Julia in Delhi, day 1

We got to our hotel yesterday. Our room was not ready so we got a different one. We got in our room and there was only 1 bed. We asked for a roll-a-bed. We got it but still only had 2 beds. So I had to share with Emeline.

We put a towel in between us to make sides. (Emeline’s idea)

Today we did only a little sight seeing since we got in very late last night. First we went to a mosque (Muslim worshiping place.) The mosque was the biggest in all India. It was very tall. We had to leave early because it was prayer time. Muslim’s pray 5 times a day! Next we went to a Fort. It was very tall. The king’s pool was huge! His throne was big too. There was a museum at the at the for we went in. It had many swords and guns. Our final destination was India Gate. It was very big. It was built to remember soilders in the war

Hyderabad

Friday 4 pm. It is hard to believe that we will be flying to Delhi in 3 ½ hours. We have all enjoyed Hyderabad – our routine for the past two days was up by 7 am, out and about around 9 am to 2 or 3 pm, and then pool, homework, email, reading, and blog after a late lunch. Worked well with E and J.

Hyderabad. Things that I did not know or expect: For 500 years (with a couple brief interruptions) Hyderabad was one of the richest and most successful states in India (before the state of Andhra Pradesh was created at the end of British rule, Hyderabad was the state). It was the center of Islamic life in India. It was the only state under British rule that had its own currency and postal system. At the time of partition, Hyderabad city was 90% Muslim, and has remained a stronghold of Islamic culture as due to their numbers, Muslims did not feel a need to leave after partition. Today the city is about half Muslim (full black burkhas are ubiquitous), but that may be changing with the economic boom- our driver Abdul, a very nice young Muslim Hyderabadi (more on him later) remarked that “all those Andhra people are coming here for IT jobs…the Muslims are not getting them as they do not have the education.” Our businessman friend we met on the overnight train, a young Hindu Keralite who lives in Secunderabad (the twin city) told us that Old Town in Hyderabad was dangerous for outsiders. I got the impression that most of the IT types lived in Secunderabad, or for IT millionaires, other posh suburbs. Abdul told us Old Town was safe….with him as our guide. He was randomly assigned by the hotel as our driver the first day. He had such good common sense about our itinerary, and was such a generous and informative guide (not his job) that by mutual agreement we arranged to have him continue to be our driver for our stay here. We became quite friendly and E and J made him a thank-you card today. As we drove around, we spoke about life in Hyderabad, and he pointed out various sites. I was surprised to learn that he speaks Urdu, English, some Hindi and Arabic, but knows only rudimentary Telugu. Turns out Urdu is the language of Islamic Hyderabad- I think I had the mistaken impression that Urdu was a Pakistani language (not that Pakistan existed before partition). His English was good enough, and he got a kick out of my Arabic. [I know what you are thinking- his appreciation for my Arabic was based upon the principle that he is in a business where profit is made by tipping- not true!].

On our first day here, worn out form the overnight train ride, we just did an easy outing- traveling to Lumbini Park to visit the Giant Stone Buddha (the park was the location of a terrorist bombing in August but is now very secure). We might have done more, but after we arrived in Hyderabad I could not get the cell phone to make outgoing calls, and Abdul drove us to two different AirTel offices to try to get this fixed (a couple guys at the concierge desk recommended this after they could not get it to work). I ended up in some cell phone bureaucratic vortex- the phone lacked “documentation” and the probation period was over, which means they needed the address and photo ID of the owner (user?). I tried to explain that I was a visitor and the phone was provided by my host; I gave my photo IDs and the address of our hotel in Chennai. The young woman said that since I was in Hyderabad, the hotel address in Chennai was not good. I gave the hotel address in Hyderabad, and she said that since the phone had a Chennai number, I needed a Chennai address. I gave her our Chennai hotel address, but…and so on. She called the main office, no luck. I left the (first and second) AirTel offices frustrated. And then the next morning, the phone worked. Don’t know if Ravi in Mr. P’s office fixed this on his own without prompting, or what. Another mystery.

