Today began at 5:15am with a quick breakfast and us hustling out the door so we could be on the road and on our way to Baharampur by 5:30am. Baharampur is a peripheral city (suburb) of Kolkata located about 240 km (140 miles) from where we are staying. For those of us in the US, 140 miles would generally mean a 2 to 2.5 hour trip; however, here in India where the traffic is heavy, the roads in the villages are narrow, and the road conditions are horribe, a 140 mile journey becomes a 6 hour journey.
Although we had all planned to sleep during this 6 hour journey this morning, the road conditions on the way to Baharampur did not quite allow us to do that. I would have to say that these roads were by far the worst roads I have ever driven on and we would have probably been more suited in a four-wheeler or a jeep than the mini van which we have been driving in. It is quite impressive watching these drivers navigate through the potholes and sudden change in height of the pavement as they dodge in and out of cars.
Anyways, since we had a good 6 hours this morning to sit back and watch the landscape and driving sitatuions, I had some time to jot down some more of my thoughts about roads and driving...
1. People who drive here in India would probably be excellent race car drivers. They are constantly aware of their surroundings, weaving in and out of cars, passing by through the tiniest gaps to avoid hitting other cars and animals, and they all already drive stick shift.
2. It also would not be suprising to learn that stunt drivers in movies are Indian. On our way to Baharampur today we had two incidences where we were passing a car on what would be a two lane road (one in each direction) and just barely moved over and got back to our side before the giant truck speeding down the road from the other side hit us head on. This may sound like I am exaggerating, but there was definitely no more than 1 or 2 feet between us and the car when we veered out of the way. In the US, scenes like this are filmed for hundreds of thousands of dollars. If they came to India, they could probably get this footage a few times a day without paying anything.
3. Indian drivers are probably very good at driving video games. The best way I can describe driving on an Indian bypass (highway) is that it is like playing Mario Kart with traffic signals. However, I noticed this morning than when it is early and there is light traffic, even the traffic signals seem to be ignored.
4. Today we drove on a newly paved road and there were actual lane division lines on the road.
5. Roads are paved in a very mysterious way here in India. We would be driving on an old road and come across a newly paved road every so often. The paved road would never really last more than about half a mile and it seemed like the further away from the city we got, the road we transitioned onto from the paved road got worse and worse. Also, the transition from the paved road to the unpaved road was usually a few inch bump that was worse than a speed bump and was followed by holes and rocks to drive over.
Although we had all planned to sleep during this 6 hour journey this morning, the road conditions on the way to Baharampur did not quite allow us to do that. I would have to say that these roads were by far the worst roads I have ever driven on and we would have probably been more suited in a four-wheeler or a jeep than the mini van which we have been driving in. It is quite impressive watching these drivers navigate through the potholes and sudden change in height of the pavement as they dodge in and out of cars.
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| Bridge along our route to Baharampur |
1. People who drive here in India would probably be excellent race car drivers. They are constantly aware of their surroundings, weaving in and out of cars, passing by through the tiniest gaps to avoid hitting other cars and animals, and they all already drive stick shift.
2. It also would not be suprising to learn that stunt drivers in movies are Indian. On our way to Baharampur today we had two incidences where we were passing a car on what would be a two lane road (one in each direction) and just barely moved over and got back to our side before the giant truck speeding down the road from the other side hit us head on. This may sound like I am exaggerating, but there was definitely no more than 1 or 2 feet between us and the car when we veered out of the way. In the US, scenes like this are filmed for hundreds of thousands of dollars. If they came to India, they could probably get this footage a few times a day without paying anything.
3. Indian drivers are probably very good at driving video games. The best way I can describe driving on an Indian bypass (highway) is that it is like playing Mario Kart with traffic signals. However, I noticed this morning than when it is early and there is light traffic, even the traffic signals seem to be ignored.
4. Today we drove on a newly paved road and there were actual lane division lines on the road.
5. Roads are paved in a very mysterious way here in India. We would be driving on an old road and come across a newly paved road every so often. The paved road would never really last more than about half a mile and it seemed like the further away from the city we got, the road we transitioned onto from the paved road got worse and worse. Also, the transition from the paved road to the unpaved road was usually a few inch bump that was worse than a speed bump and was followed by holes and rocks to drive over.
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| Erin and Shruthi in the flowers |
- 6. When driving out past the city, you get to see some really cool and pretty things in the landscape. Today we kept driving by these fields of yellow flowers. Shruthi mentioned that these were only found in India and suggested that we stop to take pictures, which we did.
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| Typical car s with people on top, packed inside, and standing on the back |
7. Indian's are very good at maximizing space. I have never come across so many people stuffed into such small places as I have in India. This includes trains and busses, in which multiple times I have seen people basically hanging out the edges to hold on; cars and autos, which are generally as full as they can be and which people pile onto the top and stand on the sides as the cars go; bicycles, which are usually equipped with a platform for carrying anywhere from 1 to 8 people or a 6 foot stack of some type of food or good; and motorcycles, which are very commonly used as the the primary mode of transportations for entire families.
Baharampur
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| Outside of Rabindranath Thakur Diagnostic Medical Center in Baharampur |
When we finally arrived in Baharampur it was a little before 11:30 and we headed to Rabindranath Thakur Diagnostic and Medical Care center. This hospital is a secondary private hospital catering to this remote village. We first met with Mr. Hogue, the head administrator of the facility. He gave us a tour of the hospital and allowed us to speak with some nurses and other staff along the way. When we returned back to his office, two practicing MBBS doctors came to meet with him. They were there for an interview, but he allowed us to ask them some questions about temporary pacing, their comfort levels with procedures, and there training.
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| ICU at Rabindranath hospital |
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| One of two operating theaters at Rabindranath Hospital |
After this meeting, Mr. Hogue took us all to a lunch at a nearby restaurant while we waited for the hospitals cardiologist, Dr. Banerjee (apparently Banerjee is the most common Bengali last name), to arrive. When we got back from lunch, Dr. Banerjee had made it to the hospital and was beginning his rounds. We joined him as he went to check on patients and he spoke with us about cardiology and temporary pacing at the hospital. We also had the chance to speak with him abdout some of the problems with peripheral centers and access to permanent pacemakers, transportation, cost, and imaging. His comments provided a lot of new insights for the team and gave some real clarity to the problem these nursing homes and smaller cities face when located so far away.
In order to make sure we were back in Kolkata at a reasonable hour, we wanted to make sure we were back on the road by 3. So after speaking with Dr. Banerjee, we said our goodbyes and headed back in the car and on our way home. This 6 hour drive we were all a little bit more tired and it was dark out, so we were able to catch a little bit of sleep.
Tomorrow is our last day in Kolkata before we head off to Hyderabad, so hopefully we should have better internet connection and can get some more pictures on the blog posts!
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