Diwali season is upon us in the motherland and bears much resemblance to Christmas in terms of festivities, family bonding, gifts, diabetes, and fat merry men (well, only if my uncles come home on Sunday- fingers crossed). This also means entertaining superfluous visitors at home who drop by at any time of day or night convenient to them. That’s one thing I love about India- never been one to dislike oodles of company, I love the fact that people drop in unannounced all the time. Apart from giving me the chance to perfect my perfect daughter act, there’s always some element of anxiety that follows as I wonder what they have brought me (usually food, yay!)
This afternoon however, was muy diferente. Homeboy rolls in circa afternoon time and decides to drop a book off for my father (I am immediately not impressed since he brought no food, not even one little laddoo. How I love laddoos. The big yellow ones. Yum :) ). Turns out, he is one of the leading gynecologists in India (yes, HE. Ew) and heads the state’s doctors council. I naturally involve him a conversation surrounding medicine and public health. Over the course of our dialogue, I grew visibly infuriated and started to debate with him to the amusement of my father. Some of the topics were- how he belives that public health is akin to sanitation work- it’s not a real discipline, people who cannot get in to medical school choose public health as a last option, and my favorite- HIV/AIDS is not an issue in India, only 'those Africans' need to worry about it.
Scenes of fight club/gladiator and my taekwondo class were running through my mind as this man spewed his 18th century ignorant bullshit on me- thinking that I would have nothing to retort (given my apathetical generation). I told him about the basic constructs of what public health is, how I chose not to go to medical school, and how India has surpassed South Africa in having the shameful distinction of largest population afflicted with HIV (in pandemic proportions, really). He left soon after my spirited (I thought) argument, although I left out much of what I wanted to say out of respect for the ancient man. As any Indian, I started talking (fuming) about the man as soon as his car hit the driveway (don’t lie, whenever you all went to dinner at some uncle/aunty’s house, you all started to talk smack about everything about them with your parents the second you sat your ass down in the car. It’s ok, it’s innate in you and I. Embrace it).
I have known the general ennui in India with regards to public health for a while now. In a country where kids’ grades determine whether they become bankers or doctors- not personal propensity or desire; where a female is expected to get married before the age of 25 (or else something is wrong with her); and where the general attitude is not to do anything proactively like work out civic, domestic, environment problems and expecting the government to handle it (and later blame the government for every single existing problem); I’m not surprised. But the minute respected, educated, and worse yet- influential people start making ignorant comments such as these, I am appalled. If these people have no concept of some of the glaring health and social issues facing their own country, how is the layman supposed to understand?
I have always been surprised by the lack of general awareness of public health problems in India- be it communicable killers, like HIV/AIDS, or preventative diseases like malaria, TB, diarrhea- to non-communicable ones like diabetes and heart disease. There are embarrassingly few national institutes committed to this cause, while international funding and interest abounds. The first of its kind- masters in public health is just being introduced in the country via 7 national centers in the next two years. Seriously?!? It took this long to realize specialized policy-makers were needed? In the West, it’s popular- trendy even to be interested in a career in public health, while here, the concept is alien, yet the MOST pressing. So many students like myself are involved in projects within the subcontinent, while its own children do not realize the urgency. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is pouring truckloads of cash into the subcontinent in research initiates, while the new supposed ‘richest man in the world’- an Indian, Mukesh Ambani has undertaken no such endeavor to reverse cash flow for a change although his Reliance industries is worth billions.
The mindset of people is what needs a make-over, in order to trickle upwards to the government and important policy-makers, but I don’t know how. I see commercials almost daily from Bollywood celebrities and cricket players telling mothers to take their child to get vaccinated. People attribute this media blitz to the negligible rate of polio now and are busy patting themselves on the back for it. So is that the impetus Indians need? Sachin Tendulkar telling me to do something or else he will beat me up with his willow bat? Shahrukh Khan telling me to take my kid to a local doctor for his OPV or else he will shoot bullets at me with his meticulously lasered dimples? Oy ve.
Bah this has been depressing, yet cathartic for me. I am not sure if I should even post this, but whatever I don’t care at this point. I am tired and hungry. And you know that combination makes me a very cranky girl. Before I leave, shoutout to little homie down below that kept me company as I wrote this in my room. And no, he wasn’t this big- it’s just a really zoomed in picture. Bye!
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