There are many layers in this world and this is one.. ‘Once you carry your own water, you will learn the value of every drop’.
Being in India regularly as I have for many years now always brings a deeper level of awareness and awakens the soul each visit just a little bit more..
This visit I realise just how ‘stuffy’ we are are in the UK.. how we demand and expect everything to be just so!
We experience hardship yes we do in the western world in fact I feel it is excruciating for the soul at times to live in such a commercial and material world.. but the hardships of life are a very different in reality to those that we experience in India.. and bearing in mind although I have travelled fairly extensively throughout India this was Goa.. the richest state and therefore also a different layer to perhaps other states..
Carrying your own water is an example as is growing your own food.. relying on the crops, weather, manual labour that is intense due to limited machinery.. there is however someone local to where I ‘live’ – a man that has a tractor.. ? This is great as he then rents both himself and the tractor for a the few intense months for turning the soil and changing the crops from Chillis to rice – this of course is for those that are a bit more wealthy to afford this luxury.. others still do by cows (opposite my house this still happens) or by hand.
Sadly they burn off the land between crops normally for quickness and therefore this effects both the soil, micro organisms & animals. It often also results in the local fire engine.. have seen this happen a few times this season.. much excitment occurs and everyone gathers as this is all done amongst very dry land & grass.. so the outcome can go either way!
The reason I use the word ‘Stuffy’ is based on my recent visit to the local hospital..??
The whole experience was incredibly thorough and your definitely well looked after in terms of medical assistance, even if the system is bizarre..! I wouldn’t expect anything else from India and it hasn’t changed mush since I visited the same hospital with a retreat client a few years ago.
Without going into detail on my situation…. as this is just for musings of the process – I was told I needed to have some blood tests.. so I started the process and turned up to the lab as requested at 9 am and returned to give more a few hours later as instructed.. then to my surprise asked to return at 5.30 pm for the results.. so this is firstly amazing as there are endless people wandering in and queuing for the doctor yet the chaotic system not only works but all done in a day including receiving a full report officially checked and signed by the doctor as well as an evening appointment with him.
The lab is very straight forward they actually place blood straight from you onto slides for the microscope.. labelling is very erratic so you watch to ensure its yours!! But all is clean, sterile and practical. A very professional procedure (India like their paperwork)..
Then comes the bit where I question myself and the ‘stuffiness’ of us all in how closed of and insular we can be.. when I get called into see the doctor (you have to write your name on a list rather than a number that was until recently) – the doctor stands at his consulting room door and calls in 4 to 6 people to all go in at the same time!
The amount of people in the room with you purely depends on who has waited and who has given up and gone home..
.. so there I am in the consulting room with 6 strangers all mixed gender and depending on where you are on the list you tell the doctor what is wrong in front of us all! Now firstly I am lucky because this is not a ‘personal/private’ reason I am there, however the girl who is first on the list is not so lucky.. she is a Thai girl with her friend for support, has a very personal issue and then has to disclose everything to us all.. ? she didnt really bat an eyelid.. she knew system and asked thorough detailed questions as needed for answers.. whikst I squirm for her.. but she isnt stuffy like me/us.. huge lesson.. lighten up!
My feeling of this shouldn’t happen subsides later as everyone just gets on with it.. it is ‘normal’ and a functional way to receive treatment and advice collectively!!
- So I started to realise just how outraged we would be in the UK, how we demand appointments, how people just don’t turn up to appointments, how are values and privacy is so internal that it is almost unhealthy.. we are as a society closed off..
I am all for ‘going within’ as this is ascension but we really are on a whole different level in the western world generally – so my conclusion is although I do not know what on earth I would have done if it was a really personal matter.. I have lightened up again.. another level.. taken it in my stride!
The experience as often is in India was liberating.. I was however as both recent visits to the doctor left me last to speak in the room when the others had gone… its just the luck of the list! (Other than the man who came through the back door to gate crash and get to be seen – he stood and listened to my woes)…
Just remembering… another experience..
This then reminded me of when I had personally had to see him 4 years ago after returning from Kashmir with the Swine Flu epidemic – At that time he took me in on my own and I sat down but then he left through the side door in the room to deal with an emergency… leaving the door open though.. in comes a couple of patients who sat in the doctors chair opposite me and started telling me what was wrong with them… they thought I was the doctor!
Still makes me laugh now… took me a few minutes to realise what they were doing!
So just sharing some Indian musings… there’s so much more as everyday and every moment brings something in this vibrant country.. I will be returning soon as I become more fluid in spending time between the UK and India.. so until then..
Namaste – My soul honours your soul.
Tracee.xx
Note: But all in all with so many people to see.. it works.. the system works.. that’s because they are not ‘stuffy’.. they appreciate that they get to see the doctor, respect his time.. its simply procedure to all go in together.
No one is really bothered what you have they have their own symptoms.. generally there is a higher interest of whats wrong with the ‘white one/brit’ but that’s okay.. so much drama goes on in every moment as the whole country is so vibrant.. that actually you very quickly go onto the next experience.
Because life is life and symptoms are symptoms.. we just have to be less stuffy.. and appreciate the value of the experience and opportunity to see a doctor and to be able to afford it 200 rps approx £2.30 a visit – that puts everything into perspective!