Where Have 2 Weeks Gone?

It is Friday night, the 15^th of June, and it is our last night in the Himalayan village of Patti. I have fallen in love with the way of life here. Wake up, yoga, tea with breakfast, work for 4 hours, rest for 2 hours, tea, work for 2 hours, yoga again for an hour, relax for an hour, eat, then sleep. The slow paced, rural, mountain lifestyle has been a nice change of pace from the very fast-past urban lifestyle in Dehradun. I keep thinking, “If I have the money when I’m older, I’m definitely going to have a house in the mountains.” Whether it’s the Himalayas or the Rocky Mountains, I always seem to be more relaxed when in the mountains.

Dr. Paul has been another great doctor to spend time with. He’s got a great sense of humor that I will definitely miss. Yesterday, when Zack opened the shower door, Dr. Paul was standing there just waiting to scare him. I just about got sick from laughing so hard (Zack ended up getting Dr. Paul back by locking the shower door from the outside while he was showering, also very funny).

The people working in the CFHI clinic are here in the village of Patti Sunday night through early Saturday morning. They then drive down to Dehradun for the weekend to see their families. They all get paid very little as they are working for a non-profit. They all feel strong draws to rural medicine as well as to a good cause: giving free medical care to people who wouldn’t otherwise have any access to medical services. I greatly admire their work and dedication to this clinic. I feel like I wouldn’t be able to give up seeing my family 5 days out of the week no matter what the work was, so I know how difficult it must be for them.

Dr. Paul prescribes both Western, pharmaceutical-grade (allopathic) medicines that we’re used to in the states along with Ayurvedic, plant-based medicines to his patients. Dr. Paul said that most Indian medical schools teach their students to use both types of medicines, which I think is very neat. I believe that having an understanding of both types of medicines keeps doctors open-minded and balanced. I hope that by the time I am practicing, I will have a better understanding of these Ayurvedic, traditional medicines so that I will be able to recommend/prescribe numerous types of treatments that best suit the patient and illness. A few hours ago we went on a walk around Patti and Dr. Paul pointed out about 15 different plants that he uses as medicine. It was really fascinating because I hadn’t thought much of the surrounding flora for anything beyond its aesthetic value. After the walk, I realized to a greater degree as to how much we can utilize the natural world in healing and other beneficial practices.

During one of our break times on Wednesday, I looked out at the rice paddies and saw some of the kids playing cricket. Everyone loves cricket here. My yoga instructor for the week was down there playing and he waved me down. I ran down and immediately he said, “Okay you are pitcher.” Having only seen a cricket pitch on television, my first few pitches were interesting to say the least. But all the kids, trying to hold back laughter, were very helpful and showed me the proper technique. I then batted, which I was much better at. Cricket is like baseball but much more fast-paced and exciting in my opinion. I had so much fun, and I’m glad that I’ve now played in a real Indian cricket game.

Tomorrow morning we’re getting up early to head to Rishikesh for the weekend. This is where The Beatles visited and lived for a short period. They composed many songs there, so I’m very excited to maybe see some remnants of Beatlemania. There is also some great river rafting down the Ganges (it is clean too, not polluted because it’s in the mountains and close to the source), which we are planning on doing. It’s also the yoga capital of the world, and since I’m now a yoga master after this week, it should be interesting to see the city where it’s most popular.

That’s all for now, but I will be posting more frequently this week since I will be in Dehradun where I’ll have access to Internet cafes every couple of days.

Namaste,

Clayton