Dehradun

Writing in from Dehradun!!! Our program ended Friday and everyone flew back this past weekend. The three desi's are still in the desh...Sophia is in Bangalore while Farah and I arrived in Dehradun early yesterday morning. We took in a late night train on Saturday (AC 2-Tier Sleeper) and checked in at the Best Western here. Have a real bathroom after four-weeks (the closest we got bfr was at IHMR but there was no shower curtain there). And most importantly a Coffee Day right across.

Dehradun is a hill station located in Uttaranchal that is a key getaway spot for many. It is known as the gateway to the Himalayas and basically the anti-thesis of Delhi. Small-town atmosphere...clearly influenced by the once existing British colony here and also not as hot!!! There is also a lot of military/army influence here---yesterday we passed a military cantonment area and also a lot of houses belonging to formal military officials. We will be here until Thursday when we will head back to Delhi for one-night and thereafter fly to Bombay on Friday morning.

In terms of public health...it is amazing to see the difference here...while we haven't conducted any form of a community assessment it is nonetheless apparent that things are different here then in Delhi...no big-town issues w/a large population or excessive pollution...I am not sure what the key public health concerns here are but I guess that just means one more thing to conduct a lit review on.

A big thanks to Farah's bua Chandrikaunty w/whom went spent a wonderful Saturday---she fed us and fed us and fed us :):):) We will be spending the night there on Thursday as well...keeping this short as there is not much more to write...

Bye Bye CFHI & Delhi

Gang on Last CFHI Friday: Satoko, Me, Paul, Linda, Sophia, Emma, Farah, Shalini, Jazmin

(Dates on these computers are screwed up...June 22nd at 11 am is my sign in time)

Writing in a few days later as net access is not as easy especially walking over from Manu. Today is the last official CFHI Day and was supposed to be the Mewat trip for Farah, Emma, Paul, and me but I wasn't up to it. Farah and Paul went ahead to represent :) Yesterday evening was our expensive dinner/meeting w/Hema-Sudarshan-Dr. Raina where we in a sort of diplomatic manner made them aware of all our complaints/concerns that had risen over the past four weeks. Tonight three of the gang members leave...tomm two more...and on Sunday evening Linda the last one leaves. Thereafter it is Farah and me...me and Farah :)

Our rotation this week was at Bapu Nature and it proved to be quite monotonous and disastrous. Harsimran from Bapu was to serve as our coordinator and she did by creating this second by second schedule starting from 6:30 and going until 4-5 pm. All of this might have been okay minus a few key points:

-We were not staying at Bapu itself and therefore walking back and forth from Manu definitely made it harder.
-There was no orientation to the center or the form of medicine and therefore we were essentially thrown into it.
-All five days consisted of OPD Rounds as well as lectures which was just too much and too repetitive...what we learned in OPD was repeated in lecture and it just came down to poor utilization of our time.
-That is just FAR too long a day...extremely demanding w/the weather and what-not.

Sunday Farah and I head off early in the morning so not sure when or where we will be online...am sure there will be net access just not sure when we will get around to it.

Bapu and Manu

***Btw we no longer have IHMR Computer Labs so back to the ghetto cyber cafe---the date of this blog is wrong---I am writing it on Tuesday...***

Back in Delhi...not sure how happy I am abt it...we are back at Bapu and Manu...if that makes any sense. On Sunday we had a smooth drive over from Jaipur to Delhi---a quick ride it seemed like. After arrival is where the fun-stuff started. Apparently there was no car waiting to pick us up and do the needful to drop us off. After a million calls and quite a hassle there was a car sent over to take us to Vasant Kunj and thereafter to Bapu. Acchelalji was happy and this was only the second time ever that I saw him smile---right after Linda wished him a Happy Father's Day...

On our drive to Bapu we came to know that we wouldn't be staying at Bapu but rather a Manu Apartments that is nearby. Manu is okay...the only bit that we are TRULY bitter abt is the bathroom. Dude the entire stay they provide us w/reasonable stuff and then this!!! So Indian...really!!! We are making it work and we all seem to have fun laughing it off but it's definitely not acceptable...CFHI is gonna be hearing abt this though I really doubt they will do anything abt it---isn't that how it always works?

Yesterday our rotation at Bapu started...not the most thrilling I tell u. And if these people are supposed to sell naturopthy or ayurveda to us they are most certainly not doing a very convincing job. I played hookie today to come here and blog etc because our time wasn't being utilized in the most effective manner over there. The Bapu schedule for the week involves yoga at 6:30 am...then a break...then OPD rounds...then break/lunch...then lecture...and finally a meditation hour at 3 pm. It wld all be okay if we were staying at Bapu---but we're not!!! Apparently some ministers visited Bapu and so they took up the rooms we were supposed to have---I hope someday someone takes on these damn politicans who are nothing but an absolute inconvinience to society as a whole and in particular to developing nations like India.

It's been raining off and on and so the streets are ANYTHING but pleasant in particular the smells!!! Paul concluded today that a sewage system is needed---lol---if only it was that simple. The gang minus the three Indians is off to Agra on Thursday so that should be interesting...the Indians are planning to stay here and go shopping.

Finally after all my cribbing I want to wish dad a very Happy Father's Day!!! I am here because of you and you have made me what I am :):):) I am pretty poor and kinda far away so those wishes will have to suffice on their own w/out any gift for now.

