Kolkata and Purulia

WARNING: this blog post contains lots of medical geekiness at the start but gets lighter towards the end!

After chilling out for the last 3 months, I was beginning to have withdrawal symptoms from work so started a month long placement in ophthalmology in Rotary Clubs in West Bengal kindly organised by Gipi Masi. The first 2 weeks were based in Rotary Narayana Nethralaya Hospital (which was fun to try and say to the tuk tuk driver for 2 weeks!). This hospital was fairly modern with mostly well off patients who could pay for their treatment with health insurance. However they did also treat a certain number of poorer community patients for free as well. The clinics and surgeries were run almost the same as they would be in England with a few minor differences such as optometrists having more responsibility than they would at home, and patients being given a ridiculously strong antibiotic first line (apparently the one we use isn't as widely available in India so at least this way they would be treated with something!)! More interesting to learn about was the training and hierarchy in the system here. It takes 3 years to complete ophthalmology training (7 years at home) and the trainees can only operate on the non-paying community patients. The consultants (and me!) are called Sir/Madam and the trainees have to stand whenever they enter the room. 

We broke up those 2 weeks by a trip to the Sundarbon for 3 days. After 6 hours of travelling by taxi/bus/2 ferries/cycle rikshaw, we finally arrived at our 'Eco-village' which was essentially mud huts with a light and fan! We enjoyed getting muddy in our first visit to the mangroves later that day. It was great fun wading through the mud - until a crab climbed up my leg and I screamed the place down! After that I just wanted to get out of there sharpish! 

We spent the next day on a large boat sailing through the jungle in the hopes of spotting the famous Royal Bengal Tiger. Alas there was no tiger to be seen (thanks to the noisy local tourists with us!) but we did manage to see a few crocodiles, deer and a monitor lizard. That evening we enjoyed a nice moonlit boat ride with some beer and snacks.

The 2nd 2 weeks were spent in Purulia, a small town 5 hours outside of Kolkata. Our first impression on arrival was 'where the hell are we?!' which was then not helped by us dropped off at a disgusting hotel to stay at for the next 2 weeks. After 3 months of being on the road, our expectations are not that high these days, but even Andy wasn't willing to stay in that place! We immediately went in search of another hotel and found a much nicer one (relatively speaking!). However, after 2 nights there, the hospital advised us to move again to another hotel that was within walking distance so that I could go back and forth for my lunch! Thankfully that hotel wasn't bad either so we survived chez Hotel Akash Ganga. We were even invited to tea with the hotel owner who rang his children abroad so that they could speak to the foreigners!

There wasn't a huge amount to do in Purulia so I made the most of the hospital experience. This was very different to Kolkata in that all of the patients were poor and the majority of patients had been hand selected from rural villages to have their cataracts removed for free or a nominal charge. As these patients clearly couldn't afford to see a doctor until they absolutely had to, the cataracts and infections that I saw were the worst I have ever come across. You could definitely tell how much of a difference these operations were making to their lives. The operations were organised very efficiently as well as only taking 5-10 minutes, which meant that a surgeon could get through 10-12 patients in a morning surgery session (compared to 4-5 in England!). The concept of confidentiality and privacy was considered a luxury rather than a necessity here so 2 patients would be operated on at the same time in the same room (by 2 different surgeons!) whilst 2 others would be getting prepped. 

My birthday was a pretty quiet affair in Purulia as there wasn't really anywhere to go and we tried to be back at the hotel before it got dark at 5! However to make up for it, we booked ourselves in a swanky 5* hotel in Kolkata for our last weekend in India! We'd forgotten what such luxury felt like eg clean sheets, soft mattresses and something other than jam toast for breakfast! 

We were treated to lunch by our contact in Kolkata at the Bengal Club, an exclusive and famous club from the time of the Raj. It was very grand inside and the food was fantastic!

We only had time for a bit of sightseeing around Kolkata itself. Some parts were really nice with crumbling colonial buildings but they tended to be surrounded by street stalls and slums! On the whole, we've enjoyed our 2 months in India but we're very much looking forward to going to Australia now!!

The Punjab

We arrived in Amritsar airport just before diwali the sikh and hindu festival of lights. Amritsar is the holy city for Sikhs with the holiest shrine being the Harmander Sahib also known as the golden temple. 

The temple was being renovated in some areas with inlaid marble patterns which looked pretty good.

The kitchen in the temple prepares meals for thousands every day, seeing mountains of vegetables and chapati making machines was eye opening.

After three hectic weeks in India the Punjab was a welcome break. Lush green fields covered the horizon and traffic was minimal which was a nice change.

