for marriage. Maartje learned the local language, Kannada because she believes communication is pivotal when helping people of a different background. She always says it’s her last year, but looks at the children and can’t leave.

It was shocking and eye-opening to hear the children’s stories. Vino’s parents came to get him fully drunk one day and Maartje now refuses to let him go home. One parent was quoted to say “let God decide if she lives or not”. One girl was locked in a hut for seven years. Another girl had her uterus removed by her parents. Several have cases of cerebral palsy, which developed during birth. Seeing the children at Manasa Jyothi now is a complete turnaround. Vino is awaiting admission to a normal school. The children are clean, smiling, and laughing as they are riding their bikes, chasing after each other or swinging on the playground. I had the opportunity to watch Maartje interact with a girl through sign language, and I could sense the love and connection. The girl looked at Maartje as if she were her mom. I admire that Maartje experienced first-hand a (public health) issue and was courageous enough to pursue a solution to the problem when all odds were against her. A quote on their website http://manasajyothi.jimdo.com/ encompasses my thoughts and feelings about this school: “it’s not how much we give, but how much love we put into giving.” –Mother Teresa. I hope that one day I can live life giving back to a cause I am passionate about with love.

Afterwards, we headed to the beach in Kundapur, which was surprisingly pretty clean and serene. Stopped by a restaurant for lunch. Dr. Raj ordered us a 5-course meal with samosa, naan, three types of curry, gulab jamun, yogurt, rice with raisins, veggie noodles, fried tortilla chip, white rice, more curry and ice cream with fruit. There was a lot of food.

Dr. Raj’s family joined us for lunch also, and we got introduced to them at the end. We met his brother-in-law, sister, brother and two nieces, one of which is attending Manipal for medical school. His sister is an OBGYN and brother-in-law is a pediatrician.

Adam casually used me as a shoulder rest while we were waiting for the van, which coincidentally happens to me a lot when I’m around tall people. He questioned if I get dark easily since I’m part Malaysian. He asked what the other half is. I said Vietnamese and we concluded that the people get pretty dark.

We went to the Hanging Bridge next. I slept a little on the way there. The bridge was beautiful. I got on it, but decided not to cross because it was precariously waving back and forth. I was imagining what it would be like to fall into the water below, and that scared me because I don’t know how to swim thus causing my fear of large bodies of water. Alvian shared my sentiments, so that was nice someone else understood. Kelsey R and Taniqua didn’t go either. The others just went to the other side and came back. Got some good pictures though!

Then, we went to another beach. Everyone took off their shoes and got in the water except me because I don’t like the feeling of wet sand and shoes. Adam thought of the idea to do a shadow O-H-I-O picture, which turned out awesome!

I took some scenic pictures of a canoe, an elusive clear-colored crab and waves crashing on rocks, while everyone else enjoyed the water. I was cooling myself off with my airplane tickets, which serve as good emergency fans by the way when Adam asked if I save them. Me- “Yes.” Adam- “Me too. I keep my movie tickets also.” Me- “Wait. Me too!” Adam- “Did you save the ones from last night?” Me- “Yes (checks purse).” I’ve been collecting movie tickets since Home Alone was in the theaters. Haha.

We had the option of going shopping afterwards. Half of the people hopped off the van and half of us went with Dr. Raj. The department store had saris, kurtis, cotton scarves, and children’s clothes. Nothing really caught my eye, but several people got some quality stuff for a cheap price.

Returned to campus for tea time: fried tofu-like balls. Back to room. Uploaded pictures to computer and dilly dallied until dinner at 7:30pm. I changed my profile picture to one of me and the little boy I fell in love with at Manasa Jyothi. I went to their website, read, and wrote down information because I am genuinely interested and wanted to remember as much as possible. I posted the website under the profile picture.

Dinner was good: barley rice, roti, Gobi Manchurian, squash curry, and another curry. Had yogurt also. It’s weird – I hated the yogurt in the beginning, but now I really like it as a palate cleanser at the end of the meal. Serves as a pseudo-dessert too. Sat with Kelsey F, Alexa, Adam, and Lindsey. I asked how Sahanna was feeling. She said “better.” Someone said Adam should do a Mohawk. And he turned it on me and said I should do a Mohawk. Lindsey said “that’s gonna take a lot of maintenance.” Adam continued with “buy a leather jacket and wear some brass knuckles.” Me- “I think of Grand Theft Auto when I hear brass knuckles.” Adam- “That’s what I was basing it off of! Get out of my head.” I nod my head a lot when I listen to other people talk. Adam started imitating me and I burst out laughing. Alexa and Kelsey F were like “What’s going on? Did we miss something?” Adam was just being super silly. I haven’t laughed that hard in a while.

