Ayurveda
On the Friday of our trip to Udaipur, we went to an ayurvedic hospital/medical college, and I was honestly pretty troubled/unsettled by what they told us. Granted, we didn't get a solid overview of the ayurvedic medical system as a whole, so it's possible there are parts that would appeal to me more, and we were at an in-patient hospital, which means the treatments were a little more drastic and last-resort than they would be at an out-patient facility, but it was kind of disturbing. They described all sorts of different enemas they use to treat a whole host of different problems, including a vaginal enema to treat a urinary tract infection. I'm sorry, but how on EARTH does that sound like a solution to a UTI? I'm pretty sure that's how you get a UTI. Sorry to be graphic, but really, it seemed absurd. Even more ridiculous was their emesis treatment, which involves eating medicated butter (ghee) for a week to "lubricate your insides" and then coming into the hospital, where you drink three liters of milk to make yourself vomit to cure infections. Again, WHAT?! The Gallon Challenge is not a treatment for anything that I'm aware of, and GET THIS: they use this emesis nonsense to treat bronchitis. As I said in our discussion later, it seemed so mind-bogglingly not right that I could hardly stand listening to it. I would, however, like to know more about the other aspects of ayurvedic medicine, because I think a lot of traditional medicinal systems can offer a lot to supplement allopathic medicine.
Independent Study Project
I think I've finally decided what I want to do my ISP on in November (if you don't know what I'm talking about, the deal is that I spend a month not in Delhi working on a research project of my choosing). I'm going to examine the social determinants of health in TB-affected families living in slums in either Pune, Mumbai, or Calcutta (most likely) using case studies. We had a really interesting lecturer this week who discussed the various levels of social factors that influence the disease burden of individuals and a community, and I want to create a kind of specific to general hierarchy of causes that affect the health children and families. Then I want to talk to NGOs and government officials about what they believe the biggest social factors affecting health and health inequity in slums is, and where they think programs should be targeted to improve the situation (i.e. at a very specific, local level, like building clinics in slums as soon as possible, or at a larger, more policy-based level, like removing the barriers to education and employment that force families to live in slums and consequently contract preventable communicable diseases).
That all sounds kind of confusing, even when I just read it back to myself, but hopefully when I do it, it will make more sense!
Ramayana
On Saturday night, Rachael and I ventured out of the house to see a play called the Ramayana (the link is to an article about the specific performance we saw), which is a classic Indian epic about (what else?) love and war. Unfortunately it wasn't really our cup of tea, but I was determined to stay for the long haul (aka the whole play), while Rachael wanted to leave after intermission. We ended up staying, and the play continued to drag on, but apparently it's a famous performance and it did make me feel a little more cultured. Plus they gave us tomato soup at intermission!
Rishikesh
This weekend Rachael, Kendra, Berit, and perhaps some others are venturing north to Rishikesh, to the land of yoga ashrams and the Ganges and the foothills of the Himalayas. I'm really excited to go!
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