ProjectCURAindia2

Reflecting back on my time spent in Kolkata I can say it was a time of both highs and lows. At first I can honestly say I hated it. The city seemed run down and the people looked depressed as they walked through filthy streets in the humid and exhaustive sun. After we changed hotels though and immersed ourselves in the city, I began to see the culture and spirit that now makes Kolkata my favorite city thus far. The city is surrounded with bits of its jungle past and looks as though the buildings fell in and amongst the jungle trees that sprout around them. The people also have so much pride in their city, the former capital during the British colonization, and they are constantly working to improve their situation. You can really see ... read more

Back on the phone, the internet cafe was just to hot. We are now 5 days into our stay in kolkata and it has definitely been an experience to say the least. Before I go into our kolkata journey I will briefly tell about our day in mumbai- aka bollywood. After packing 8 people and 8 rather large suitcases into 2 very small cars for the 3.5 hour trip from pune to kolkata we arrived in mumbai. We had two taxis for the day and saw mumbai, a city of 15 million people, in 7 hours. I wish we had more time in mumbai from what we were able to see of it, it was a really awesome city. We visited the gateway of india, the taj mahal palace hotel (sight of the 2008 terrorist attack), ... read more

Once again I want to apologize for not writing in this more, where we stayed in Pune was great but not having an actual computer and not being acclimated yet really put a halt on blogging. So to begin where I left off, we woke up the next morning- still in the same clothes as three days earlier- and began the search for our luggage. Thankfully our driver showed up in the morning with a cell phone for our group so I was able to call the baggage lady in Delhi to see where our bags were- that is if they knew. Well I called and they still had no idea where our bags were- so Sarah and I went to the Desai Eye Hospital like we were supposed to be that day and let them ... read more

It has been almost 7 months since we all made the conscious decision to spend our last summer traveling throughout India providing medical relief and volunteering at various locations. We have spent these months fundraising, supporting our classmates going on other trips, and preparing for our own experience; all of this preparation will finally come to fruition in just a few short weeks. Personally I want to thank you all for your hard work and for the sacrifices, both time and monetary, you have made. What we are about to embark on will not be easy; however, it is not without purpose. Never underestimate the ability of a small group of committed individuals to change the world". (Margaret Mead ) We have entered the medical profession to do just that- help those who are in need. ... read more