Walked back to hostel with Lindsey and ran into half of the girls standing in a circle at the top of the 5^th floor stairs. Xhonela, Kelsey R, Lauren, Ashley, and Nikki were there. We talked about experiences in India and bugs. I shared my lizard story. Some shared their excitement for heading back to the states. I find it more worthwhile to make the most of every moment, good or bad. It’s inevitable that we’re leaving, so why pine for that day when you can be happy right now? I constantly remind myself that we won’t ever be in this moment in our lives again. Back at the room, I washed clothes, showered, skyped Arif and mom, tried catching up in the word doc journal in bed, but fell asleep. Sesen posted a comment on my FB expressing her surprise that I worked at Hollister and teased me about having a lot of past lives. It made me think about authenticity and the implications of being a “mysterious” person. I don’t really talk about myself very often – preferring to listen to others first, but one of my goals in life is to be more vulnerable. So I found myself pondering if having different facets of your personality show at different times a good thing or bad thing. I tried figuring this out on Skype with Arif. I want to be an authentic person and thought the way to do this is to be one person across life’s many different activities. He brought up that it’s not really possible to be the same person because we have to act differently in different settings (I remember learning about the term “impression management” in sociology). I guess he’s right. We both concluded that the most important way to be authentic is to make sure your core values stay the same.

My favorite group photo on the trip.

Another quote from the Manasa Jyothi website: “Consideration like ‘he is mine or he is another’s’ occur only to narrow-minded people. To broad-minded people the whole world is their family.”

Day 20 (Thursday, May 22): Airport Security at the Movies

Woke up an hour ahead of my alarm. I’ve learned to leave the AC off and put the fan on a little higher to make the conditions more comfortable to sleep in. Fell back asleep and woke up again at 7:15am (real alarm). Feeling very refreshed and energized – even had time to read a case study on leprosy. I think I might choose to do my final project on this. The disease is a mix of microbiology and neuroscience, which I find very fascinating. And it’s exciting that we have the opportunity to visit a leprosy hospital today! Breakfast around 8:45am: omelet and two pancakes. Took group photo in front of the library by a professional photographer.

Bus ride was long – a little more than an hour. Saw their College of Nursing and medical college.

Followed guy in a white coat to a lecture room.

Went to the bathroom in someone’s office.

Refreshments were served: lime juice and a cookie.

The guy in the white coat talked for a little.

We saw a video about the history of the campus and Father Muller (German. Heal and comfort, selfless service, putting patients before self, compassionate care). Dr. Kamath then delivered a powerpoint on leprosy. I knew about half the info because of reading the case study this morning. Hehe.

• Communicable- spread by droplets, contact.
• Numbers are coming down into the double digits. On the elimination (1 case per 10,000). WHO is donating meds, which helps the decreasing cases.
• Myths- curse of God, past sins. Failure to appreciate the social and psychological factors.
• 750 beds
• Medical college (2001). Hostel for 1500 students.
  Homeopathic medicine.
• Occupational rehab. Run a store (sell item as service. Patients receive profit).

• Braces (equalize pressure on foot).

• Visited some patients.
  
• India has 60% of cases.
• Signs- White patch. Test: close eyes, cotton feather or pen, no pain sensation. Hypo-pigmented, nodule in ear lobe, acid fast bacilli, nerves sensory loss, weak muscles, foot drop, hand drop, absorption of fingers (no blood supply, no nerve. No need to amputate because not spreading), claw hand (ulnar and median nerve), thickened nerve in elbow.
• 1^st stage: sensation loss (housewife move hot pot and don’t feel). Can reverse. 5^th stage: irreversible disability.
• Everything is free. Vaccine in trial.

Slept on the way home. Ate lunch in cafeteria with Dr. Kamath. Food tasted really good because it was already 3pm when we ate.

Back to room for about an hour. I continued reading case studies. Now, neglected tropical diseases really interest me.

Tea time 5:15pm: pizza roll-like bread and cake.

Ran into Paul at tea time and had a sincere conversation about our future careers, movies, and aspects of this trip. Walked up to the second floor of the cafeteria to find about seven of our classmates sitting waiting for food. I decided to try the aloo patty at Subway for dinner because it was the sub of the day and Sahanna had previously raved about it. I didn’t know what to expect, but it tasted just like hash brown! I like this better than chicken breast. Subway (with an Indian twist) might be one of the best things I’ve had here. Haha.

Everyone went to the movie theater to watch X-men in 3D. At first, I wasn’t too enthused about the movie choice because I never watched the X-men series and thought I wasn’t intrigued by superhero movies, but boy was I wrong. The ticket cost 180 rupees ($3 USD). They assign seats upon purchasing the movie ticket. I sat with Kelsey and Lauren.

Entering the INOX movie theater, a couple of fast food restaurants line the perimeter. To the right, begins the line through security. The first guy rips the ticket. Then, stop by a counter where the women check inside your bags. I had gum and my camera battery confiscated. The language barrier was a problem, and I didn’t understand what she wanted me to do about it. Thankfully, a girl behind me in line helped me out and said they’ll keep it at the counter and a matching tag will be handed to me, so that I can pick it up after the movie. I walked through the metal detector and then another personnel waved a wand around my body, just like airport security. We couldn’t bring water in. The US should adopt some of these procedures in light of the recent movie theater shootings. After this, we were finally able to walk up the stairs. Kelsey R said I looked traumatized by the experience. Haha. There was a typical concession stand of movie theater food.

Inside, the auditorium felt just like the US. Attendants showed us to our seats and offered a menu for food. Three previews played.