Last Meal(s) and Oh Yeah HIV

Today was our last day at IIHMR as we head back tomorrow morning for what??? Nothing other then Bapu Nature...wildlife preserve within the city (located in Padpadganj near Mother Dairy---entrance fee: talk to Dr. Nair) where one can freely find lizards and flying-lizards and flying roaches and mosquitoes and what not!!! And to think they would take us from a place like that and dare to put us in the luxury of IIHMR. The meals and computer lab will be dearly missed...though dinner today was a bummer...definitely not The Last Supper in style :( Today the morning was spent prepping on the presentation which we didn't do until after lunch and Dr. Goyal apparently didn't seem to be too intrigued by. He kept falling asleep throughout the presentations-and I promise our PPT was not that bad!!! Post presentation we headed off to the movies but again had no luck w/no Shootout At Lokhandwala playing and Jhoom Barabar Jhoom all sold out for the 6 pm show. Went back to the same mall from the Pizza Hut day and did some serious bargaining!!! When I say serious I mean it---we are pretty sure that Paul is more and more thankful everyday that he has no sisters---lol he told us we were being ruthless when in fact we were just being women :):):) Off to Delhi again w/all of it's chaos and more chaos.

Today our presentations were of an idea we came up of on our own---we each chose a country/area of the world that we would research on about HIV-AIDS and thereafter present to Dr. Goyal. It was quite interesting to see that there both many similarities as well as key differences among all of the communities---US, Japan, Korea, Cuba, SE Asia (four countries), Russian Federation, and last but not least Canada. It became apparent more and more as our presentation progressed that in some parts of the world the situation is not nearly as grave as in other parts---for example in the US or Canada the rates seem so trivial in comparision to India or Thailand or sub-Saharan Africa. It was also interesting to note that nations considered quite 'modern' by some in fact are struggling to deal w/a conservative-minded population whereas in other nations that one may traditionally imagine as being very conservative in fact are quite open when dealing w/these issues...

The Story of Our Trip

This is pretty much how we roll...seriously... btw remember SWOT???

Our Strengths: FEW

Our Weaknesses: MANY

Our Opportunities: LIMITED

Threats to Us: MANY

Below: Sophia only reads and Sejal only speaks/understands

Ranthambore Park---Wildlife Safari

Today early morning we went on an open-jeep four hour wildlife safari in Ranthambore Park :) It was an amazing experience and for a minute it felt like being on an African safari (lol not like I know how that feels---but I think we were pretty close to it)...we were transformed into another world for that time. While we saw no tigers (very depressing) we did site many tiger paw prints (bummer) and also saw plenty of other wildlife. The other four gals were able to spot four tigers in their expedition. It was one of the last things we did today at Sawai (aside from the visit to the village and school) and thereafter we headed back to the Institute in Jaipur which is where I am writing from now...check out the pics below from our safari!!! Btw this park has been developed by Mr. Rathore and he is extremely passionate abt it and pretty much lives right next to the park so as to be near it...formerly this park served as the exclusive hunting area for the king of Jaipur some fifty or sixty years back...

(Below: On this Banyan tree there were many marks from Leopards climbing up)

(Below: One of the many tiger paw prints we saw on our route)

Sawai Madhopur

Below: Our room...lol...

Below: More of our room...

Below: View from across the hospital...pretty hut...

Below: Bio-Gas Unit (here the dung is put in and churned)

Below: View from outside hospital...

Below: Walking tour of the village---kids, kids and more kids...

Below: Public School---Rathores Devloped

Below: Us w/none other then Tiger Man Fateh Singh Rathore...

Yesterday morning we left to drive from Jaipur to Sawai Madhopur (the entire area is known primarily for its tiger sanctuary---Rathambore Park---where the famous Indian tiger is being protected from extinction)....close to a four hour drive from the institute. We saw all kinds of things on the way to Sawai...animals...people...what not. After arriving we met up w/the executive director Rupinder who briefed us on the hospital as well as the key programs being run.

-One of the main ones the Bio-Gas program to provide an alternate source of energy...a family or two families together are given one Bio-Gas unit for a mere cost of 2000 Rs. to prove the needed energy supply. The Bio-Gas unit is developed so as to use cow dung to produce the needed energy. The waste from this unit can then be utilized as fertilizer for the fields...ultimately resulting in close to 100% use of the dung. Farmers wanting to qualify for this unit need to meet only two pre-requisites...one they must own enough cattle to provide the dung and two they must have enough space w/in their housing area to maintain distance between the unit and the actual house. Earlier on the units were to be given at no cost however it soon became apparent that people then took the unit for granted as they had made no formal investment into it.

-The other programs deal with encouraging artificial insemination to farmers for breeding cows as well as methods of taking care of the cattle w/out disrupting the wildlife within the park.

We stayed in the hospital ward...lol on patient beds as you can see in the pictures. The hospital is a well-developed institution that works to meet the needs of the community to the best of its ability.

One key aspect of all of this that I haven't mentioned yet is the Rathore family...Fateh Singh Rathore...a park ranger (who is quite elderly now) and a man whose lifelong passion has been working towards saving Indian tigers. He has been working endlessly alongside his son Dr. Rathore to save the tigers in the Ranthambore Park as well as assist the community in whatever they may need. The Rathores have established the hospital we visited w/assistance from donors and are constantly tackling the government and corrupt system who is responsible for the near extinction of the Indian tiger (there were at one time 80 tigers in the park and due to poachers the number is down to 25 or so---extremely grave situation). They have also created a state of the art school (absolutely fantastic) for the village children to be schooled in---upon meeting certain conditions girls from the village are schooled free and boys are educated on a concession price. We had the opportunity to meet w/Dr. Rathore at his farmhouse (gorgeous place) in the evening for a brief chat and also met w/the Tiger Man (that is how he is globally renowned---Google him to see) Mr. Fateh Singh Rathore today!!!

We also visited one of the villages...and walked around to get a feel of it...there was also a brief stop to check out a Bio-Gas unit as well as the school...simple piece of machinery and yet amazing!!!