Mussoorie and the train the Delhi

This past week has been full of ups and downs, ending with a shocking tragedy. We went up to the mountain town of Mussoorie. It rests at 7,000 ft high in the Himalayas. Just when I thought I was no longer phased by the driving around here, I am taken up this road of terror in yet another rickety SUV by a wannabe NASCAR driver! We passed cars, trucks, and buses on blind corners, in the dark, with a mile long drop right next to us. We made it though, and it was well worth a little dribble in the underpants. As a popular tourist place, the town was absolutely beautiful overlooking Dehra Dun and engulfed by an endless array of mountains. Although gorgeous in scenery, it was very cold compared to the rest of India. And since heating isn’t real practical there, I stayed in long johns, scrubs and a winter jacket the whole time (yes sleeping too). We stayed and did rotations in the hospital. The clinical experience was definitely the best so far. I observed 3 surgeries and one birth. One of the surgeries, lasting 4 hours, was a total reconstruction of a man’s elbow. I made it through the cutting, the peeling away of muscle, the breaking of the bone, and even through the drilling part. It was when I saw the man’s paining face, while the doctor was stabbing around his neck with a needle trying to find the nerve that goes to the arm, that things started going hazy and I felt the knees go weak. Luckily this birth went a lot better than the last one. I guess by a woman’s third child, it’s kind of like a slip n slide down there and the baby just plops out without a lot of complications. Sorry for any image you may have experienced right there. Point of this though is that I’m learning a lot about medicine and it’s really incredible that I am able to see all that I have so far. The town of Mussoorie was basically one road that wound its way up the mountain lined with shops, hotels, and restaurants, crammed with people and festivities. It was a lovely place to end my Northern Indian experience with. Things took a drastic turn, though, today on the train back to Delhi. Only 30 minutes outside of Delhi I woke up to the train stopped and a bunch of commotion. Someone told me our train hit and killed 5 men that were working on the tracks. When I looked out the door, it was like a scene from CSI. Bodies were strewn beside the railway. One man lay dead right outside my window and remained there until we pulled away nearly 30 minutes later. I was expecting a lot coming to a new country, but what happened today is almost too disturbing for words. In an Indian family, the man works and the wife stays at home with the children. Not only did five men lose their lives today, but five women probably lost their husbands, kids lost their fathers, and families lost their only supply of income. How are they going to recover I wonder? Where do they go now? While I was only effected for 30 minutes, the events of today will forever alter the lives of these women and children. God give them strength. I am now in Pune, ready to see what the next five weeks will bring me.