Overall, the movie far exceeded my expectations. I loved the humanitarian aspect – lots of deep quotes. The narration at the beginning and end of the movie was superb. I found myself nodding my head a couple times. I liked the tie to science also – DNA and mutations. Here are some quirky notes about Indian movie theaters:

• When someone on the screen smokes, a PSA pops up “Smoking is injurious to your health”. I like this a lot.
• They silenced out a swear word (f#$%).
• The audience really likes cheering and laughing when the parts aren’t really that funny.
• Intermission in the middle of the movie. I surprisingly liked this. Affords a bathroom break and builds up anticipation for the second part.

Random: I liked the small amount of Vietnamese spoken in the movie. Haha. I’ve never experienced that before.

In the bathroom, they had square toilets and toilet paper!

Lauren, Kelsey and, I individually took a pic of the bathroom and we shared this factoid after coming out and Lauren was like “we’re soul mates”. Rickshaw back with Lindsey and Taniqua. Washed clothes, showered, skyped mom and got all caught up on the word doc journal!

Day 19 (Wednesday, May 21): Subway Eat Fresh

Woke up feeling the same as yesterday. Hit snooze twice in the morning. Went to breakfast around 8:45am: omelet and onion curried mashed potatoes. I bought pulpy Minute Maid orange juice for 30 rupees and started a trend. Ashley and Nikki got it too. Anna said she really liked the taste. Taniqua asked how much it was.

The bus arrived at 9:30am to take us to the maternal and child health center.

Upon entering, we saw the family of patients sleeping on the floor in the waiting area. Our guide noted that the building had poor ventilation.

Neonatal intensive care unit. Blue light for jaundice.

• 200 deliveries per month

Pediatrician

• Respiratory (due to indoor air pollution) and gastrointestinal infections are most common ailments he sees.
• Population burden.
• Limited resources.
• Logistic problems.
• So much pressure from parents about antibiotics because they think it’s a quick cure. Pressure from government to give out antibiotics. Don’t see much antibiotic resistance. 75% are viral infections. Give antibiotics first.
• 140 kids per day – depends on season.
• Starting a screening process for all children free of charge.
• Those not covered are migrant workers (labor workers). They don’t have identity – no proof of residency.
• “In last 20 years, so much has changed in medicine.”

Pharmacy- similar to US, but their practices are moving towards being more stringent because sometimes medications don’t need prescription. Different depending on region (ex. North India). Common for medications to be in miscellaneous packaging.

Back to hostel. Lunch at 1:20pm with Taniqua: barley rice, chickpea curry, veggie curry, roti. Walked to class with Paul at 2pm.

Dr. Raj’s advice of the day: Communicating well is important for future career.

Fun fact: Indian democracy is modeled after the British parliament. Leader of party becomes prime minister. President position is just ceremonial.

After class, some people went to Udupi. I stayed back. Read some case studies, but started falling asleep, so I napped for half an hour at the foot of my bed again. Originally wanted to go to tea time at 4:30pm, but woke up too late so went around 5:20pm instead. Good thing I decided to go because they had the French toast bread that is sooo good. I also had tea and coffee.

Seen in the cafeteria bathroom.

Ran into Sesen on the way back to the hostel. She was talking to a German girl named Ellie, who is here to teach German. I asked when she’s leaving and she said around June. Her boyfriend is meeting her and they’re gonna travel around India. That sounds so nice. Back to room and dealt with miscellaneous things like uploading pictures. Only when a housekeeper knocked that I tried reading more case studies. I was grateful that the housekeeper came spontaneously because it gives me a sense of security and comfort when the room is cleaned.

Went down to Lauren’s room to ask if she wants to go to dinner. One minute later, Kelsey R came by! Ran into Kelsey F. too. We took a look at the cafeteria food, and decided not to eat there because they had the spicy corn dish. We ended up at Subway upstairs.

Great choice. From looking at the menu last week, I knew the sub of the day for Wednesday was the chicken breast, so I was all for it. I got the chicken breast on multigrain honey oat bread with lettuce, cucumber, tomatoes, pickles, onion, and chipotle sauce for 105 rupees. The chicken breast looked different than the US’s, but ended up tasting so much better. It had more flavor and wasn’t so chunky. I think I’m gonna eat at Subway every other day or so!

We were getting ready to go to the library when it started raining even harder. Kelsey R and Lauren did not bring umbrellas and were concerned about their laptops, so we waited awhile for the rain to subside to no avail. When the rain decreased slightly eight minutes later, we made a run for it. Literally. The closest entrance to the library was closed off, so we had to run to the further entrance. The sidewalks and roads were filled with puddles of water. We walked into Café Coffee Day to work on our field experience essay.

I didn’t completely finish because I was having a hard time getting started. I typed out all my notes to get a better grasp of what the whole paper will be about. I’ll probably finish tonight. I ordered something at the coffee shop for the first time. I tried their cappuccino for 80 rupees. Kelsey and Lauren got cookies and Aasam tea. Lauren let me try a sip of hers and it tasted like the tea I had on the plane. I am such a tea enthusiast. The cappuccino was very foamy and overall good. I am not a huge fan of coffee, so it wasn’t anything too mind-blowing. Indians seem to really enjoy their dance/remixed music. I really enjoy it. In the coffee shop, I have heard Priyanka Chopra’s “Exotic”, JLo, and Gangnam Style.