Our 2^nd day we first visited the Salar Jung Museum- the art collection of a family high in the old ruling hierarchy- and of particular interest was the collection of “Salar Jung III” who was a committed collector of Indian and European art towards the end of his families reign in the 20^th century. The museum was a good choice for the first stop as the attention span of a rested 10 year old in a museum is much better than a tired one (E and J did well, and wrote about this museum on their blogs). Later we visited Charminar, a 450 year old monument in the heart of Old Hyderabad built to commemorate the end of a plague epidemic; and Mecca Masjid, the 2^nd largest mosque in India, with several stones made from soil from Mecca (hence the name). Mecca Masjid mosque can accommodate 10,000 worshipers. As we drove around, Abdul spoke about the area (for instance, he pointed out the Shia neighborhoods – turns out Hyderabadi Muslims are 80% Sunni and 20% Shia). Abdul took us to a really terrific store to shop for pearls (I am quite sure he took us to a reputable store, and not one that was giving him kickbacks). The respite in the air-conditioned store (where they gave us diet cokes) was well timed before our visit to Chowmahalla Palace. The Palace was the home to Hyderbad’s rulers until a democratic state was established at the end of British rule, and just opened to the public in 2005. It was the highlight of the day- impressive grounds, well done exhibits, interesting historical tidbits. E and J liked it despite being a bit worn out.

Today we visited Golconda Fort – the home of the rulers of Hyderabad until about 1687 (preceding Chowmahalla Palace). At all these sites guides try to attach themselves to you on arrival. We did not use guides at Chowmahalla and some of the other sites but it was recommended for Golconda. Our tour guide’s English was hard to understand (but infinitely better than my Urdu). The fort is impressive and the views are wonderful- the fort is the highest point in Hyderabad. Nearby is the Seven Tombs, large mausoleums of the seven rules of Hyderabad that reigned while Golconda Fort was in use. A couple of them were in power for 50 years. Abdul then drove us to Cyberabad- Hyderabad’s Silicon Valley. Cyberabad had an impressive number of large, gleaming modern buildings housing offices for Dell, Oracle, Microsoft and on and on. He then drove us to Jubilee Hills, where we stopped and shopped. Jubilee Hills is the home to many Tollywood (Telugu) movie stars, IT millionaires, and sports stars (cricket and tennis). And back to the hotel (these back to the hotel bits usually entailed an hour or more of fighting traffic- which was pretty thick in Chennai and a tad worse in Hyderabad (traffic in Mumbai is supposed to be much worse)- but the traffic is part of the experience, and a time for J to play Nintendo).

Hyderabad, Secunderabad, Cyberabad, Muslim, Hindu, Urdu, Telugu- this is a historically rich, vibrant, diverse, busy place. We loved it and are sad to leave.

Now on the way to Hyderabad Airport to fly to Delhi- healthy and in good spirits. The airport is close to the hotel. A new, large modern international airport that is 60 km away is to open March 15. An auspicious day to open an airport? There are going to be some tough commutes: the new highways built to relieve congestion on the route to the new airport will not be completed by 3/15.

On the plane. I feel somewhat melancholic about leaving South India. One of the passengers took a look at E and J’s summer clothing and mentioned that it is chilly in Delhi. E and J will miss the heat at pool time.

Emeline in Hyderabad, day 3

Today we went to a five hundred year old fort. It had 700 steps. I climbed them all. I was exhausted and had 2 diet cokes and had water because I was hot and tired. Julia and I took over 100 pictures. The fort was so tall. It was about 500 feet high. The steps were very steep and I always was afraid I would fall down. In the fort there are 2 temples. To go in the temples you must take off your shoes and ring a bell when you enter. Red and white powder is placed in bowls. You rub the powder on you forehead. White powder is rubbed in a line and red in a dot. The fort was very cool.

There is lots of American food in India. For lunch Julia had a small cheese pizza. I had a dish of Alfredo pasta. Only dad had Indian food. I think Indian food is too spicy.

We went to the airport. We had to wait a very long time, so I played Nintendo and had an argument with Julia. (As usual.) When we first got to the departure area Dad thought he had left one piece of luggage somewhere, so he went to get it. He looked for a very long time, while Julia and I watched the luggage, until he realized he had passed it through security, close to where I was. Also, Julia told me our passports, a laptop, and information about where we were going was in there (not true). There was a lot of panic when that happened. It was so crowded it took a while to get sitting down. Now we are on the flight to New Delhi. Julia is in a terrible mood and is very grumpy.

[Dad’s note- Julia not in that bad of a mood- just not being nice to E. I sit in the middle seat on flights…..]

