Onam Festival 2010

Friday, August 20th, 2010

Blog 1 150x150 Onam Festival 2010This week the students in India have been celebrating Onam, the harvest festival in Kerala. It falls during the first month of the Malayalam calendar and marks the homecoming of King Mahabali. Lasting for 10 days, the festival embraces the culture and traditions of Kerala.

Our team in Trivandrum tell us that “All the students have participated in the Onam Celebrations at Kannammoola house. They have actively involved in filling flowers in the design drawn by Revathy, our housekeeper. Later, Rashmi wearing the traditional costume of Kerala inaugurated the celebrations by lighting the lamps. Manjusha the yoga teacher and her family was also part of the celebrations.

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The feast!

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Work the World India house celebrates the Onam festival

Friday, September 4th, 2009

Onam is the biggest festival in the Indian state of Kerala. The ten day ritual begins on Atham and ends on Thiru Onam in the month of Chingam (August – September) and Keralans spend each day celebrating the harvest and homecoming of legendary King Mahabali. Intricately decorated Pookalam – flower beds or floral arrangements – are presented across the state and snake boat races and exotic Kaikottikali dances draw crowds of tourists from all over. The elephant procession at Thrissur is always a favourite of the students, who love to watch the huge creatures decked out in gold as they sway down the streets.

o4 150x150 Work the World India house celebrates the Onam festival

Preparing the banana leaves

o2 150x150 Work the World India house celebrates the Onam festival

Begin the feast!

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Sophie talks about her India placement

Friday, July 31st, 2009

Before each student leaves we always have an informal chat about how they think their placement went and what advice they would like to give to other students. It helps us make sure the placements are as good as they can be.

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Sophie With Doctor Shajith

We spoke to Sophie and this is what she had to say:

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Student Norman Maciver talks to us about placement supervisors

Thursday, July 9th, 2009

Having completed my exams just prior to arriving in Kerala, I was more than a little jaded with medicine. The thought of immersing myself in the Indian healthcare system for 3 weeks was not exactly the holiday I was looking for and I went away feeling far more like lying on a beach somewhere with a cold beer!

imgp0746 150x150 Student Norman Maciver talks to us about placement supervisors

Norman heads off on a ward round with Dr. Tiny Nair

I started my placement straight away and I can absolutely say that all those feelings of trepidation and weariness disappeared immediately. My time spent with Dr. Tiny Nair and his enthusiastic and knowledgeable team has completely reignited my enthusiasm for medicine. Under Dr.Tiny Nair’s tutelage I have been able to interpret ECGs with a greater degree of confidence and learned more about the physiological basis underlying a wide range of cardiovascular conditions. Witnessing at first hand the efficient, understanding and sensitive manner with which he treats his patients has been so humbling and it’s been great to go with him on ward rounds. His style is fairly informal, with patients’ families being included in everything to ensure they are updated on their loved one’s progress.

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Lily’s trip to Goa!

Friday, June 26th, 2009

After four weeks of my placement I decided to take a week off and travel to Goa. At the end of a 20 hour train journey I arrived in the most developed southern beach, Palolem.

As it was low season, Goa was very quiet, most of the bamboo shacks that line the beaches had been knocked down. However, the beaches are still beautiful, clean stretches of sand where I swam and soaked up the sun. This was definitely the vibe of Goa and a big comparison to the hustle of Trivandrum. In Goa everything steps down a gear.

All the locals were extremely friendly throughout the state, always willing to help, give advice or just stop for a chat! After Palolem I moved on to Panaji, the capital of Goa where the Portuguese influence is most obvious, surrounded by brightly coloured buildings and brilliant white churches. I felt like I was in the Mediterranean.

From Panaji, I continued north on the local buses to Anjuna, hoping to visit the famous Wednesday flea market. Unfortunately due to the rain and season it wasn’t on, so instead I kicked back on the beach again and in the evenings sat in the bars with a glass of cashew fenny and some western style food.

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Barbecue night at the India house!

Monday, June 22nd, 2009

We have Barbeque every week at the WTW house in its very welcoming and spacious roof top where we get cool breeze flowing throughout. In this open place, students come together and meet each other from both the houses. It’s time toimgp0706 167x127 custom Barbecue night at the India house! refresh our mind by saying ‘Hai’ to everybody! Our excellent cook Mr.Vinod makes this day as one of the grand days by providing delicious food and all required drinks for the students. This cool evening is an opportunity to taste the different ethnic foods of Kerala and variety dishes like barbequed chicken, Potato salad, Karimeen Pollichuthe (Barbequed Fish cooked in real Kerala style), Fish finger, fish cutlet etc.

So, this is absolutely a day to celebrate and to make the atmosphere very healthy by interacting all the persons including the WTW staff and some of the students favourite supervisors. Students share their hospital experiences with each other and get valuable information about the healthcare system in different hospitals of Kerala. They soon come to know the exact picture of the medical treatment and hospitals. Students also share their travel experience and they can discuss the many beautiful tourist spots.

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Interview with a supervisor

Friday, June 12th, 2009

eleanor jodie with drsreeja Interview with a supervisor

Dr Sreeja is one of the veteran specialists in Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the Women & Children’s Hospital (W&C) in Trivandrum in Kerala (One of the states in India, known as God’s own Country). Around six hundred patients come here every day to consult the doctors in different departments. She has been working here for three years. And she is extending her hand to our work the world student trainees by sharing her experience and letting them to have direct experience of the medical care and treatment from W&C.

Here she shares her views with one of our work the world staff about foreign medical students and hospital.

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