Back at the hostel, I washed my clothes, showered, skyped mom, updated blog with group photos, read more case studies, and took notes on buruli ulcers.

Day 18 (Tuesday, May 20): Lizards are Friends, not Food

(Name the movie!)

Woke up to the alarm at 7:15am. I remember shivering in my sleep, so I got up to turn off the AC in the middle of the night. Usual morning routine, but had some time to write in the journal before breakfast around 8:45am: roti-like bread and tea. Lauren went to buy some juice and graciously offered to get me some too. She got Tropicana guava, and Adam suggested I should get orange, which turned out to be a good choice. I made a mental note to buy something for Lauren next time. The juice hit the spot. That morning, I decided I would make orange juice a part of my daily morning breakfast routine.

We boarded the bus around 9:30am to travel to the Hirebettu tribal village.

We toured their primary healthcare center and met the medical officer. She showed us around the small place, but it was difficult for the whole group to gather closely in one place to listen.

Then, we took the bus to the village community. We visited three families and heard about their lives and health conditions (esophageal cancer, diabetes/hypertension, history of fever – malaria watch). The weather was extremely hot and humid, which made it difficult to pay attention.

Returned to Manipal and cooled down in room. I was trying to update my journal, but my eyes fell heavy so I succumbed to sleep at the foot of my bed. I set an alarm for 1:15pm because Lauren and Kelsey planned to go eat at 1:20pm. I woke up in time, but felt super tired. Lunch: barley rice, yellow rice, bean curry, my fave curry and jelly noodles in coconut milk dessert.

Class with Dr. Raj at 2pm: Unintentional injuries. He gave us his USB to download 250 pictures he took on his camera.

After class, we took an excursion to visit the ASARE center on the outskirts of the Manipal campus. It is a home for mentally challenged citizens of all ages. Their mission is to teach them how to be as independent as they can by making their beds, cleaning their room, following a structured day, and making arts and crafts.

There was a boy with exceptional semantic memory, particularly with naming presidents/leaders all across the world. The director who was showing us around asked him who the president of the United States is. He took a minute and said “Obama”.

Sahanna proposed the idea to see the Godzilla movie at 7:20pm or 9pm. They ended up seeing the 7:20pm one. Taniqua, Lauren, Kelsey and I didn’t go. We decided to check out Fab India.

Went back to hostel to exchange my backpack for a purse. As I walked in, I see a lizard between two side tables. It quickly ran underneath one of the tables. I met up with everyone in Lauren’s room and told them about the lizard. To calm myself down, I was ready to make peace and call the lizard my pet/friend. Taniqua insisted I let the front desk know about it. She talked to the lady for me, and they said they could handle it in two minutes. Taniqua went to the hostel store and Lauren waited downstairs. Kelsey came with me to my room. Between us two, we couldn’t locate the whereabouts of the lizard. A housekeeper knocked, and I let her in. I explained I saw it earlier, but not sure where it went. I showed her the area between the two cabinets because that’s where I last saw the lizard fled. She moved one cabinet, and I knew she found it by her swift motions of the small broom. She stabbed and swept the lizard out of the room, but not in one piece. Its tail came off and was wriggling around. I am not sure what she did with the lizard, but I graciously thanked her. Kelsey informed me that lizards release their tails as a safety mechanism – they can still run away if caught.

Kelsey, Taniqua and I caught tea just in time. Samosas with ketchup was served. After, we caught rickshaws to Fab India. I rode with Taniqua. When we arrived at the destination, Kelsey and Lauren were nowhere in sight. We waited by the road for a couple minutes, asked the Fab India worker and then waited some more outside. No arrivals. Taniqua prayed, which inspired me too also. Finally, we decided to catch a rickshaw back to Manipal to check if they returned to the hostel. Nope. Waited for an hour and decided to go back to the shopping complex after thinking that they should be alright since they have each other. This time, we shopped around. Fab India was a lot smaller than I expected. I saw one shirt I liked, but didn’t like the neckline when I tried it on. The other stores were very American. Checked out Nike to see if it costs less. Not really – between $20-25.

Taniqua wanted KFC for dinner, so we went.

I’m not a fan of fried foods, but I got a rice bowl with chicken. Wanted get a wrap with lettuce and chicken, but was hesitant of the fresh veggies. I didn’t want to risk becoming more sick. The chicken tastes just like the US, but the rice tasted like biriyani, which made the food spicy. I used three ketchup packets to alleviate the spiciness.

We caught the rickshaw back and decided to check the cafeteria for Kelsey and Lauren. They walked out as we were walking in. They were holding drinks and bags. They said their driver didn’t know where Fab India was, so he kept driving. He took them to Udupi City, and they just ended up shopping there. Told them our story about how we worried sick. I asked them what they got. Kelsey got some fabric/tapestries and elephants. Lauren got more kurtis. Lauren had a Mazza drink, and that persuaded me to get one. Drinking more fruit juices makes me feel like I am eating fruit.

Went back to hostel, showered, washed clothes, uploaded pictures to computer and wrote in journal. I feel asleep in bed while writing around 12:30-1am.