Julia in Hyderabad, day 3

This Morning we went to a 500-year-old fort. It was the highest point in Hyderabad. We got a tour guide and started. Our tour guide didn’t speak very good English. There were 700 steps, so I got tired VERY quickly. It was very hot going up the steps. When the king and queen lived there, the queen would get lifted up all those steps. Next we visited The Seven Tombs. The Seven Tombs are 7 tombs with 7 kings buried in them. They are very big buildings. Then we went to our hotel. I was tired. After that, I went swimming. My dad made me swim laps. I had a late lunch in the hotel. I was very hungry so I ate a whole pizza and a yummy dessert. I finished packing and we went to the airport. We got here SO early. I have to wait almost 2 more hours till I board to Delhi. The airport is VERY crowded. That is all for today. See you soon!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! BY: JULIA$$$$$$$$$$

Photos

Hastily organized- but we have photos on the web.

http://picasaweb.google.com/keithbarmitage/KEJInIndia

Brief trip to Apollo Hospital

Through Najeeb’s friend Dr. Pramod I was able to spend some time at Apollo Hospital the day we left Chennai. I gave a talk on the history of IM residency training in the US to a group of students and residents (and answered their questions about getting into residencies), and then had a tour. Apollo Hospitals Group is a chain of some 41 hospitals in Asia, with sizable hospitals in several large cities in India. It is a privately owned, for-profit company. It appears to be highly successful- the Apollo Hospital in Chennai is one of the largest (Apollo Hospitals Group headquarters are in Chennai) and it is the number 2 ranked hospital in India for cardiology and is highly ranked in other specialties- and the place was very busy- crowded with patients and families. For cardiology, they do more than 3000 procedures a year- I believe that is considerably more than UH. Dr. Pramod took time out of what appeared to be a very busy clinic to show me around – the hospital has the look and feel of a busy, well run hospital in the US. There are 110 ICU beds, and many inpatient wards. The regular wards were ok- but were double rooms; there was a nicer ward with single rooms; and a really nice VIP ward. It is not an academic medical center- there are no large teaching or research programs. The physicians don’t work for the hospital- and actually have to give the hospital a portion of their collections for the privilege of working there and having access to the patients. There are two ID doctors there and I was able to chat with them briefly- the biggest surprise- they see no cases of Clostridium difficile.

Many of their patients come from out of India- drawn by high quality health care at what appear to be bargain prices compared to the US. A CABG costs $5-8,000 vs. $ 25- 35,000 or more in the US. Cost of joint replacement surgery, plastic surgery and other procedures are similarly low.

One of the things about Apollo that struck a chord- NO PAGERS. They rely completely on cell phones. Doctors at the hospital have a work-related cell phone that they take patient related calls on from nurses, patients, etc., and a private cell phone for friends, family, etc. When we went to lunch after the tour (fantastic Kerala specialties), Dr. Pramod left his work phone with his secretary to answer and take messages (and of course call him on his private phone if needed). Direct calls via cell phone is so much more efficient for all concerned than paging- UH has supposedly contracted with Cisco Systems for a cell phone system in the hospital- but the dates keep getting put off as far as I can tell. In this way Apollo is ahead of UH and most hospitals in the US. There are probably some technologies that exist at major medical centers in the US that they lack here – but the only thing missing that I would use in my practice was a PET/CT- and the day I left there was an article in the business section of one of the Tamil Nadu English language newspapers about the new PET scanner being installed at Apollo.

Emeline in Hyderabad, day 2

Today in Hyderabad we went to several places. We went out at nine in the mourning and went to a museum first. The museum was for a royal family. All of the things from their palace were in there. I liked going through one prince’s schoolbooks that taught him English. Also, many people were sitting down in a huge auditorium like place, so I thought that a movie was going on, or some person was coming. But all that was going on was that a famous clock was striking eleven. After that, we went to a famous building that was called Charminar. It had four pillars that were built after a sickness ended. You cannot go to the very top because a couple once jumped off together. But what you can see are very busy streets in the Old City of Hyderabad. It is very crowded. When you are on the streets people surround you asking you to buy things and to give them money. After that, we went to a mosque. All around the building there are small graves. I also sat on a black table. If you sit on the table that means you will come back someday.

