Episode 19

After a long weekend of traveling and wild-life spotting, we headed to a rural village called Patti. We spent the week in this beautiful little agrarian community, nestled in the foothills of the Himalayas and surrounded by breathtaking views of the mountains. We spent 3 days in the CFHI clinic, helping the doctor in OPD. The clinic serves about 5 different villages, and so we got to see a wide variety of cases and patients. On the other two days, we packed up our supplies and hiked to some of the surrounding villages to set up health camps. These days were probably my favorite, as all the school children would come to the health camp for their check-ups. It was really nice to interact with all the village kids and we helped the doctor check lungs, take temperatures, and tend to those who were ill. Time seemed to slow to a casual crawl while we were in the village, a pace that at first was difficult to get use to. However by the end of our stay, we grew to appreciate the simplistic, uncomplicated nature of village life. The words stress, greed, and gluttony don’t seem to exist in this space between the wild of the jungle and the majesty of the mountains.

At the end of our stay in the village, Dr. Paul took us for a nature walk, where he showed us all the herbs and plants that many of the villagers use to cure common ailments. Jamun seeds for diabetes, peach tree leaves for abdominal worms, or mustard seeds for arthritis are all solutions that seem to have stood the test of 1000 of years of use in these mountainous villages. I loved our walk, but I was quickly reminded of how far removed I am from my environment. I have no clue about herbal remedies in my surrounding area, and here I was pretending I knew something about medicine, when in reality the villagers knew far more than I.

After our week in the village, we took a 4-hour hike to the nearby hill station of Musoorie. This “hike” was really a climb… Up, up, up for four hours, I dragged my out-of-shape butt up this mountain, attempting to keep up with a serious runner and our mountain goat of a guide. A beautiful trek, even though I spent most of it wishing away the college habits that had finally caught up with me. Once we reached Musoorie, we spent the rest of the afternoon shopping and taking in the stunning views of the Himalayan mountain range. Another great week in India…