Day 17 (Monday, May 19): Songs that Bring Back Memories

Woke up around 7:30am because I thought we had class in the morning at 9am, but walked to breakfast to see that no one from OSU was there. Breakfast was pancakes with onions and tea. I sat by myself for a couple minutes until Kelsey F. walked in. She tried eating outside, but it was too humid. Shortly after, Adam and Drew walked in. Kelsey informed me that Dr. Raj cancelled class for this morning. I was surprised because I was mentally prepared for some early morning learning. Kelsey asked if I wanted to go to the Manipal Store. Dan and I went along. The store wasn’t open yet, so we found the little shop where Sesen purchased her bangles. Kelsey bought some.

We walked back to the hostel, and I decided to try the laundry service for the first time due to the large accumulation of clothes from the weekend Mysore trip. I brought my clothes down to the first floor in a white bag, and the woman gave me a slip to return back to the room later that day around 3:30pm. Then, I walked back to my room and did some journaling and blogging. I also checked in with my mom on Skype for almost an hour.

Anna knocked on my door around 12:30pm to walk to lunch, and we stopped by Lauren’s on the way to get her. There was some very tasty limeade at lunch today. I drank two cups.

As I was leaving with Kelsey R, Sahanna told me Sesen spent the time creeping on me this morning to find the picture with Justin Bieber, but didn’t see it (I shared that I took a picture with JB before he got wildly famous when his song “Baby” came on in the van). Sesen said my Facebook pictures don’t reflect who I am and that it doesn’t even look like me. This got me thinking about authenticity. In BLF, we have explored this term in regards to leadership, and I believe we should strive to be authentic in all parts of our lives (i.e. not putting on an act for show). I recently had a conversation about this topic with a friend, and he refuted saying that the personal and professional sphere should be distinguished (i.e. you should act differently at home vs. work). I definitely agree with this statement also. So the conclusion I have come to is that your morals and values should transcend any roles that you play in life. Those should always be consistent, which is an important part of being authentic and genuine. This is not the first time I have heard a similar statement said about me. Introspectively, I told them that it takes some time for me to be completely comfortable with new people. I am working on this, but it’s in my personality and nature. As for the not looking like me bit, I suspect it’s the make up. I used to wear a lot more in my middle and high school days, but I like to keep it simple now. I didn’t bring any to India and went au natural, which was extremely refreshing.

Before class, Lauren, Kelsey and I sat in the first floor coffee shop to update our journals and download the lectures. I caught up through the second day of Mysore from drafts saved on my phone. Akon’s “Right na na na” came on over the music system in the coffee shop and pleasantly caused a flashback to Chand’s jams in the van. I really like when songs remind you of a moment in your life, for better or worse – such a unique human feeling. The nerd in me just decided to look up why songs evoke vivid memories. Here’s the neuroscience/psychology behind it: http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-athletes-way/201312/why-do-the-songs-your-past-evoke-such-vivid-memories
So neat that this phenomenon can be used for therapeutic purposes! #sciencerules

Lecture with Dr. Raj at 2pm was about communicable and non-communicable diseases. Communicable diseases can be described as contagious (e.g. hepatitis, HIV/AIDS, influenza, malaria, polio, TB). The spread commonly occurs via airborne viruses, bacteria, blood or bodily fluids. Non-communicable diseases are not passed from person to person and are also known as chronic diseases (e.g. cardiovascular diseases – heart attacks and stroke, cancers, chronic respiratory diseases – chronic obstructed pulmonary disease and asthma, diabetes).

Here are some lecture highlights:

– India suffers from more communicable diseases than noncommunicable (opposite is true of the US and other developed countries).

– Eradication is better than elimination.

– The flu vaccine given each year is a prediction of upcoming strains, so it is not a guarantee that you’ll be protected. However, people have said their influenza is milder if they received the vaccination.

– TB is caused by a virus. It is a big problem for India.

– For coinfection of TB and HIV, the TB is treated first.

– In India, HIV/AIDS is commonly contracted by sharing needles or heterosexual intercourse.

– Why don’t drug companies invest in Neglected Tropical Diseases? Drug companies won’t make that much money because it only heavily impacts certain areas of the world.

– Mental disorders in developing countries are heavily stigmatized. There are hardly any counselors or psychiatrists available.

Lauren and I picked up our laundry after class. The service cost 150 rupees. Some of my clothes/bath towel was tinted blue (suspecting it was the dye from the Manipal shirt), but I didn’t care too much.

Tea time around 4:30pm: fried veggies and ketchup. Kelsey, Lauren and I decided to check out Bombay Bazaar and took a rickshaw there. We thought it was further down the road from the university, but it ended up to be within walking distance. The driver charged 25 rupees. The bazaar didn’t really have souvenirs, but rather household items, such as cooking equipment, brooms, shoes, clothes, containers and simple jewelry. Then, we explored many of the stores surrounding Manipal. Lauren bought a collection of journals at a Hallmark store. Then, we serendipitously discovered a small clothes store, which had a whole plastic bag filled with scarves. Kelsey and I bought the same patterned scarf for 100 rupees.