Then we went to a royal palace that is now a museum. It was HUGE!!!!! The garden was beautiful. Inside the rooms are preserved things such as clothing, letters, weapons, pictures, portraits, furniture, and carriages. We took a lot of pictures. We also went to a pearl shop because this part of India is known for pearls. Today was fun.

Julia in Hyderabad, day 2

Today we did a lot of things. First we went to a famous art museum. A very rich man owned it. It had picrtures, paintings, and carved wooden statues. There was a famous marble statue called The Vail of Rebecca.

Next we went to a place called Charminar. Charminar was built after a sickness left Hyderabad. It was a big building. We had a guide that showed us around. We went the stairs. There were SO many steps! When we got up we saw the old city of Hyderabad. It was cool to have such a good view.

Then we went to a Mosque (Muslim place of worship.) The Mosque could hold up to 10,000 people! The walls had special stones.

Then we went to an old palace. The place was SO big!!!! There were chandeliers the length of a door. The ruler of the palace could have up to 4 wives! They had the maps that showed what part of India ruler owned. In two rooms it showed all the guns and weapons they had. There were easily over 125 guns and weapons.

That’s it for today. I’ve have been having a good trip besides the mosquito bite I got. Hope your having fun in the cold!!!!

[Emeline note- I am happy I am in warm weather!!!!!]

The Overnight Train from Chennai to Hyderabad

One of the things about international travel that makes it fun is the inevitable contrast of your ideas of about how things are going to be and how you find them. For the train ride from Chennai to Hyderabad- I envisioned us sitting in a train looking at the Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh countryside as we read (or played video games), with meals in a nice dining car. Visions of Paul Theroux in The Great Railway Bazaar (great travel book).

The arrangements for this trip were made locally before we got here- I had suggested we take the train from Chennai to Hyderabad, not knowing…..that the two express trains for this route are both overnight. Turns out it is a tad hot here during the day, and trains are probably decent solar collectors. The train holds a couple thousand passengers- most are not in an air-conditioned car. So it makes sense to have these long trips at night. For our trip it was dark soon after we left the station in Chennai at 6 pm and light only for the last hour and half into Hyderabad at 8:10 am. And the glass in our “First AC” car was too thick to really look at what was going on outside. I spent some time standing in the outside door of our car looking out in the morning.

The trip was a fun adventure- but was not a chance to appreciate the diversity of the geography of south India and catch a glimpse of rural life. We had a fourth passenger with us in our 4-person compartment- at first I was disappointed that there would be an outsider in our little family group. The passenger was a young Indian business executive who was pleasant and nice to the kids and was sort of a guide to some of the ins and outs of the train. We had more food than we needed (thanks again to a friend of Najeeb’s who brought a portable feast to the hotel before we left for the train station) and we shared with him and had an early evening meal. There was joy for me in sharing the adventure with E and J- we chatted and they entertained each other by making up PowerPoint presentations on various topics and then grading them. I read and our friend caught up on Malayalam language movies (Molliwood?) on his portable DVD player (he is from Kerala, his wife is from Hyderabad and they are undecided what language to speak at home with their one-year old daughter).

Our “First Class AC” compartment had four beds that folded out from the wall- two large bunk beds and two below. E and J were on top. A train employee delivers clean sheets in individual packages along with pillows and blankets. The beds were large and relatively comfortable- but none of us slept too well, except for our new friend. Not sure whey he takes the train- he told me that the cost of airfare is comparable to First Class train travel, and from our brief experience here, domestic air travel seems very well developed. He did mention that fighting traffic to and from the airport was a disincentive for air travel for him. He seemed to enjoy the train travel- and perhaps he does not like to fly. With the cost of airfare comparable to First Class train travel- it would seem that trains that run between major urban areas that are well served by the air will be primarily used more and more for those that can’t afford air travel. I estimated that our train had about 40 passengers (if that many) in First Class out of a couple thousand on the train.

I think it was good for E and J to experience the trip- the train stations themselves are…interesting- they needed to see more of India outside expensive hotels, tourist sites, and the backseat of a car fighting through traffic. A factoid I can’t forget: the Indian Railway system is the largest employer in the world- with 1,200,000 employees. And we met a few on our journey.

Julia in Hyderabad, day 1

I survived the long train ride. Today we went to a giant statue if Buddha. It weighed over 315 tons. Then we went to a temple. I had to walk without shoes in the parking lot though the temple. I did not like taking of my shoes at all. By: Julia Armitage