Kirren's grandparents' house lies just outside the village of kang sabhu which itself sits between two small cities. Their house also adjoins kirren's grandfather's brother's house next to another brother's house. These houses are surrounded by the family farm which was interesting to see and take photos of. In India marihuana grows wild as a weed which I think would hamper agricultural productivity if it grew on UK farms.

As such there was lots of family to meet and practice my child like Punjabi with. There is only so much conversation you can make with "I would like tea" and "i speak a little Punjabi". I was pushing through my 30 lesson Punjabi pimsleur audio course but it still only equipped me with enough for basic conversation. Our driver seemed infinitely amused by my ability to read Punjabi newspapers (with no idea what the words i was sounding out meant) and saying hello. In this part of the world i think white people are a big enough novelty besides white people that stab blindly at speaking Punjabi.

We visited the cross border changing of the guard between India and Pakistan which was a great show full of pomp, silly hats and stirring anthems. It was pretty much treated like a football match by both sides and in good humour. Unfortunately this was in the news because of a terrorist attack on the Pakistani side after the ceremony the following week. My friends believe that i am leaving a wake of political uncertainty and tragedy behind me on my travels and this seems to fit their pattern (russia/ukraine civil war, Hong Kong protests, etc), thanks guys.

It was nice to see a part of India that few non Indian westerners see, learn about Kirren's culture and see where the stories i'd heard about took place. Kirren's family were very friendly and welcoming.

Also, i was treated as a celebrity. I think the fame craving English people crowding British TV would be better served moving to India to feel like rich celebrities.... rather than crowding British TV. Anyway, here is a small selection of some of the random Asians that wanted photos with me. I also had a mother pushing her baby into my arms for a photo. It's a very odd experience.

Goa!

After an exhausting but fun-filled 2 weeks travelling around India we were glad to finally reach Goa, knowing that we could relax there for a few days! We knew it was going to be a gorgeous beach resort  where you could sip on cocktails and relax to your heart's content... So when we arrived at a run down hotel in the middle of the jungle surrounded by shacks, Kirren was certain we were in the wrong place! Who knew Goa was a jungle?! The hotel was actually fine and the beach was only a short walk away but it took Kirren a while to get her head around it!

That night turned out to be more of what we were expecting - dinner and drinks on the beach whilst watching a thunderstorm in the background (and praying it didn't move over to us until after we'd eaten!). Goan food is mostly about fish, coconut and rice which was delicious (it became Andy's staple for the next 3 days!)! The night progressed on to a bar in town where we went to party with the locals - it was definitely an interesting experience but Kirren was glad that she had a 6ft3 giant husband constantly by her side!

The next day was essentially a write off for half of the group (including Kirren) who all had horrendous Delhi belly. We assume it was something we all ate in Mumbai but who knows... Thank goodness for immodium (and beans on toast when Kirren got her appetite back!)!

We moved onto another hostel for our last few days as it was on another beach. We were welcomed by a fellow hostel resident who started telling us about himself and then promptly told us how stoned he was! Kirren couldn't decide if she was more amused by the fact that he openly told us or that he thought we couldn't tell! 

We spent one day going to Old Goa which is an UNESCO World Heritage Site. It was basically a load of massive white washed churches all sprouting out of the jungle! It was very bizarre! The architecture was very Mediterranean which was weird to see in the middle of India, but then you'd look around and see a stray cow wandering around and you'd remember where you were... There was one church which apparently had the body of a saint which hadn't decomposed over some 300 years - Kirren wasn't sure if she a) believed that or b) particularly wanted to see it! They open up the display every few years so that people can pay respects to it...

There was also an old fort near to our hostel that we went to see. It was mostly ruins but the view from the top was amazing - Indian Ocean on one side,

jungle on the other! It was also guarded by monkeys so Andy decided to be our protector and fashioned a big stick from a branch in order to scare the monkeys away if necessary! 

The beaches in Goa were very different to the types of beaches we're used to. Although it had the standard gorgeous sunsets and amazing ocean views, there were also cows wandering around (occasionally being chased by stray dogs) and most people on the beach were fully clothed! It was nice to see lots of honeymooning Indian couples on the beach - this is clearly the place to come for India's young people!

There is one place in Goa that deserves a special mention - TinTin's restaurant on Vagatore Beach. After braving a tropical thunderstorm in which the power went out whilst we were walking (thankfully we brought our torch as there were no streetlights!) and skirting round half a dozen terrified dogs at the restaurant entrance, we were well rewarded with the best burgers we've had a in a long time! After 3 weeks of mostly veg curries and roti, it was the most amazing thing we had tasted in a long time! They were even beef burgers (apparently)! If anyone is going to Goa, this place is a must! We went there a couple of times in order to get our 'animal nutrition' (as dad put it!) before heading to a meat-free week in the Punjab!