Below are some pictures promised in yesterday's blog! I also want to mention a few other details I forgot. One sad thing that I encountered yesterday was discussion of government. The man at the coconut stall (pics below) was eager to inform me that the people of Trichy, and India overall, have good hearts and minds, and that they all mean well and want good lives. Unfortunately, the government is failing them. Solomon mentioned that because there are many villages here and many do not receive education, elections may be bought with promises of rupee "tax refunds" and other things such as this. He mentioned the last Prime Minister was steering the country forward, but that he was not a particularly religious man. So, the recently elected Prime Minister was able to win by showing how proper and religious he was. While this is just two mens' views, it seems that government here does not support people. Also, there is a huge lack of healthcare workers here, as evidenced by the fact that until recently, Dr. Siva was the only ultrasound technician in Trichy and has traveled up to 100 km to perform his services. Because of this, students doing well in school are automatically pushed to become doctors. Other students proceed based on which subjects they do well in. It seems this is another choice the government is making for people, but it is necessary because there is such a huge need for healthcare workers. Dr. Siva recognizes this need and supported his son Sakthi until he was 38 years old to become a endocrinologist focusing on thyroid disorders. An interesting thing I did not know is that India has had iodized salt for 25 years. Despite this, one in ten Indians has a thyroid condition, apparently stemming from toxins in the environment from pollution and genetics rather than iodine deficiency. Another thing I wanted to mention is about marriage. Many of the girls working at the hospital are not yet 25 years old, the customary age for marriage in Trichy. They greatly dread their parents' searches for husbands because they say they love their freedom and do not want it taken away. While this is unfortunate and the married women I talk with feel similarly, the married women mention that they are, in fact, happy. Lastly, for a diabetic diet, meat is only recommended once per WEEK! When asked about the difference between a diet here and in the US, this is probably the largest. The reason for this is not just cultural, stemming from a vegetarian mindset, but the doctor tells me that most meat here is very fatty. Lean meat is difficult to find. Even the variety of chicken used is fattier. Grains are also different. Because grains used to be processed by hand, people always consumed whole grains. Now, because a machine is processing all the grains, the only availability is grains which have their bran and germ removed, producing a polished product. This is another reason for the diabetes epidemic. One key piece of fighting diabetes here is education on hand and foot care. While this is important in the US, many of the patients Dr. Siva admits developed sepsis due to foot infections. Because people wear shoes here far less frequently, and when they do they choose sandals, and because sanitation is far and few between, a stubbed toe here could be life or death for a diabetic patient.
Here is some roof work they are doing. Architecture is much different here. Supports are placed with sticks, and the material under the tiles on the roof is dirt. To remove these tiles, people are going to town with some pickaxes and shovels, loading up large metal bowls with the debris, and giving them to women to carry down three flights of stairs on their heads.
These two are pictures of the sunrise yesterday, beautiful!
These two pictures are at a coconut stand. I have only once had fresh coconut juice, but the man also cut it up and gave me a spoon to enjoy the meat as well! Delicious and healthy.
Below is Solomon, our RA. He is very generous, he was not mad at all that I woke him up super early yesterday to help me with laundry. He took me to the coconut stall after I woke him.
Above is an ECG. It is several clamps and metal probes attached to this man. There is nothing digital about the readout, it is just a paper printout.
Here you can see an old fashioned dryer. It is a delicate game here because it is rainy season.
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