then got ready to go out.
After getting ready, we decided to go to my brother-in-law's clinic-he & his wife are both doctors and each have their own clinics. They go in the morning for 4 hours or so, come home in the afternoon for lunch and to rest, then go back in the evenings for another 4 hours or so, depending on how many patients are waiting. The patients literally wait there until he arrives, and it's first come, first served.
It was a pretty cool experience!
Here is Ramesh:
Future Doctor at work:
He explained to us why each patient was there and what he was doing to help them. He is very compassionate about his work and you can tell he really loves helping people:
He saw around twenty patients why we sat and watched. It was quite interesting to think that there is no way people in the US would go into a doctor's office and be treated in the presence of 4 strangers sitting around watching :) No HIPAA laws in India! One patient asked Ramesh who I was and he told them I was a surveyor! :) One little girl came in with an ear infection and Maya gave her one of her bangles. Adorable!
Suri kept asking her uncle if he gave shots-she was super excited to see him give someone an injection. Her wish came true-he gave several. He asked if she wanted to give one-her answer? NO way!
After patients are seen, they pay in cash. If any medications or supplies are needed, they go to the pharmacy to get what they need. If any diagnostics are needed, he sends them to the lab that he is affiliated with. Several children, pregnant women, diabetics, and one young man with a ruptured retina were seen. We were at the clinic for a while when Anand's uncle and cousin showed up!
They didn't know we were there, so were quite surprised!
We shut the clinic down after all the patients were seen and headed off to dinner. We went to a restaurant pretty close to home-it was really nice! We were greeted by a doorman dressed in classic Karnataka-style attire. Suri wanted to have her picture taken with him.
Here we all are:
Anand ordered several dishes-all were fantastic! The service was unbelievably good. The minute we were seated, we had 4 or 5 waiters circling our table serving us. During dinner, I noticed this boy (about 12 years old I would guess-he was a busboy) who would smile at me whenever he walked by. I smiled back and after about the fourth or fifth time I noticed him, I waved. Every time he would walk by, he would smile and wave. I told Anand I wanted to give him some money. He gave me some and I went to find him. Poor kid looked like he thought he was in trouble or something when I went over to him. I handed him the money, he thanked me and walked away. Then, whenever he would walk by, he would look down like he was embarrassed. As we were leaving, Anand told me to look down at the parking area-there he was with a friend! He was smiling and waving his arm off! It was so funny! He was adorable and seemed to be pretty fascinated by me. Let's be honest-I do look a bit different! :)
If you look closely, he is here with his friend:
Here is Thanuja driving the car home-we walked.
Here is Tata with his granddaughters in front of the house:
After walking home, I organized our room. It seemed like my jet lag was getting a bit better and I was getting more on schedule with the time change-Bangalore is 11.5 hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time. The girls & I showered-the bathroom has a shower, but it's not enclosed, so everything is wet. Going in to take a shower and finding a place to keep everything without it all getting wet was a challenge! When you're used to having a dry floor to get dressed on, it makes it a bit difficult. Within a few days, I was a pro! The girls went to bed and I checked emails, made a few calls home, and typed up my blog post about our flights. I wasn't tired at all-I would assume from all the sleep I got in earlier! I wasn't able to sleep until 4:00 AM. Looks like it's going to be another late day getting up! :)
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