I felt an immense headache during the shopping trip, so I took an Advil when we returned to the hostel. For dinner, Kelsey and I decided to try the Chinese food on the second floor at Yodragon. I was craving some stir fried veggies, but couldn’t really comprehend the menu so I just ordered Hong Kong chicken and noodles. Kelsey ordered honey chicken and noodles. Mine was in a dark soupy sauce, which I’m not fond of, but the food generally tasted good. Several people bought soft-serve ice cream for dessert, which persuaded me to get chocolate and vanilla swirl in a cup.

It cost 15 rupees, which is equivalent to 25 cents in USD. I apologize for the lack of pictures in this post. It was a chill first day back, so I only took one picture the whole day.

Kelsey and Lauren showed me a WiFi spot at the back of the cafeteria. We sat on some steps and chatted. It was nice, except for the nighttime bugs. We had a heart-to-heart conversation about our feelings of homesickness towards the beginning of the trip, the out-of-body realization that we were in India at that moment in time and how we should make the most out of our remaining days.

Day 16 (Sunday, May 18): Blast from the Past

Woke up with my stomach still not feeling well, so I ate a light breakfast: omelet, one wheat toast and a handful of noodles. After breakfast, we began our journey back to Manipal.

We drove by the University of Mysore where Dr. Raj attended college. Based on appearance, the campus looked desolate, but Dr. Raj informed us that the students are on a break right now. During the drive, I noticed that seat belts are not mandatory. Our driver, Chand took off his, but quickly buckled up near a police blockade. Then, took it off again as we passed. We made a pit stop in the middle of nowhere, so the drivers can grab a bite to eat. I felt like I needed to go to the restroom despite seeing that the one nearby looked decrepit and dirty. It wasn’t too bad as I breathed through my mouth and ran out as soon as I was finished. From our vans, we observed several little girls peeing right outside the restroom alongside the road. They squatted for more than five minutes. We were trying to figure out why they didn’t use the facility.

At the first temple, we didn’t go in because everyone felt exhausted, so we just walked around the premise.

The 2^nd temple, we gathered enough energy to go in.

I found my twin while in Mysore! Haha. Adam and I kept having the same vocal reactions to things we observed. For example, saying “oooh” to something at the same time. Taniqua caught it one time and said she wished she recorded it. I joked I needed to spend less time with him.

For lunch, the first restaurant we tried was too crowded so we went to a hut-style restaurant instead.

It was a unique and picturesque set-up, but the outdoor environment and bugs made it hard to fully enjoy the food. Dr. Raj shared his two truths and one lie. From this, he shared his wisdom to explore the US. He told us he took a greyhound bus in his youth to travel the west. Dr. Raj talked about the MBBS (Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery) degree that’s equivalent to the US’s MD degree. In India, people become doctors after 5 years (4 years medical school, 1 year internship). After lunch, we were going to visit Dr. Raj’s friend from college. They met in language class, which they had 2x a week for a year. He’s now an ayurvedic doctor.

Let me take a brief excursion to delve more into what ayurvedic medicine is. It is a system of Hindu traditional medicine native to the Indian subcontinent and a form of alternative medicine. Buddhism has also had an influence in the development of Ayurveda. It is well integrated into the Indian National health care system. Ayurveda believes that a balance of the three elemental substances (doshas) equals health and an imbalance equals disease. To achieve balance, one should modulate their behavior and environment.

– “Suppressing natural urges is considered unhealthy and claimed to lead to illness;^[15] to suppress sneezing, for example, may give rise to shoulder pain.^[16] However, people are also cautioned to stay within the limits of reasonable balance and measure when following nature’s urges.^[15] For example, emphasis is placed on moderation of food intake,^[17] sleep, and sexual intercourse.^[15]

– They take a holistic approach during diagnosis and therapy – paying attention to personality as well as physical and mental health.

– They focus on the prevention of disease, promotion of optimal health and management of chronic disorders through natural approaches (ex. exercise, yoga, meditation, metabolism, digestion, excretion, hygiene).

– Plant-based medicine and treatment.

– Practiced in Nepal and Sri Lanka. Ethical and legal issues elsewhere.

– “No significant scientific evidence has shown effectiveness of Ayurvedic medicine for the treatment of any disease, although massage and relaxation are often beneficial and there are indications of health effects from some herbal products used.^[64]

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayurveda

Interestingly, OSU Wexner Medical Center offers Ayurveda Services. I was extremely surprised. Dr. Hari Sharma is on staff in OSU’s Integrative Medicine Clinic. They acknowledge that it is rare to find a doctor in the West who practices Ayurveda alongside medical doctors in a multi-practice setting and uses this detail to further the excellence of OSU’s medical center.

If you’re interested in reading more: http://medicalcenter.osu.edu/patientcare/healthcare_services/integrative_medicine/Pages/Ayurveda-Services.aspx

The food took longer than expected and attracted many flies as we were eating. Kelsey F. tried building a fly trap with a water bottle and pepsi. I ordered 7up and vegetable noodles.

It took another 1.5 hours to reach Dr. Raj’s friend’s house = nap time. Most of the people in our van slept. I caught myself drifting off, but never completely went into deep slumber.

Dr. Raj’s friend was extremely hospitable towards all 20 of us. His family graciously invited us into their home and provided us snacks and refreshments.

Dr. Raj had a chance to catch up with his old friend and family, while we sat in a room mingling amongst ourselves and reveling at the baby bananas (a safe fruit to eat!).

