Less responsibility, more fun

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As a medical student, going on rounds at KEM is very fun, plain and simple. As I mentioned before, your clinical responsibilities are fewer than back at home, but the learning opportunities are arguably better. You are expected to listen attentively, take notes, and examine patients when interesting physical findings pop up on your patients. Not only that, but the sheer number of people managed by a single doctor is so vast that the diversity of pathology is unparalleled. You see just about everything here, and you definitely have the time and flexibility to assiduously examine the patients with the most noteworthy findings.

Because there is usually such a large group of students (I'd say 3 or 4 layers worth) sheepishly following their senior doctor, there is a lot of background discussion amongst the students about physiology, pathology, and who can regurgitate the most information about a diagnosis in the least amount of time. Some things are true across the board when it comes to medical students :-) Geography be damned.

India recently achieved a major milestone that was lauded by health care organizations around the globe. It has been over a year since a new polio case was

Lower extremity muscular wasting from poliomyelitis

diagnosed, indicating that major efforts by the World Health Organization (featured in one of Atul Gawande's books) and the Indian government were bearing fruit. While it is something to be celebrated, there are so many people ACTIVELY suffering from the ravages of poliomyelitis. On the beautiful KEM campus, you see it all over the place. There is a very characteristic walk for patients with post-polio syndrome (PPS), and you can see it here: <a href="
you can see, it can be unilateral or bilateral. The first girl you see has excellent muscle tone in one leg with muscle wasting in the other. The second girl has bilateral atrophy, and there is so little muscle left in her legs that they look noodle-ish and bend as such. You can see photos of my polio-stricken patient below.

Of course, no trip like this is complete without a good bit of sightseeing. My friends and I visited Mani Bhavan, the Mumbai home of Gandhiji where he lived from 1917-1934. It is also the place where he began to practice satyagraha, which my colleague Wikipedia has defined as "insistance on truth." Satyagraha, as I've come to understand it, was Gandhi's practice of civil disobedience and non-violent means, which he aptly practiced unwaveringly until the very end of his life. Ironically, it was at the hands of a violence that he met his end. Mani Bhavan has been transformed into a beautiful museum depicting Gandhi's illustrious life. I think it is a must-see for anyone visiting Mumbai.

We also dropped by Chowpatty Beach to get some "fresh" air, corn-on-the-cob, and epic pav bhaji. Somehow, I haven't started doubling over with stomach pain, so I will chalk it up to the kindness of the goddess Durga (see below). After that, we just wanted to keep eating, so we had some delicious Channa batura at Cream Centre restaurant. Easily the most expensive meal I have eaten in Mumbai so far, costing me a whopping $9. I love this city :-)

SunjayD

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