Oh the contrast

India is definitely the land of contrast…

For a few days now I have felt that something wasn't entirely OK with my jaw. When I bite down there is tension on the lower right side and things just don't seem to align as they should. Now I happen to be so fortunate that my colleague's brother is a dentist, so we talk and I am told to just go visit Dr. M and he'll sort me out just fine. As I have been throught Hyderabad once today with auto rickshaw I opt for a cab. Now one of my colleagues was good enough to help with this and the cab should have arrived by 18:00. At 18:15 I walk back to my flat to drop my laptop and notice the government plated Tata Indica. I walk back to the office, read the paper, etc. I finally I push my colleague to find out where the cab is and we finally figure that it is coming. Now as I come out I see the very same Tata roll up. The driver didn't know where exactly he was supposed to go so he just parked halfway down the road and expected that things would sort themselves out.

I arrive at the dentist office/muslim prayer room and announce my arrival. I spend few minutes reading a booklet on Islam and am then introduced to Dr. M. Now Dr. M is in his thirties and has a very long beard and is wearing a taqiyah (Muslim skullcap). I come in and am introduced to his friend who is a famour cricketer! Dr. M has lived 5 years in Chicago and I can only say that he is one of the kindest gentlemen I have met in a long time. We chat about family and being in Hyderabad and what I am doing here. I explain the ailment and he looks and finds a few cavities and we go to have an x-ray taken. Now it turns out that I have a wisdom tooth coming in horizontally, something akin to someone slapping down a door with a log. Do yeah, we know what this means. Now it is about 19:30 so he tells me that I need to go to another clinic to have another type of x-ray taken. My reaction of course is "well I can do that tomorrow and I don't really know how to get there". This would be normal in any of the countries I have ever lived in, not India.

Now Dr. M says to me "Abdul here is studying to become a physiotherapist, he will take you to where you need to do". I get introduced to Abdul who asks is we should take his motorcycle…noooo. So into a auto we go and drive 5 min down the street to a little clinic. I am starting to get used to the standard of things in India, but this clinic looks something like what I imagine the worst social services office in New Jersey would look like. 1 x-ray image of mouth 300 Rs. Do I pay, noooo, the clinic will sort that out. Also Abdul paid for the Auto. As we wait Abdul and I talk about all matter of things, including religion. Abdul is rather devout and finds it a little difficult to believe that I don't attend church. Never mind that, I still think I am invited to his wedding next month.

Back to the clinic and I have exchanged numbers with Abdul and we may hang out sometime soon. We drill out a plan for removal of the first tooth…how about Saturday? When is good for you Rasmus? Make sure you eat a meal first! And now the other thing, as anyone who has even seen me smile knows, my bottom row of teeth is fucked. So yeah, I may need to get braces. Now I believe when I was around 13 my mother and I spoke to the dentist about me getting braces and it was something like 2,000-3,000 and this is 10-15 years ago. They could offer financing, etc. Now India is the same in terms of financing…but the whole thing should cost me around 10,000 – 15,000…Rupees! So basically about 1/10^th of the price.

I also get the prescription for the necessary antibiotics to be taken before and after the op. Off to the pharmacy? Hell no, yes get the drugs the reception. 3 different meds, total cost 140 Rs. So basically at the moment I am in dentistry paradise (did I mention I didn't say for the consultation). And it's not just here. I also needed to have blood tests done as a requirement from the Indian state. Full blood works for AIDS, syphilis, hepetitus, etc. Now I think in Denmark this would usually take about 3-5 days. In India: 2 hours.

On the flipside at work we have had a shipment stuck in customs for over a month. Daily calls and visits do not seem to be able to budge them and we are constantly led to believe that tomorrow will be the day that it gets released…Yeah, contrast.

On the topic of friendly people I met a man in the swimming pool and chatted so well with him that I am now suffering from the worst sunburn I have ever experienced. This was Saturday (today is Wednesday) and my shoulders, back, chest and stomach are still red and tender though my forehead has started to peel. This shocks Indian and they don't really get what is happening to the white man who resembles a leper. Anyways, the gentleman in the pool was a pristine example of the educated, well-to-do class here. Owns his own IT company, lives in Columbia, wife works in the company and is supposedly very independent, mother is a journalist and feminist writer, and so on and so on and so on.

It takes all types and India has them.