I have made two trips to Pune now. Neither has lasted more than 24 hours. As momentous as this trip was today, it certainly doesn’t hold a candle to my first trip, in 1996. It was the day I met my wife.
I arrived in Pune 15 minutes ahead of schedule last night, and within 25 minutes of landing was standing in my well-appointed hotel room. My host at the National AIDS Research Institute, Dr. Srikanth Tripathi, met me in the hotel lobby an hour later and we headed out for a light dinner of pav bhaji. On the way, he took me to the Maharashtra answer to Tower Books/Records.
This morning, Dr. Tripathi took me to a couple of HIV clinics run by NARI, one at the National Institute of Virology, where he launched his research career, back in the day, and one at Sassoon Hospital. A distinctive feature of both of these clinics, one that I have observed nowhere else save YRG CARE, is the seamless integration of clinical care and research. Unlike most government clinics, these are by no means overburdened with patients. They see 20-30 a day. A pittance compared to the 100-150 they see at Osmania or Gandhi in Hyderabad. Every physician here, however, seems at the top of their game and they all seem to be involved in clinical trials.
After seeing these satellite clinics, we headed to the mother ship. NARI itself. This is where Dr. Tripathi sees patients these days, as well as where he heads up the TB and retroviral resistance labs. He gave me a whirlwind tour of most of the labs as well as the clinic. One of the medical officers, Dr. Sampada, presented a fascinating case of unexplained 6th nerve palsy that progressed, then improved on ART, without any other directed therapy. Then it was time for my lecture and we were off to lunch. Perhaps the most memorable interaction for me, besides the great discussions I had with Dr. Tripathi, was with Dr. Mawar, an anthropologist that is tackling the critical problems of bioethics training and stigma research in healthcare providers. After lunch, I was taken to the airport without complications. Everything proceeded like clockwork. Obviously.
Ganesh Chathurthi kicked off yesterday. In Andhra Pradesh, this festival is also known as Vinayaka Chavithi, and is a pretty big deal. For the past week or so, as we have traveled through the city, we have seen Ganesha statues of varying hugeness making their way around Hyderabad on the beds of autos, trucks, and other conveyances. These machinations, however, are nothing compared to Ganesh Chathurthi in Pune. So I have been informed by everyone from my uncles to Raju, our taxi driver. Apparently, this holiday is the big one in all of Maharashtra, and worshippers go all out. Dr. Tripathi was kind enough to bring me in some sweets that he and his mother rolled last night. They were delicious. Too bad we will not be in India for the dunking of the statues at the end of the 9 day celebration.
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