Dr. Raj’s friend’s daughter recently had a baby, and we got to spend some time with her also. Before departing, we took a group picture together.

The night drive was quiet in the van – probably from road trip exhaustion. At one point, we all were engaged in conversation though. We talked about old AIM screen names and singers.

We arrived at Manipal around 9:30pm.

Day 15 (Saturday, May 17): Adventures in Mysore + Life Musing

Woke up around 6:45am. Walked down to breakfast around 7:10am. Adam, Drew and Paul were the only ones there when Lindsey and I arrived. I hugged Adam because it’s his birthday! The dining area was immaculate and mostly white in color. Breakfast was buffet style and featured American food! There were an assortment of around 15 dishes, bread, an omelet station, pastries, fruit juice, cereal, milk, coffee and tea. I was craving cereal from yesterday’s noodle dessert that tasted like Frosted Flakes, so I had that along with potatoes, pancake, turkey sausage and a cup of tea.

First stop: Traveled to the top of a mountain to visit the Sri Chamundeshwari Hindu temple.

Our driver asked if we were all Christian. He told us he’s Muslim. I greeted him with “assalamualaikum” (May peace be upon you) and he responded “Wa ‘Alaikum Assalaam” (May peace be upon you too).

When we approached the golden temple, little brown blobs were moving around and they turned out to be dozens of monkeys.

Second stop: Christian church. We explored the congregation area and the basement.

Third stop: Silk scarf store. I believe the scarves were around 1000 rupees. I didn’t buy any, but quite a few people did.

While driving, saw an area where a plethora of white sheets were hanging. I don’t remember who told us this, but this is their method to wash and dry hospital sheets.

Fourth stop: Women’s Health Research Institute.

After a brief introduction by three ladies, we received a tour of the facility. Most of us quickly realized that mostly women worked here, so someone asked if any men do. They said “yes”. The three guys work as the driver and food coordinators.

We met an intern from the US that’s studying TB at the institute. There is a $500 administration fee to ensure the interns are serious and not just here for vacation. We toured the kitchen for the interns. Before leaving, a group of us talked to the US intern. He’s from California and took a year off after graduating from UC Berkeley with a public health major. He will be attending Yale Medical School in the Fall. He was here for 6 months. Fun fact: he learned to drive a vespa here.

Interns in lab study various topics such as:
– Malaria and helminthes infections in pregnant women
– Joint Indo-US study of lactobacillus and its phages in bacterial vaginosis
– UTI
– Vit D deficiency in women with BV
– Dengue virus IgG ELISA

Research:

Lab
– Molecular epidemiology of bacterial vaginosis. Amsel’s criteria for diagnosing bacterial vaginosis (must meet 3 of 4):

1. Thin homogenous vaginal discharge.
2. Vaginal pH higher than 4.5.
3. Postive whiff test for amine with KOH prep.
4. Clue cells on saline wet prep

Lactobacillus research funded by NHI. Lactobacillus in vagina and urine testing. Post-test counseling and post-natal care (PNC).

– Evaluation of rapid diagnostic tests
– Antibiotic resistance
– Community acquired resistant UTI
– STI

Community
– Maternal child health projects
– Women’s reproductive health
– Cancer prevention
– Immunization and children health camp

Clinic
– Longitudinal cohort studies on bacterial vaginosis, reproductive tract infections, cervical cancer screening, STI/HIV prevention.
– Obtain HIV blood from mother. Identify positive or negative. Counseling available.

How they build more awareness about their services to the community:
Collect list of pregnant woman from Anganwadi teacher. Go door-to-door (service at their doorstep). This makes it easier to motivate people to come to the mobile clinic in the subsequent days.

2^nd day- Education for general public. Awareness program for blood pressure, diabetes, cancer, HIV. Pregnant women. Immunizations. Birth. Flip chart pictures and power points. Family planning.

3^rd– Medical camp. Self-help group. Bring women to clinic. HIV stigma very high. ASHA linked to village. Mobile clinic. Given a place to set up like a school. General check-up. Consent. Antenatal exam. Blood draw, serum separation, blood grouping.

– They do not provide treatment, but focus on education, research, detection and counseling.

– The institute is linked to the government.

– Post-natal care follow-ups last up to one year.

– Serve rural areas. Have capacity to serve 144 villages, but currently it’s 82 villages.

– HIV in pregnant woman is decreasing.

– Highest cancer rate in India is cervical.

PAP smear requires a lot of trained workers and is typically administered by private doctors. The rural population needs sustainable tests -> VIA (Mysore is pioneering this) – visual inspection. Treated by cryotherapy and LEEP.

I asked the question “for young girls, is it common to provide preventative vaccinations for cervical cancer like Gardasil?” They talked about how expensive it is – $6000-7000, which is a challenge. Currently, it is not on the required immunization chart. Targets ages 9-30 years old. Research is currently working on a cost-effective approach to preventing cervical cancer. This is also a public policy issue. They need large interest groups to support the vaccinations.

Parliamentary is mostly men. Advocating for women is a constant struggle.

Saving Children Improving Lives (SCIL) is a successful strategy for increasing uptake of HIV/PMTCT services among rural pregnant women. Provision of conditional cash transfers to women’s microeconomic self-help group members to refer pregnant women for antenatal care and HIV testing.

