When Katie and I left Darjeeling, we finally parted ways after spending two full months together in Nagpur at Nav Jeevan Sanstha. Katie’s visa was ending, so she traveled back to the USA through Mumbia via plane. I on the other hand traveled back to Nagpur via train through Kolkata. While Katie and I were sad to end our time together, we will meet back in New York in a few weeks with our Alma College Model UN team for the annual National Model UN Conference.
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| Howrah Bridge |
After an overnight train to Kolkata, I stepped out onto the platform into the past. The train station in Kolkata was filled with old-time yellow taxi cabs, waiting for a rider to zoom into the traffic. The rising sun lit up the dust all around me, floating through the air. Being only 5:00AM, I decided to wait a bit in the railway station. My plan unfolded as I called Dr. Amitsava Biswas, a friend of Dr. Raju Wilkinson. Dr. Biswas is the director of a renowned eye clinic in Kolkata. He kindly arranged for my time in Kolkata, and I was to meet him at his office across the city around 8:00AM. I first perused the Times of India, used the sometimes working free wifi in the station, and then found a taxi. With an app called Here Maps on my smartphone (Thank you Katie…) which uses the phone’s GPS to pin point your location on the map and give you directions, I guided the taxi to the eye care clinic.
Inside, Nurse Molly and the clinic staff guided me to the
clinic’s private recovery room where I was allowed to take a shower, rest,
relax and have breakfast. After meeting with Dr. Biswas, I learned that the
staff would be spending the day with 7 patients from small, impoverished
villages outside Kolkata that lack access to eye care. Each needed an eye
surgery that one of the clinic doctors would provide free of charge. After
helping Nurse Molly take and record the patients’ vitals, I took a nap before
lunch. During the night, I had not slept much due to not wanting to miss my
station in Kolkata!
After a nice lunch in the clinic kitchen with Dr. Biswas, I
joined the doctors and nurses in the operating theater to observe surgeries.
The patients all suffered from very advanced cataracts that needed to be
cleared from the eye. The doctor would then insert a new, synthetic lens.
According to one of the surgeons (both of whom I watched were female), the
surgery she was performing, small incision cataract surgery, is no longer
common in the United States. Lasers are used in the United States as people
generally do not have such advanced cataracts as to require full removal. Two
patients also were experiencing an overgrowth of the conjunctiva onto the iris
and lens of the eye. The surgeon said that normally she would excise the conjunctiva
affected and replace it with a piece of conjunctive tissue from the other side
of the eye. Since the patients were seeking free treatment though and did not
have means to return to the clinic for follow up, the best she could do for
them was to remove the obstruction and hope for it not to recur.
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| Mother Teresa's place of rest, adorned with flowers and a Rosary |
After a nice night of sleep, I spent the time before my
train departed seeing two of Kolkata’s most famous sights: the Mother’s Home
and Victoria. Mother’s Home is probably better known as the home and tomb of
Mother Teresa. It serves as a home for Roman Catholic Novices and a memorial in
Kolkata for the service Blessed Mother Teresa did for the poor and to inspire
charity throughout the world. When I entered, two novices greeted me and
welcomed me. They made sure I stopped to see both Mother’s place of rest, right
inside one of her own, simple chapels, and the small museum of her life and
work. Mother Teresa kept a map that was on display in the museum. It seemed to
me the best representation of all of her legacy as it had lines from Kolkata to
places all over the world where she hoped to save souls and assist the poor.
The United States was no exception.
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| Victoria Memorial |
The second place I visited briefly on the way to the train station
was Victoria Memorial. A great, imposing marble palace built in the early 1900s
during the British rule of Calcutta, Victoria Memorial has been taken over by
India’s Ministry of Culture as a museum. British Viceroy of India, George
Curzon, built Victoria as a testament to Queen Victoria of Britain upon her
death in January of 1901.
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| Guess who was waiting at Nav Jeevan for me?! |
