{"id":31,"date":"2015-07-03T07:29:31","date_gmt":"2015-07-03T14:29:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/janalee\/?p=31"},"modified":"2015-07-03T07:35:17","modified_gmt":"2015-07-03T14:35:17","slug":"janindia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/janalee\/2015\/07\/03\/janindia\/","title":{"rendered":"#Janindia"},"content":{"rendered":"

Today marks the end of three whole weeks spent in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, South India. \u00a0Wow. \u00a0With just 16 days spent at Sankara Eye Hospital, I have learned to\u00a0expect the unexpected. \u00a0While our first four days of the Fellowship consisted of plane food, checked baggage, and temporary stays, our very first day at Sankara was an eye<\/em>-opening experience.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>

The front entrance sign to Sankara!<\/p><\/div>\n

Stepping on the larger-than-expected Sankara campus, we were quickly met by blank stares. \u00a0I could immediately imagine what dialogue was happening inside people’s heads: “Who are those people? \u00a0Where are they from? \u00a0Why are they here?” \u00a0I have lost count of how many times Maggie and I have made someone double-take, that is, make someone look at us twice! \u00a0Meandering through four floors of the massive hospital, I could not help but notice how busy the hospital headquarters were. \u00a0Everywhere we looked, there were patients, attenders, security guards, vision care technicians, doctors, and medical students – all under the same roof. \u00a0We had a series of meetings with Dr. R.V. Ramani (the founder of Sankara), Mr. Bharath Balasubramaniam, and other Sankara personnel, who welcomed us with such kind hospitality that I quickly felt at home.<\/p>\n

Dr. Pooja Sanghvi, our awesome Sankara contact, has\u00a0made it so easy for us to adjust to life on campus. \u00a0Upon our third day of arrival, we were already invited to observe a local\u00a0field camp in Coimbatore. \u00a0As I had studied this past spring quarter, I was thrilled to see how the field camp functioned because this is a crucial way that Sankara obtains their non-paying beneficiaries. \u00a0We joined a team of 3-4 vision care technicians (basically nurses), a doctor, and three volunteers, taking\u00a0photographs of the field camps. \u00a0This was so cool! \u00a0Since this was an eye camp frequented by Sankara, the locals were familiar with the eye camp process and children awaited us eagerly – but this time, they were in for a surprise: Americans! \u00a0While neither Maggie nor\u00a0I could speak Tamil, the primary language of the state, the children were proud to show off the limited English that they learned in school. \u00a0“What is your name? \u00a0Where are you from? \u00a0I come visit you in America! \u00a0Oooh, camera!” were many phrases the children used, but the most unexpected phrase I encountered was when a little girl asked me: “why is your skin so white?” \u00a0While the old Jana would have probably taken offense to this question, the new Jana\u00a0was soaking in everything about India with an open heart. \u00a0Laughing at her question and commenting at her keen ability to make observations, I knew that I would enjoy the field research aspect of this fellowship.<\/p>\n

\"All<\/a>

All smiles at our first eye camp!<\/p><\/div>\n

During our second week, I experienced a rollercoaster of emotions as “fitting in” at Sankara proved harder than I thought. \u00a0As I learned that the web application was a bust, I felt as though compiling case studies was going to be a little bit too easy<\/em>. \u00a0Was it normal to feel somewhat bored? \u00a0How am I going to last eight weeks here if we are just<\/em> doing case studies? \u00a0These questions bothered me, as I was discovering that I wanted to do more<\/em> with my time in India. \u00a0I found myself wanting to contribute something that would require meticulous thought and planning; something that Sankara would gratefully accept after my eight-week fellowship experience.<\/p>\n

Then, it hit us. \u00a0After multiple conversations with Pooja, I learned\u00a0that our research project was something far different from what we had planned it on being. \u00a0Better yet, in addition to a few case studies, we are expected to complete two social impact assessments and research an archival system that Sankara can use. \u00a0Wait… what?<\/em> \u00a0I felt overwhelmed with the nature of these\u00a0assignments and probably had my first “freak-out moment” in India. \u00a0However,\u00a0I then slowly\u00a0started to realize that our assessment had actually pivoted in becoming something that I already love doing – experimental quantitative research!<\/p>\n

With our assignment is being understood pretty early on in the fellowship, Maggie and I were extremely busy perfecting a pre-operation assessment before our Friday deadline. \u00a0We were off to go to another two eye camps, which would take up an entire weekend of festivities. \u00a0However, this time we would actually be collecting data for our project – so much excitement!<\/p>\n

\"Patients<\/a>

Patients waiting to be called up for registration.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"A<\/a>

A long line of patients waiting to be interviewed by us.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Screening<\/a>

Screening 177 patients in Mangalore village is no easy task. Yet, the patience these patients have is ridiculous!<\/p><\/div>\n

\"One<\/a>

One familiar scent throughout South India: fresh jasmine flowers in women’s hairs.<\/p><\/div>\n

We visited two villages: Vikravandi and Mangalore in Tamil Nadu. \u00a0After a long weekend of sweaty bodies, squatting toilets, interviews with patients, and bonding with vision care technicians, our mini road trip throughout\u00a0Tamil Nadu was inspiring and fun!<\/p>\n

My first three weeks have been a smooth transition into the South Indian lifestyle, and I am thankful to God that I have not gotten sick yet (fingers crossed). \u00a0I feel that\u00a0we are meeting our research goals, and Sankara has definitely kept us busy. \u00a0Currently, #teamIndia is planning our independent travel, with the hopes that we can see parts of Mumbai, Goa, and Kerala! \u00a0Although we have yet to venture far beyond the walls of the hospital, we plan on going on an elephant safari sometime soon.<\/p>\n

Until next time, please enjoy more casual postings of my experiences in India at:\u00a0https:\/\/chaitimewithjana.wordpress.com\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today marks the end of three whole weeks spent in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, South India. \u00a0Wow. \u00a0With just 16 days spent at Sankara Eye Hospital, I have learned to\u00a0expect the unexpected. \u00a0While our first four days of the Fellowship consisted … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1267,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"qubely_global_settings":"","qubely_interactions":"","kk_blocks_editor_width":"","_kiokenblocks_attr":"","_kiokenblocks_dimensions":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,1],"tags":[5,3,4,6],"class_list":["post-31","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-gsbf-reflections","category-uncategorized","tag-coimbatore","tag-janindia","tag-sankara-eye-care","tag-tamil-nadu"],"gutentor_comment":0,"qubely_featured_image_url":null,"qubely_author":{"display_name":"janalee","author_link":"https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/janalee\/author\/janalee\/"},"qubely_comment":0,"qubely_category":"GSBF Reflections<\/a> Uncategorized<\/a>","qubely_excerpt":"Today marks the end of three whole weeks spent in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, South India. \u00a0Wow. \u00a0With just 16 days spent at Sankara Eye Hospital, I have learned to\u00a0expect the unexpected. \u00a0While our first four days of the Fellowship consisted … Continue reading →","post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/janalee\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/janalee\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/janalee\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/janalee\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1267"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/janalee\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/janalee\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":54,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/janalee\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31\/revisions\/54"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/janalee\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/janalee\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/janalee\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}