Now I find myself in paradise. No kidding. Dolphins swimming, palm trees swaying, waves crashing and birds singing. So, once we landed in Arambol we realized what a crazy place it was. Filled with drunken Russian kids, harassing sales men and loud clubbing music. Not really our scene. We succeeded in getting up early to watch the dolphins and hide from these obnoxious masses, but soon they would fill the beach and shopping areas and we were overwhelmed again. In the midst of this chaos I got sick, but was ok with spending my days in my room with AC away from these intense cultural chasms. Agnes hated Arambol even more than I did and took a train from north to south Goa. She said it was a lovely quiet ride and recommends it to future visitors to this south west coast. Once I was feeling better I took a taxi ride down with a frustrating driver who continuously asked me to date him. I lied and said I was married with kids, but this had little or no effect on his advances. In my mind I was ready to smack him silly if he tried anything, but thankfully this was not needed. Soon however I made it to Agonda where a wide white beach, calm sweet cows, more dolphins, and wild horses greeted me in the sun. I felt as if I had gone from party-ville to paradise. Here Agnes and I were able to focus and finish our analysis. It was a complicated procedure since we had 12 pretty individual and long interviews, but we managed after some time to categorize our material and then lay them in themes. If one wants to visit Goa I recommend visiting Agona, its quiet and beautiful. We stayed at a guest house called Monsoon, run by a German guy and a sweet Nepalese family. I made friends with adorable calves who rule the beach and learned to love paneer tikka. After ten days in the Agondan paradise Agnes flew back home and left me to fend for myself in the beach life. I bunkered down for three days and worked until my bum was sore from sitting, and finished my results. Or rather the first draught of part of the results. Then I took a day off, nice. After diving into Agonda it was time to move to my next destination. Little did I know it would be an even more secluded and surreal paradise beach. Its called Little cove beach or Little Cola beach, depending on who you talk too. I met Nina, my fellow nurse colleague, and we have been soaking up the sun, eating yummy food and learning to stand on our heads. I can’t complain. It’s an awesome place to spend the last couple weeks of my India adventure. Also a pretty good place to try to finish this paper before I go back to Sweden. Im hopeful that I’ll succeed even though its extremely tempting to just space out and watch the waves and palm trees. So, yeh, needless to say I recommend coming to this little gem of a place if you like the quiet things in life.
From monsoon to sunshine
Since last time I wrote much has happened. Agnes and I completed our six interviews at Aster Medcity hospital within three days and feel like we got a lot of nice information. Everyone at the ward where we conducted the meetings were curious and sweet and helpful. The following couple days we ventured around and went to Fort Cochin and Marina drive. We took a local ferry for 12kr and was given the grand tour in a language we didn’t understand, it was perfect. We also ate and drank our fair share of dosas and over sweetened tea and coffee, delicious. In southern India there have been monsoon rains and one night we ended up standing in this wet downpour and watching the lightning illuminate the canals. One such bolt struck the water and cracked open just above us, that’s when we realised it was time to go inside. We followed the monsoon to Chennai and arrived to overfilled reservoirs and rivers. We stayed at a nice hotel but the rain came through our windows and made big puddles on the floor. The interviews went great at SIMS hospital and we completed six meetings within two days with extremely qualified nurses from every kind of ward. The director of nursing was very helpful and gave us a tour of the hospital and a meeting with the director of medicine. We felt a bit under qualified for all this attention, but also intrigued by the details in the hospital and the different varieties of patients. After four nights in Chennai we realized that the city is not much fun in the rainy season. There was also flooding around us so we decided to seek out some sunshine instead and bought another flight, with an earlier date that originally planned, to Goa. I was very grateful to get out of Chennai as I’m not so into loud and complicated cities, and felt like I wasn’t able to move or breathe. It’s interesting to come from an extreme Indian metropolis to a very differently categorized bustling beach town with tourists sprouting from every corner. I however really appreciate the ability to walk on the beach alone without feeling like its inappropriate. I’m also stoked about the amount of restaurants and juice places and actually just stuffed my face with a huge fruit and yoghurt bowl. So, now the challenge is to enjoy this sunny place while actually get some writing done. As of now we are in the midst of transcribing and will soon start analyzing. Wish us luck!
