We are living the life here in Hyderabad. We are exceptionally lucky to have a cook who makes amazing meals. Today he indulged us with toast and omelets! (There was still idly available for the health-conscious – idly is a mixture of rice and lentil flour) He’s currently involved in preparing our dinner which all signs are suggesting will be simply fantastic. I’ve offered a few suggestions as to possible dishes, but Gopal won’t teach me how to say “beer run” in Telugu. We seem to have most of the ingredients for “french toast”… Speaking of breakfast food items, mixed berry jam is REALLY good, but on the list of ingredients they do not specify the type of berries, only that they are mixed. Also, there seem to be “natural, natural-like and artificial” flavors.
Today was our first day at the Sivananda Rehabilitation Home and it was really cool. They had carefully prepared a schedule for us which included some lecturing on Leprosy, specifically a very careful attention to the WHO criteria for diagnosis and treatment. Don’t worry, Dr. Machanda, I won’t make the mistake of incorrectly thinking I’d diagnosed leprosy at the DMC ever again. I’ve got… criteria now… They gave us lots of tea (the Telegu word for… tea) and lunch was also amazing. It’s nice to hang out with our new friend Dr. Shobha. In the afternoon we went to the men’s ward and got a chance to really examine patients who had leprosy, palpating enlarged nerves, observing ulnar abscesses, testing muscle groups for motor weakness… Throughout this the patients were positively excited to have us look at their physical findings, even pointing things out as we practiced our leprosy-detection skills. Everyone was very nice. Next we Followed Dr. Biene who is an orthopaedic surgeon who came to India in 1964 and has been at Sivananda performing hand surgeries with remarkable results. We saw both pre and post operative patients – the latter of which were proud to show off their nearly normal function! He spoke very eloquently and emotionally about the importance of doing the surgery right rather than simplifying things which I think was very noble. He clearly wished we were interested in becoming hand surgeons, and I was reminded that it has been a long time since I learned anatomy of the hand…
Lastly we went to a supermarket where there were many cool finds. (Isn’t it interesting how novel something as mundane as a supermarket can be when you are halfway around the world?) I picked up some clove gum, sandlewood soap, snacks, cookies, cadbury!
CaseIndiaTrips 2 