For the love of books....

Hello everyone!

Thought I'd write a few notes about some interesting books we've been reading about Nepal while we're here.

1. Little Princes by Connor Grennan
I was able to read this one a few months ago, and Marion, Eda and Mike are into the story now. It's a fun read. Jist of the story is that an American plans a one year trip in 2004 and hopes to do something helpful during it by volunteering at a small orphanage for two months just outside of Kathmandu. He falls in love with the children and Nepal and embarks on adventures and goals inspired by this.

I love as he comes to terms with what it means to sign up to volunteer (a moment I can remember living myself in the past): pg 16 “I hadn't realized until that moment how much I did not want to walk through that gate. What I wanted was to tell people I had volunteered in an orphanage. Now that I was actually here, the whole idea of my volunteering in this country seemed ludicrous. .... I couldn't recall ever spending time around kids, let alone looking after them.”

There's also his traveller's account of what it was like stepping into Patan Hospital where we are volunteering next door to: pg 36 “..Farad and I took both boys to Patan Hospital in Kathmandu... Inside we navigated the dense crowd. I kept my head up, looking helplessly at the signs in Sanskrit hoping for a clue as to where to go. I found the admissions desk... she called over a colleague who knew a few words of English.. The hospital itself was a terrible place. It felt more like an abandoned bus station than a medical facility. Everywhere, patients sat or lay down with wounds covered in dirty bandages. ... We were directed to yet another room, where we were told to take a number and wait our turn. The number on the screen was six. I looked at the number on my piece of paper. Seventy-nine.”

We've not had the need to be patients ourselves yet. But the faculty we've met have been inspirational.
In general, my perceptions of the hospital have been more positive than this.


2. Red Dawn Rising by Katrina Butterworth
Thanks to our mentor Dr. Bob Wollard at UBC for recommending this one. Katrina has lived in Kathmandu for many years I understand, and wrote this work of fiction which describes the Nepali Maoist insurgence and a family's survival through it in wonderful detail. There's several moving moments in it for those of us in health care-- another account of Patan hospital: pg 3 “A woman sat in the crowded room and tried to look around her without actually catching anybody's eye. She had never been inside such a huge building... In this room the outside clamour of hundreds of voices had settled into a slightly respectful murmur... In front of them were ranged a row of desks.. and beside each desk was a man or a woman in a white coat with a bit of tube strung around their necks – the doctors she supposed.... She had been waiting for hours. From 5 o'clock this morning, she had been standing in first one queue and then another. Impatient men had pointed her from line to line...One of the doctors called out...”Which one is sick?” “All of us”...”Then you should have bought three tickets, not just one.” The doctor looked at the flash of panic in the woman's eyes and sighed in exasperation. These village women were so hopeless.”

There's much more “food for thought” in this book. A must for anyone thinking of coming/volunteering in Kathmandu I think. Just makes you reflect.


3. Lonely Planet Nepal
So glad Renee was able to bring few copies of this one! Renee and Mike have been keeping us up on the history of Nepal with the Forward in this book. It's also been great for helping us create our own walking tours in Nepal, and the maps as always are helpful. For Pokhara, we used it to find our “luxury” hotel that donates its proceeds to a Cardiology fund (kind of fitting for this trip!) and for a few tips on restaurants (I ate at the highly recommended Canadian/Nepali restaurant there... mmm amazing paneer and naan!)


4. The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell
This book has been out for awhile, but just had a chance to read it. My sis Lauren was a bit curious this book was in the “Self Help” section of Chapters online (and kindly loaded it onto my Kobo for me). But the author tries to break down why change can occur, suddenly but not always spontaneously. It made me analyze some of my friendships and connections back home but also loved the health care example on the spread of syphilis and thinking outside of the box on what caused the spread of this STI in Baltimore.

It seems I always get more reading done when I travel.... next on my list: “250 mistakes 3rd year Medical Students Make”. Crossing fingers I learn something in that book too!