I haven't written the past couple of days as we've been kept very busy with classes. Every morning, our day starts with 6 am yoga and we're booked entirely until 4/5 pm. For the most part though, classes have been very interesting. We're taking yoga, Indian Culture and Civilizations (a history-architecture-religion-archaeology-type course), Gender in India (looking at gender inequality - mainly causes and manifestations), Indian Health Care (public health, sanitation, general medicine, disease...), Labour Economics and Kannada. My favourite classes are Indian Health Care and Gender - the professors are so passionate and are able to build on what I've learned in class at school by explaining the situation in and perspective of India.
In terms of health care, things here are so different from at home. However, India is a developing country, and "development" also comes with a price - India is now the "diabetes capital of the world"and many now suffer from obesity-related diseases, just as we do in North America. Fortunately communicable diseases (i.e. cholera, malaria, TB) have declined substantially over the past 50 years. However, this has been coupled with an increase in the spread non-communicable disease (i.e. cancer, hypertension, diabetes) due to altered lifestyle and increased Western influence.
Outside of class, I continue to be exposed to the traditions of Indian culture - mainly clothing and food-wise, though. Yesterday the girls and I went saree shopping! The little shop we went to was literally filled with hundreds and hundreds of colourful (and not so colourful), patterned (or not) silk and cotton sarees. The saree is an Indian woman's traditional attire - they're worn all across the country, but apparently each state have subtle differences in how they wear them. Today we had our measurements taken for the custom tops that come with the saree... apparently we were the first "international students" the women have ever fitted, so it was a cool experience for both of us!
In terms of health care, things here are so different from at home. However, India is a developing country, and "development" also comes with a price - India is now the "diabetes capital of the world"and many now suffer from obesity-related diseases, just as we do in North America. Fortunately communicable diseases (i.e. cholera, malaria, TB) have declined substantially over the past 50 years. However, this has been coupled with an increase in the spread non-communicable disease (i.e. cancer, hypertension, diabetes) due to altered lifestyle and increased Western influence.
The waiting room of a primary care clinic in Mysore. Each of chart is for the reporting of the number of cases of specific diseases (i.e. malaria, leprosy, TB) at that specific clinic. There's a tremendous amount of transparency about disease rates in hospitals and clinics here.
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