India 2011: Measles and Moonlight

Hello again. I hope this posting finds you well and enjoying life wherever you may be. Things are generally speaking rather good from my viewpoint. The newness of being in a foreign land is starting to wear off and I have found myself on certain occasions referring to my little nest here among the mountains as home. This is in many parts thanks to the wonderful company of my friends and colleagues here at the hospital and in my wider community. The charity here seems to attract a certain type of person. That is not to suggest in any way that the personalities or outside appearances of members of the team are in any way generic but rather that in their own way they all share a passion, a certain keen desire to help people and also to understand their world better.

There are men and women of all ages and religions from all across India and indeed the globe. All here to try and understand the culture of the tribal population and best help them to become a community which is balanced. Strong and independent, aware of its own special heritage but also able to survive and even integrate into modern India. I wish I could introduce you to all the wonderful people who I have been lucky enough to meet while here. One of the interesting aspects of living here is the constant ebb and flow of people around me.

One person who is leaving soon is the young, pre-medschool, American research student who I am sure I have spoken about before. She arrived a week or two after I did and we have become firm friends. I can’t deny that her leaving to return to America for med school entrance exams is anything other than sad for me. She is a very, very funny person with a sense of humour which ranges from bone dry to ridiculously silly and I have enjoyed being swept up in the slight whirlwind she creates. She will however be returning in the rainy season (all related to her project which involves leeches, gross huh?) which will be something to look forward to. Also coming to the end of her annual visit is the lovely northern retired midwifery teacher. I will certainly miss her as a companion and sounding board. She combines two vitally important aspects for a good friend, firstly she is a brilliant listener and being somewhat further along life’s journey than I am she dispenses sound advice built on experience. Secondly being British she is always willing to sit with me for a cup of tea!

As I said people here come and go. A new arrival to our group (although she is a regular visitor) is a retired paediatric professor from Kerala. Despite being a little older than most of us she is as sharp as a pin and a brilliant clinician. She is also very fun to be around and had been with us barely more than a few days when she arranged a very sociable Sunday cook off. We all enjoyed the shopping and talking and cooking and eating and I am glad that she will be with us at least until April. It is also brilliant to see her working with the other visiting paediatrician who is an American from a Tamil family. It is inspiring to see them discussing child health and it seems that working together they have a chance to really achieve great things to help the malnourished children here.

In a rather dramatic turn of events this week one of our number got taken rather seriously ill. The American anthropology research student, here on an international scholarship since August last year came down with a fever. Illness being not uncommon in India he didn’t think much of it until day five when he was still burning up and started to develop a rash and a hacking cough. I must admit he scared me quite a bit when he phoned me in the evening to “just ask a bit of doctor advice” and proceeded to tell me he was finding it very difficult to breathe. My expert medical advice was for him to come in to the hospital pretty quick sharpish! The junior doctor on call and I gave him the once over and decided that although we were not sure exactly what was wrong with him it was probably viral and he should stay at the doctors hostel for observation, paracetamol, plenty of fluids and antibiotics to prevent secondary infection. The next morning we got a lot of senior opinions, the doctor who runs the hospital and two senior paediatricians who are visiting. The general consensus was that it may well be measles and he was admitted to the hospital for a day and overnight. Thankfully after a lot of sleep and paracetamol he seems to be looking a lot better today and the exanthema is starting to clear.

I will write again soon because there is probably lots more news for me to bore you with and I do want to show you some of the pictures that I have been taking. Obviously lots of these photos focus quite heavily on the massive moon that we have all been experiencing. It has been really amazing to behold. Dangling over the mountains without any light pollution to interfere, all of us have found ourselves doing a lot of gazing upwards the past few nights. Last night on one of these household moon gazing events we were surprised to hear that we were not the only creatures to be in the immediate locality. A very strange and rather abrasive noise announced the arrival of barking deer in front of our porch. For those of you who are unaware barking deer look a lot like deer, make a barking noise a bit like a dog and according to a friend of mine who is interested in such things have recently been reclassified into the goat family, you learn something new every day!

So from measles to moonlight with a promise of pictures to follow and that is where I will leave you for now. As always lots of love and thanks for the messages I have received.

A x

p.s.
so yesterday my internet was not working so I didn't upload this, so here it is today instead complete with pictures.