Contrasting and Relaxing

I fully realize that much has been written about the fact that India is the land of contrast, but I’d like to give you just a couple of examples that I have seen in the past few weeks that speak to the truth of that sentiment.

So, here goes:

Front Window vs. Back Window

If I look out of the front window of my apartment, it looks like I am at a resort in Florida. There are palm trees,

nice grass, swimming pools, and even a tennis court. The only thing slightly out of place is the guy seven floors below who is, “mowing the lawn” with a pair of sheers. I don’t know how he does it but, I must say, he displays very impressive perseverance.

Then, out my back window it looks like I am in one of those cities that Jason Borne is always jumping around in. You know, he steels a motor cycle, ramps up onto one of those roofs out there and chases the bad guy through people’s living rooms… but I digress. The point here is that if you just look at these two views, you

start to get an idea of how this country can offer you vastly different points of view in a space as small as a living room.

Garbage vs. Luxury

There are a herd of cows that like to hang out right outside to the gates of the pleasant little community described above. For the most part they don’t bother anybody, except for the occasional rampage such as my colleague experienced on his way to work the other day.

These cows hang out in this particular spot because they are eating from a reasonably sized garbage pile on the side of the road. Mind you, this is the same road the runs just outside my resort-looking apartment complex. This garbage pile is anecdotal evidence of a problem that India is facing, namely that there are a billion people here and even though they, on average, probably produce a 10^th of the garbage we individually produce in the US, that is still a lot of garbage. On top of that, India’s infrastructure is lagging a bit behind it's growth, making it difficult to meet the garbage picking needs of the people. As a recent New York Times article points out, they are looking at some interesting approaches to solving the problem: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/20/world/asia/20iht-letter20.html?ref=world

About the same time that article was posted I saw this report: (http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/01/21/indian.design/index.html?hpt=C2)

Again, the contrast struck me. Here we have two major news sources publishing articles, days apart, about the same country. One of the articles is about how India being filled with garbage and the other about how India is expected to consume a large portion of the worlds luxury items over the next 10 years -- pretty amazing if you think about it.

Justin vs. Chair

The last example I have for you is a contrast of size. I will let the picture speak for itself, but let’s just say Justin had a nice tea party J

Have a great week everyone and, remember, when you see a rampaging bull, get out of the way.

Sagarwhat?

The Decision

I mentioned in my last post that I had an unfortunate call from my doctor’s office telling me that I needed a CT scan because they had seen something a little off in my X-ray. Well, a week had past and my “cold” was still lingering, so I had a decision to make.

I want to stop here and let you know that this is not a medical blog. I promise I will stop with doctor talk soon, it just happens to be high on the priority list right now.

So, I told my Doc back home that I was not feeling 100% and he said, “If it’s available, you should go get the CT scan.” It turns out, it is available in India and at a fraction of the cost that you would pay in the US: http://www.incredibleindia.org/microsite/medical/indicative_costs.htm I must admit, I was a bit hesitant, but what the hell. Let’s got our Indian-hospital-visit on!

The Hospital

I didn’t really know what to expect when I got to the hospital.

(http://www.sagarhospitals.in/ )

If there is one thing I have learned about India, it’s that you never know what you’re going to get until you are there and see it for yourself. Even then you don’t know what you’re looking at half the time…

Doctoring

The first doctor was a jumpy, eccentric South Indian man. When I entered the room he initially ignored me while taking a couple of cell phone calls and finishing up some notes. Then, he turned to me suddenly, “so what’s the problem, why are you here?” I would begin to tell him, but he would interrupt me every time and begin to extrapolate from my symptoms that I had about every random pulmonary ailment known to man. Then, when he finished speaking, he would close his mouth quickly. When he did this he would click his teeth together, it was actually very unnerving. His sermonizing finally ended and he decided it was time for the examination, although he didn’t see fit to tell me he was going to start. He just popped his stethoscope on and started right in checking my breathing – about half way through he said, “sorry I am just examining you” – Thanks for the update doc, I thought you might’ve just needed a hug.

Scanning

Have you ever been in a CT machine? It’s pretty crazy actually. There was an automated woman with a British accent telling me when to breath and when not to breath. It reminded me of those GPS machines that default to the British women’s voice. Stop telling me what to do you crazy old bird!