Prerana women’s health initiative. Objectives: provide sexual and reproductive healthcare; physical, mental and family health; conduct research to provide evidence-based care and treatment.

Project Chaitanya: increase awareness and education around the prevention of cervical cancer.

Primary prevention: 1) Creating a peer educator model in rural villages by giving training and awareness about HPV, cervical cancer and vaccination.
2) HPV- Vaccine acceptability study by parents

Secondary prevention: collaboration with prevention international: No cervical cancer (PINCC) from the US –increase screening capacity of developing countries to screen women for precancerous lesions using simple methods

Train health providers in performing simple procedure like cryotherapy and LEEP on detection of precancerous condition.

Current cervical cancer screening program is on Friday (special clinic day only for VIA screening). The ladies were so hospitable in that they provided us delicious snacks during their presentation: samosa, chex-mix like dish, pretzel-shaped dessert and mango juice (I apologize for not knowing some of the technical names for the food).

Fifth stop: Mysore palace tour. A headphone-guided version was available, but we just did a walk-through. We followed masses of people in the maze-like tour through rooms filled with replicas, paintings, photographs, memorabilia, trinkets and statues. Cameras were not allowed inside. Not sure how exactly long it took, but I would guess around 30 minutes.

Sixth stop: Café Aramane for lunch. Our group opted to sit in the air-conditioned room because the restaurant environment was smoky and humid. I sat with Nikki and Xhonela, and we shared two platters (one North Indian and the other South Indian).

Seventh stop: A quaint art gallery with a lot of ancient paintings. Dr. Raj informed us that a lot of the paintings correlate with stories in the Hindu religion. A couple of us observed that exposed breasts were a theme in many of the artworks, and I think Taniqua bravely asked Dr. Raj what that was all about. He informed us that sari’s back then did not include a blouse because blouses are a western invention.

Eighth stop: Pantaloon store at the mall. The department store was so large that we didn’t have time to peruse the other stores in the mall. I was looking for some Indian-styled shirts/blouses, but didn’t come across any that was a good fit. I found a light blue and white patterned scarf for 249 rupees though!

Headed back to hotel for an hour. Lindsey and I decided to chill in the lobby and asked for the hotel’s wifi password. My phone was extremely slow, so I eventually gave up on accessing the internet.

Ninth stop: Returned to the Mysore Palace to watch the light show. There was a story line behind the light show, but we could only guess what was happening because we didn’t know the local language, Kannada. A few minutes before the show ended, it started raining. Fortunately, as we were walking back to the entrance, we had the opportunity to see the palace all lit up in golden lights. Such a majestic sight.

We walked about 10 minutes back to the hotel, which was quite an adventure. Imagine a group of 20 students crossing a wide and busy Indian-style intersection at night. Not to worry – we all survived! Haha. I got an adrenaline rush from the experience.

We had some time to kill before dinner, so several of us played “Would you Rather?” in the lobby using a question bank from the internet. The one question that struck a cord with me was “would you rather have a bell ring every time you are aroused? or feel a sharp pain in your side whenever someone says your name?” I was surprised that everyone agreed on the sharp pain, but I would choose otherwise (I didn’t get to voice my thoughts at the time). I’m going on a tangent/a little TMI, but life’s too short to live dishonestly with oneself or to be afraid to tell someone how you feel. I read this relevant quote a couple weeks ago:

I think this message can go beyond a romantic context (I know. I know. The question above used the word “aroused” but forget about that for a second). You can let your family and friends know that you love and care about them. We often take for granted the people we see frequently, so it’s never foolish to remind them of their value in your life. In the case of romantic relationships, if the love isn’t reciprocated, at least you tried and won’t have any regrets. Living with honesty and openness and welcoming candid conversations is extremely liberating. This is what it feels like to be human. I am working on this myself. #gettingoffthesoapbox

Multi-cuisine dinner buffet. We all sang for Adam’s birthday.

For dessert, I was tempted to try some fruit because I was missing it in my diet, so I ate five small pieces of the assorted pineapple, watermelon and papaya. Ice cream is my weakness, so of course I had some for dessert also. The flavors were vanilla, mango and chocolate. I even went up for seconds.

The concierge encouraged us to go to the discotech club right outside the hotel.

As a collective group, we decided to check it out. We only had to walk one minute to see a couple men dressed in black shirts stamping people’s hands with the words “the room” in purple ink. We walked down the stairs to approach a coconut door.

On the other side of the door was a neon green lit up path that led to the dance floor equipped with a disco ball and everything.

There were “no smoking” signs plastered on the walls, which was nice. Techno music permeated the room. We stood relishing the sights and sounds for about ten minutes. We went back to our rooms in the hotel. Coincidentally, our room was one of the closest to the club, so Lindsey and I could hear the pulsating beats of the music well into the night, but it didn’t bother me. I showered, packed and went to bed. Stomach wasn’t feeling too well during the night. Suspected it was the fruit. I’m not sure if I mentioned why we shouldn’t eat raw vegetables and fruits here, but it’s because of the water and the different bacteria in it that our stomach might not be used to if we didn’t grow up in the country.