The life of a nurse in Tamil Nadu and my travel twist
Madurai, Tamil Nadu, India
room 2223 Apollo Hospital
The life of a nurse in Tamil Nadu and my travel twist
I won't have the test results for TB until tomorrow. There was a preliminary result which does not indicate TB. Right now all there is to do is wait.
Apparently I am an exotic creature for the nurses here. In the course of coming to my room to take care of various things they stay to ask me questions. How old am I? Am I married? Why aren't I married? What is my occupation in the U.S.? Why am I in India?
The answers generally befuddle them. Why is someone my age spending a year not working and just being a tourist travelling in India? And why am I not married and why don't I have any children?
Of course, their befuddlement makes me ask myself the same questions.
One nurse, Revathy, asks me, "Your family is in the U.S.? How many babies?" I tell her, "I am unmarried. I am a bachelor." With a devilish grin she says, "You are telling LIES!"
The nurses work twelve-hour shifts seven days a week. "It is a boring life," says Soundary. I think it's inhuman. What kind of industrial-medical system has someone work eighty-four hours a week, with no days off? What kind of life is that for a young woman?
I get a lot of attention from two nursing trainees from the Sisters of St. Anthony. Although they are not novices in a convent, the rules sound just as strict for them. They must ask permission for everything they do from a Sister. They pray every day together and only visit relations on holidays.
"When are you getting married?" I ask, trying to turn the tables on their questions. "Five years," Anto answers. "Why so long?" I ask. "I have to save the money," she answers.
One of my mottoes as I've travelled has been to "go with the flow". "Don't try to control things." "You can't force events." I've been able to accept this as I've been sick for a few days, or I haven't gotten the transportation I was trying to get, or I've just allowed an interesting place to hold me up, or I've just felt worn out from travel and I've slowed down. But this stint in the hospital in Madurai is a real twist on the motto. I never expected this. I'm accepting it as much as I've accepted anything that's happened to me on this journey, but it is a strange turn.
The life of a nurse in Tamil Nadu and my travel twist