Laughing

There was a moment in hospital when I literally burst out laughing. I was laying on an examination table staring up at the cracked brown paint of a hospital in Bangalore, India with my hospital gown pulled up to my chest, petroleum jelly lathered on my belly, and waiting for an ultrasound. I can honestly say I would have never imagined myself in that particular situation until I was in it. Sometimes life is fun (or at least funny), even when it’s not very pleasant. By the way, I am not pregnant. Woohoo! – That was a close one.

Paying

There was a booth in the hospital that I had to visit about 6 times during the course of my 8 hour stay. The booth was a payment station with an ATM right next to it so that you could pay for each bill before you moved on to the next treatment. It was like paying for tickets to amusement park rides except, instead of gravity defying cable cars, I was getting needles in my arms and doses of radiation.

Diagnosing

I ‘m fine. All the tests came back and it looks like I just have some harmless calcifications on my lungs.

Wrapping (it up)

Over all a pretty good experience with the Indian medical system:

A visit to a pulmonary specialist
An X-Ray with diagnosis
A CT Scan with diagnosis
An ultrasound with diagnosis
Blood tests
Medication

_____________________________________

$125USD (that’s total, not the deductible)

Flight(s) to India

I put all my stuff in storage and I am headed to India for awhile. I am going to blog about it. This is my first post. I hope you enjoy.

The First Flight: Pierre - Minneapolis

I left the Pierre "two-destination-airport" at the lovely hour 6:50am on Thursday (1/6) morning. Now it should be noted that I showed up for what was essentially an international flight 35 minutes before the plane was going to take off. Understandably, they were not used to travelers flying internationally out of this airport. So, they had some difficulty checking me in. But, after a few false starts they got me checked in and then -- and this is the best part, they APOLOGIZED for the wait. To which I responded, “you guys are so slow, what the crap!” Not really – If I showed up at Philadelphia International an hour before an international flight they would probably gather their friends around for a good laugh – “hey look at this jerk, he thinks he's checking in to an international an hour before. Honey, you aren’t even going to get an inappropriate search by TSA in the next 60 minutes. Go home and try again tomorrow.” By the way, another benefit of the Pierre airport -- no molestation what-so-ever. I love the Midwest.

The Second Flight: Minneapolis - Paris

I had gotten a bit of a cold in Pierre that was still lingering at the time of my trip, but I decided that it wasn’t worth canceling. I had even gone to the doctor where they did blood tests and took x-rays and whatnot. They gave me some drugs and I seemed to be getting a little better. Here is the kicker though. Literally, as the airline is announcing boarding for my 9 hour flight to Paris, I get a call from my Doctors office, “our radiologist has had a chance to look at your x-ray and he said that we need to follow-up with a CT scan – he saw something we need to take a closer look at.” NEAT! He saw something in my lungs that needs further evaluation! I am excited to be a part of this plan! So, here is where we cue my insanely over active and anxious brain. So, I am thinking to myself, I know the MSP airport has a Rocky Moutain Chocolate Factory and one of those harps that plays by itself, maybe they have a 20 minute CT scan machine. It would be kind of like a claustrophobic shoe shine booth with radiation. Unfortunately, the closest they had were those massage chairs in the main concourse. Great for a back rub, but useless when you need a three dimensional image of your lungs. Anyway, the Doctor ended up telling me that I should go ahead and get on the plane and that we could check it out when I get back to the US. I will keep you posted on whether or not I have some sort of incurable lung disease.

The Third Flight: Paris - Bangalore

When I got on my last flight from Bangalore to Paris, there is a woman standing at my seat row. Now, most of the time, I don’t care where I sit. As long as it’s not a middle seat, I’m cool with it, but this time I was sick and drinking a lot of water to stay hydrated – I was going to keep my aisle seat and its easy access to the loo. She was pretty insistent, but I ended up just saying no. She was not very nice about it, so I am going to tell a funny story about her in retribution. Remember this scene:

Tommy Boy - Airplane Scene

- Watch more Videos at Vodpod.

Oh yeah, ladies and gentleman, I had to help her figure out her seat belt. And sadly, it wasn’t an easy task. Til next time, remember -- To fasten, take the little end and stick it in the big end or Tommy here will come and hit you over the head with a tack hammer.