Lessons Learned

So before I get into my veterinary experiences for today, I think I will give you a little glimpse of my days in India.

To start off I think I am finally prepared to explain about driving in India. Now I have been putting it off as I don't want my parents to have a heart attack but it is the most bizarre experience and I feel a bit selfish keeping it to myself!

There are very few rules about driving in India
1)Honk all the time
2)Fit through any space necessary
3)Slow down abruptly before one of the millions of speed bumps or potholes
4)Do not hit cows
5)Do not hit anything else
6)Go where you need to go by any means necessary
Did you notice that drive on the correct, the left, side of the road isn't listed? Or pass on the right hand side? Or go the correct way on a roundabout? Nothing about right of way?

Yea....those are not important. Check rule number 6, the means is not important! It is much more important to honk at anything that is even remotely in your way and, in very high traffic situations, to weave your vehicle to the front of the queue even if that means that there one bus, 3 motorbikes, and 2 rickshaws all jammed onto one side of the road waiting turn. Now if the vehicle in front of you is going too slow, you may pass as long as there is enough space to wriggle through on either side. If a car is coming from the other direction, you will either speed up and make it or one of you will slow down at the last minute.

Now in America I hate when people speed until the last second and then slam on the breaks, but here? I'm over it. If I wasn't, I would already have an ulcer. The amazing thing is that they are really excellent drivers. Everyone has known at least someone in their lifetime who drove at ridiculous speeds and dared to do what you never would in a car and yet you would trust them with your life because they had such control over the vehicle...and some of you reading may even even be that person. But in India, nearly everyone is like that. It is really something amazing to see, if a bit terrifying. I told Penny once that I think that the Indian driving test should be nothing more than driving in a straight line while someone rolls soccer balls in front of you and you pass if you manage not to hit any of them. There really are not that many accidents, I saw my first one yesterday on the way home from the elephants and I do not believe there were any injuries.

Now that you know about the driving, do you see why I was a bit nervous riding 35 min on a motorbike in the city? Sorry mom and dad, but alls well that ends well :-)

Now on to today! The morning was extremely busy as far as cases are concerned and I watched Shibu reposition and deliver a stillborn baby goat,it took probably half an hour and was very nerve-wracking for Shibu I'm sure as the vet work is carried out on one of 3 tables in an open area in the hospital and at times the place looks like a cinema with everyone standing and watching the veterinarian work. Today Shibu and I both learned that there is an exam/surgery room but they don't use it because the door was hard to open...
That would have been nice to know as it is not good to have 5-15 people on hand to point out any mistakes which may have been made. It is being cleaned so that it can be used for surgeries and other procedures that are best done without an audience.

Bedside manner is very different here. Owners restrain their own animals because they know them best and it is not the veterinarian's job. I have explained to Shibu that it is VERY inefficient because often they muzzle a dog that I could have easily restrained or have to do an injection twice because the owner cannot keep the animal from wriggling about. But I cannot change Indian culture as much as it kills me to watch things done so.....ridiculously!!! It's a puppy for heaven's sake, you don't have to muzzle it, just don't let it bite you. It's the size of a football...But Indians are usually nervous around dogs even if they are small.

Indian culture is something I learn more about each and every day. For example, I am was helping the senior veterinarian with his plans for a clinic he is building and when talking about staff I told him that we do not have a sweeper at Agri-pet (where I work at school) but that the receptionists, technicians, and myself clean during slow moments. It also came up that we have 3 receptionists who work half days and alternating days, etc... Both these things would be unheard of in India. You would only have one receptionist, who would only do receptionist work and would work Mon-Sat and maybe even part of Sunday. No back-up person and no pitching in on other work. It is simply how it is done.

Shibu and I also had a conversation about how he hates that in Western culture relationships are not as strong. Meaning that father-son, mother-daughter, husband-wife relationships in America are not as strong as in India. This may or may not be true as it is important to both parties in a relationship in America that the other person is happy and sometimes that means stepping a bit on the happiness of others. For example, if your mother would really be happy if you stayed home and cleaned house for her all your life, she would not force you into it because it would not make you happy and she wants you to be happy. I dunno if that is the case in India...familial guilt seems to run pretty deep and has large effects on behavior. We also discussed the most common reasons for divorce which he was sure was extra-marital affairs and I told him that it was one of many reasons which also include people who married too young and eventually grew apart. He laughed (still unsure of why, maybe because most women in India are married with 2 children at the age of 26?). We also discussed whether I had met any presidents and whether or not the Monica Lewinsky thing was just a story or actually happened. Sadly I had to tell him that it was a true story. Was also reminded that even though the world hated him, George Bush was our president for 8 years, India is not impressed. Way to go America on both counts
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So after work the past two days, I have been kidnapped. Sort of. I am sent off in a rickshaw with one of the ladies at work who lives about ¾ of the way home. She speaks little English and before I got to go home yesterday, I had a cup of tea and met her husband, oldest daughter, and grandchild. Today I went to her other daughter's house, was fed snacks, and met her younger daughter, other granddaughter (who was woken up for the occasion), son in law, niece, niece's husband, a neighbor and then was taken back to her house to meet her son. It is so weird watching people talk, being able to pick out enough words to know they are talking about you and not understand a word. Her daughter whose house I visited today spoke English but had trouble understanding me and laughed when I commented on the fact that almost everyone was watching me eat and drink tea. I can't have too much of a conversation but I think just my presence is enough for everyone else and my answers to questions about the size of my family, what I am doing in India, where I am staying, and what I eat are translated and discussed though I cannot understand any of it. I had to use calling my mother as an excuse to leave today after an hour and half of being offered snacks any time I was not eating and the stress of smiling because you have no clue what is going on. They probably think I am just a rather dull but very happy woman. Before I left I was taken to see the new balcony which had a gorgeous wrought iron railing that had peacock shapes in it and I ooohed and ahhed appropriately and I really meant it!

Got a little lost on the way home and ran into some school children who were trying to get me to take 4 kittens home with me. I tried to explain that I lived in a hotel and asked where their mother was until a little boy finally understood and drew his finger across his throat one time, making a face and I understood the universal sign for dead. The kittens barely had their eyes open but when I called Shibu to ask what to do he told me “I know you want to help, but it is not feasible. They will have no where to go and there are too many stray cats. Just put them to the side of the road so they do not get run over but leave them there. There is nothing you can do.” I told him later that it was so against everything I believe in to leave them there to starve, but there is no animal shelter to take them too and I miss America's systems. He understood and felt the same way but it did not really help scrub off the guilt even though there really had been nothing I could have done. Such lessons are hard learned and make me more determined than ever to prevent things like this from happening when I have the ability.

I am an oddity here because I call street dogs over all the time for a quick scratch on the head, baby talk to our patients while stroking their head to calm them, and want to play with each puppy that comes in. The street dogs are all so sweet and get the happiest looks on their little faces when you give them attention. One quick cuddle and you are fast friends, people in America would kill to have such friendly and well behaved dogs. At Mad Dogs Trust I found that the street dogs were often the most well behaved for exams and in fact not once did any of them growl at me or try to snap even when I was cleaning very extensive wounds. I don't know if I mentioned Spartacus who had a wound which covered where his ear used to be and did not need restraining at all to have it cleaned; he simply gritted his teeth and looked pained until we were finished. Your loss America, too bad I cannot ship you some of these amazing dogs!

The rest of the day I spent running errands and having dinner and am now watching What
Happens in Vegas in our living room area. Oh also talked to my mommy, cuz, well...a girls gotta talk to her mom! Working again tomorrow and I cannot wait.
Appreciate our nicely organized animal shelters and go adopt a shelter dog!