hydration

It is quite dusty here.  My feet plus dipper water = dirty flip-flops daily at the beginning of my dipper bath.  This was one of my first impressions of India.  I've taken to rubbing my no-rub contact solution into my contacts every 2-3 days to allow me to see clearly the next day.  I've also learned to drink from a water bottle without touching the spout, like I used to do on family camping trips, although I still spill if I'm the first one to drink from a full bottle.  I think I'm probably actually better hydrated here than at home, since I drink a full liter bottle (at least) a day plus coffee and tea.  Taking doxycycline with a full cup of water daily probably also helps my hydration status.  :)

india information

I’ve been doing a lot of reading about India and Zambia to understand better the culture, history, and circumstances of the people I will meet. This also helps me to feel not-quite-as-behind my Indian-American friends with whom I will be traveling (thanks, Nithya, Thenu, and Obi, in advance for answering tons of questions!). So that you start off in a similar position as I, I include here some information about India, my first destination. Much of the statistical information is from the CIA World Factbook. Disclaimer: I am not faultless and may get some facts wrong or over-generalize; the intention is merely to give you an overview. :)

I will be living in Tamil Nadu, a state in the southeastern tip of India. It is part of South India, differentiated from North India by language (Hindi is more common in the north, while each state typically has its own language in the south), ethnicity (the north is more Indo-Aryan and the south Dravidian), and culture (multiple in both locations but especially in the south). The language and people group of Tamil Nadu are both called Tamil, so I will be attempting to learn (with some help from fellow Indian-American medical student travelers) a bit of Tamil en route to India as well as while there. I do not aim for fluency or even conversationality, but common things like “thank you,” “good morning,” “does this hurt?” for use in everyday conversations and medical encounters in the hospital will probably be helpful.

 
The state north of Tamil Nadu is Andhra Pradesh, my traveling companion Nithya's home state; the state to the west is Kerala, where we hope to do some backwater touring.

Country statistics (comparisons to USA in parentheses for reference)

• size: 3 million sq km – 1/3 the size of the USA
• population: 1.1 billion people (second most populous country in the world – compare USA 307 million)
• median age: 25.3 years (cp. 36.7 yrs)
• Vellore town: 200,000 (cp. Philadelphia 1.54 million)
• health statistics
• infant mortality: 30 deaths/1000 live births (cp. 6.22)
• total fertility rate: 2.72 children born/woman (cp. US 2.05)
• HIV/AIDS adult prevalence rate: 0.3% = 2.4 million people living with HIV/AIDS (cp. 0.6%)
• life expectancy at birth: 70 years (cp. 78 yrs)
• major infectious diseases: bacterial diarrhea, hepatitis A and E, typhoid fever, dengue fever, chikungunya, Japanese encephalitis, malaria, leptospirosis, rabies
• religions
• Hindu 80.5%
• Muslim 13.4%
• Christian 2.3%
• Sikh 1.9%
• languages
• Hindi 41%
• Bengali 8.1%
• Telegu 7.2%
• Marathi 7%
• Tamil 5.9%
• etc. – 14 official languages besides Hindi
• education
• literacy – 61% (73% male, 48% female)
• school life expectancy: 10 years (11 for males, 9 for females)
• politics
• 28 states, 7 union territories
• capital: New Delhi
• Independence: August 15, 1947