7.12.11. 9:08AM. Day 11. Doctors.

After I finished that rant about Maggie last night I felt like I could be taken as being an insensitive bitch to Maggie's hardships. After all, I too had issues with Rishi's food. Mary and I talked about it long into the night and came to the conclusion that the rant was warranted because Maggie, along with a few others, had been whining nonstop since the moment they got here. We agreed that every single thing they were complaining about had been forewarned in the information guide given to us long before we all left home. There had been no surprises here, everything was stated: the food, the yoga, staying with families, the staring, and photo requests. Yet people still, for what ever reason, choose to act like they didn't know. I understand that things take adjusting to in new places, but when you hated the food even before you got here, one has to question why exactly you chose to come. CFHI has plenty of programs all over the world, At least one of the guys has been putting down alternative methods (traditional) of medicine since he got here. What did he think he was going to learn? But anyway, long story short - we all knew what we were getting into, they kept no secrets from us. These people should just shape up or ship out because they're not doing anyone a favor by being here in their negative ways.

...

Our first day of medical rotations in Dehra Dun started out fairly hectic. Mayank showed up in the morning and he was supposed to show us how to get to our first doctor, Dr. Nanda, for Homeopathy. He came, told us to meet him on the street corner. He sped off on his motorbike , while we walked  down the alley way to the street. We saw him waiting on the other side, standing like a dork, with his giant black helmet still on and his backpack pulled really high up on his shoulders. We crossed the road and he was telling us to get an A. Rick right when a bus pulled up and he told us to get on it. Just like that we were speeding off away from Mayank. We had no idea what to do, but  after awhile the bus pulled over and the driver told us to get off here, so we did. We walked a ways and then Mary pulled out her map. Not even a minute later Mayank pulls up and tells up to keep walking for 5-10 minutes until we see him. We eventually find him in front of a sweets shop, and then he tells us to cross the road. He met us on the other side and walked us a few steps into an alleyway to Dr. Nanda's office.

It was a quaint little place with a small sitting room which led into his office which led to the backroom where he kept hundreds of vials of various  concoctions. I would suggest looking up homeopathy online because I could not give a descent description of it even if I tried at this point in time. It was surreal to be in the doctor's office while he was actually seeing patients. It seems like privacy really isn't a luxury most Indians get. Often, when there is one patient in the chair speaking, there is another in the office waiting his or her turn, then there are the few in the waiting room. During all of this there are Mary and I who are sitting, watching, and taking notes; the doctor's son and his friends are playing WWE Raw on his laptop behind him. Meanwhile the cleaning lady is practically crawling on the floor sweeping then mopping by hand. The doctor answers his phone multiple times while the patients are talking. He is both doctor and pharmacist  - as he goes into the backroom, prepares the meds and takes the money from them. He doesn't tell the people who we are or why we're here. And from what I could tell, they don't really even seem to mind our being there. We were at the office from 11:00AM to 1:30PM and then we took a bus back home where we had lunch and took a rest.

Mayank was supposed to meet us at the house at 3:30 to show us how to get to the next place, Dr. Prem Nath (Reiki, Accupuncture/Accupressure, and Auyuveda) but around 3:00 he called to say that an A.Rick driver would be there at 3:30 to pick us up. We guessed he had a lot to juggle with the three other groups he had to show around that day. Our driver came and took us to Dr. Prem Nath's and said that he would be back at 5:30 to pick us up. We entered what looked to be his house. It was dimly lit only by the light from outside. He sat waiting in an armchair at the far end of the dining room table. He told us to come in and have a seat. And like a true gentleman, he stood up and waited until Mary and I sat down. We had been told that this man was 97 years old (*turns out he's 99*), but he honestly didn't look a day over 70. He is a well spoken philosophical man and in great mental health for his age. After another 5 minutes the two boys, Christian and Alex, came through the door. Dr. Prem Nath began lecturing  on energy and how it pertains to life. It was a very interactive lecture, where he would ask each of us  questions that were fairly philosophical in nature. Mare and I seemed to be racking up points whereas the boys were struggling to look past the science of the ideas. He talked about chakras, their colors, symbols, and elements. He was supposed to lecture from 4-5 PM but I guess we were having such a good time we ended up going until almost 5:30. 

Our driver came and rang the door bell. It came time for us to go and our driver, who Mary says is good looking, took us to the last doctor of the day, Dr. Nisha Gera, an OBGYN. At this pointwe are both in love with having a driver, not having to worry  about figuring out how to get from one place to another.He asked what time he should come back, and we said 8.

Dr. Nisha Gera is, in the best description I can give, a matriarch. She has this presence about her that is both down to business and maternal. I found that I was quite drawn to her. There was another lady doctor, I don't know her name, but she was the sidekick understudy type; the one we could more readily talk to  and joke around with. This place was a bit hectic, like most things in India so far. There would be 2 patients in the office, plus us, plus the two doctors, plus 2 to 3 nurses all in one room. As soon as one patient was wrapping up, the nurse would call in another to come inside. While all of this was happening, other people would walk in and hand the doctors their results and go back out again. We found that most of the patients were there for either regular prenatal check ups, baby vaccines, and a surprising amount of infertility. We got to witness 3 ultrasounds at different stages of growth, and we got to hear fetal heartbeats , and had to see one woman get her c-section stitches being removed. In the middle of all of this we stopped for a tea and biscuit break. Some one brought in a box of what looked like ladoos with big chunks of peanuts inside.

Around 8PM our driver came and got us and took us home. When we got out we asked him how much, and we thought it would be a lot , but for a whole afternoon he only charged us 200rps  which comes out to just over $2 each. Not bad at all. To top it off he asked, "Same time tomorrow?" and we said, "YES!" I was going to ask but he beat me to it. This just made my outlook on the next two weeks just a little bit brighter.