Cochin
Its been a little while since my last blog and much has happened over the past few days. Diwali, the festival of lights was celebrated with fireworks, tasty treats and festivities in accordance with tradition. Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism and Jainism observe various customs related to Diwali. I enjoyed the candles lit in oil and the sparkly fireworks painting the sky and lighting up everyone’s faces. Another favorite part of the last few weeks has been watching the sun sink into the ocean. Its red turning deeper as it slowly dips into the sea, illuminating the sky into a surreal pink and orange, all while the crescent moon watches from above. Here in India the moon is turned the other way than in Sweden leaving it like a fat grin in the sky.
This week I received the most amazing massage called Abiyangha with Shirodhara. This is a full body oil massage with an oil running on to the forehead. It is the most wondrous experience which turns your mind off, leaving you in a state of utter calmness and satisfaction, I highly recommend it. Between these luxurious moments I have also been delving deeper into the background of our paper, analyzing what communication really is in its multifaceted definitions and usages. I also tried to pinpoint what we really are searching for with our questions and how to foresee all the outcomes and possible misdirection which we may encounter during the interviews. It has been a little surreal to work with Agnes across the different continents, but this week she arrived which has been a great a reality check.
On Wednesday October 25th I drove down from Guruvayur to Aster Medcity hospital in Cochin to meet the doctor and become entrusted the nurses. The hospital is like its own city on an island between marshes and palm trees. All very organized and clean, perfect for the international clientele, yet surprising in the midst of India and its other bustling and busy ways. That night Agnes arrived to our funny and fancy hotel on Willington island, which turned out to be a navy base. So, we are surrounded by military airplanes and military grounds with very little space to actually wander. But its ok right now because it helps us stay focused on our paper, and an excuse to just sit by the pool. Once we’re finished with the interviews we’ll venture out to explore fort Cochin. Yesterday day Agnes and I drove to the hospital again and started our interview process. We met two highly qualified and extremely sweet nurses whom were fun to chat with, and I think we acquired some useful information from the interviews. Today we head back to the hospital for two more meetings and then probably dinner by the pool, watching the bats and crows.
Week 1
I find myself in the southern most state of India. The beautiful, lush and green Kerala. People here are curious and friendly. Working their jobs, far more hours than we are accustomed to, but still with a smile. Its impressive and thought provoking
My trip over here was long yet good. An eleven-hour layover in New Delhi could have been worse without a Holiday Inn hotel at the airport and masala chai down the terminal.
I have been here for six days now and am so happy to be spending some time on the Cochin beaches soaking up the sun, walking in the hot downpours of monsoon rains and eating delicious food, before we start the interview process. I was also able to watch a theater and dance performance which was fascinating even though I didn’t understand what was happening most of the time. The movements however were beautiful, sometimes terrifying, yet fascinating. One part of our project is looking into medical tourism, not because its a focus of our paper, but because it is a factor in the interviews for our study. Most patients who our nurse participants care for are people from other countries who come to India for medical treatment, this so called medical tourism. While India has very good western medicine they also incorporate other types of holistic care into their healthcare system. So, while Agnes is still back in Sweden finishing exams I am spending this first period of the trip receiving Ayurvedic treatments, another kind of medical tourism. I have so far met people from many different parts of India, as well as people from France, Russia and Germany. Not a bad place to work on the background of our thesis, formulate and reformulate the interview questions, and again contact the hospitals. I have so far reached the supervisor/gatekeeper at the Aster MedCity hospital in Cochin where we will be conducting our interviews and solidified some dates. It feels goo to start setting specific times for this next part of our research even though I know that these plans can and probably will change many times over.