Sitting in the center of an intersection. Some uncle shouting in Marathi with his arm raised, lights everywhere, constant honking, children begging, people walking, the sun beating down on my already sweat filled face, I am in the intersection in a busy part of Pune… on a motorcycle.
I’ve never been on a motorcycle before but it’s certainly a thrilling experience. The speed combined with the sensation of serenity from the crowd of the street, I feel detached and free. Our housekeeper invited me to come on a trip to get bread for our dinner from the market. Most of the participants have had the chance to get on the motorcycle by now with Dada and we all agree that it’s SO fun.
Earlier in the day, my friend, Stephanie and I walked back to our guest house in the middle of the day from the internet café. But we apparently chose the worst possible time in day to get lost. Pune is really hilly, and really hot, and really not fun to get lost in. But Stephanie and I combined our brain power in the power sucking hour of the day, and walked up the hill we thought would lead us to the guest house; we were wrong. Thankfully dada came on his fancy motorcycle and found us on opposite of where we were supposed to be. Needless to say, Stephanie and I paid attention to the route to the guest house after that.
Aside from the motorcycle experience, the other participants and I have had the opportunity to participant in yoga classes, which is great! It supports, body strength, weight loss, and it just sounds cool and classy to tell people “I do yoga”, although I have a long way to go to get my chin to touch the edge of my knees while having my arms raised in the air. This supported the gastric system and promotes weight loss in the tummy. The class is five times a week at 6:15 AM. I realized this morning that the city is bustling at 6:15 AM and dead after 9PM. This must be part of the educational and working class aspect of Pune because many come here to get educated, in fact Pune has the greatest number of engineering schools in any city in India-7 schools.
I haven’t had the chance to post photos-facebook or this blog, but I was able to load my photos on my flashdrive so I will be able to post some photos!
The experience has been amazing, I’ve already become so close with my other participants and roommates. Its great to interact with students of all age- 20,24 and even 27 where we are able to learn about healthcare in India and see cases that we would never be able to see in the United States.
Today was orientation with Dr. Mr. and Mrs. Dabak, our program coordinators. They are so invested in our careers and very dedicated to making us experience healthcare in a foreign country. We have anatomy and physiology lessons for the next two days followed by visiting a local orphanage.
Stephanie and I were able to sync Dr. Dabak’s huge contact list from his computer into his new Nokia windows phone, which was A LOT harder than we thought given that the two were not compatible and I’m an Apple (Ipod, Mac, Iphone) girl.
The following weeks are jam-packed with activities, next weekend we are going to see sites around Pune: Saras Baug, Raja Kelkar Museum, Aga Khan Palace, Pataleshwar Caves and Shaniwar wada. The following weekend will be a two day trip to Aurangabad to see Ajanta and Ellora caves, and our last weekend will be to Goa, a beautiful state 7 hours southwest of Pune with gorgeous beaches. We are making two visits to rural outskirts of Pune to practice maternal health and pediatrics. I can’t wait to experience all this with my group, should be unforgettable!
drive from mumbai to pune
view outside guest house/bungalow
inside of our guest house
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