Sunday Adventures and NRI

Sunday, June 16th

Today we spent all day outside of NRI except for a couple hours of rest in the afternoon.

Our first adventure was to the town of Guntur where our preceptor (Mr. Nayak) lives.  The drive was like most others we've taken in India.  We took highway 5 towards the southwest.  This is the only main artery we've taken by car in India.  Mangalagiri is located conveniently between Vijayawada (where we flew into) and Guntur (near the CHIPS Pharmacy School we visited).

On the road we caught a funny sight.  This collage by Arsen says more about it than either of us could put into words:

Arsen and I have both talked about how interesting the transportation here is.  You can cram as many people as you can fit onto a bicycle, motorcycle, or a 4-in-all and just go.  We have seen bicycles carrying a family of 4 riding down main roads.

Once arriving in Guntur, we picked up Mr. Nayak who directed the driver to stop at 2 local pharmacies.  The first was Apollo Pharmacy.  It's a 24/7 retail chain pharmacy in India.  We didn't spend enough time here to see the way they processed prescriptions or prepared them for dispensing, but we could tell by examining their shelves that they use blister packaging just like NRI does.  This is yet another difference in the practice of pharmacy between the US and India.  In the US, retail pharmacies use stock bottles for as many drugs as possible.

Looking at their shelves, Arsen quickly noticed that multiple drugs are stored in the same bins.  We reflected later during the day how this could lead to dispensing errors.

Arsen outside of Apollo Pharmacy

Down the street a bit from Apollo Pharmacy was MedPlus Pharmacy.  This is another chain pharmacy in India and had much more limited hours than Apollo.

After visiting the two pharmacies, our driver took us to a Hindu Temple along the Krishna River.  This temple was much less crowded than the one we visited last week.  At one point in the temple, a priest takes your monetary donation and rewards you with a spoonful of a very sugary drink.  Instinctively I put out my left hand to receive it (I'm left handed), and was immediately reminded that using your left hand for many things is frowned upon in India as it is apparently traditionally used for less pure actions over here.  If I remember to use my right hand next Sunday, I will consider this rotation a great success.

Arsen at the Temple.  You can see the hospital vehicle we rode in to his right.

Following the temple visit, Arsen and I also visited a museum with archaeological relics.  Many of them were parts of temples or other buildings that have long since fallen.  I  noticed an ancient earring very similar to the ear-gauging ones that have become so popular in the US recently and joked with Dasaradh that it would look good on him.

We also visited a Buddha statue that will be the largest one in India once it is completed.  The statue is under construction both outside and inside.

Arsen in front of the Buddha statue

Arsen, Dasaradh, and myself in fron of the Buddha statue

After lunch in Guntur, we dropped Mr. Nayak at home and returned to NRI for a couple hours to regroup.  I took the time to make a big dent in my 3rd leisure book of the trip.  I think I can get used to this "no more class" thing!

In the evening, Dasaradh, Arsen, and I met our driver again and the 4 of us went to Haailand.  Haailand is a resort/theme park about 10 minutes away from NRI.  The evening admission fee was about $7 for all 4 of us.  We passed some time by looking through pictures of Hindu temples around the region.  It was interesting to see how they changed depending on the country or region they were in.  China had their well known architecture.  India had several styles ranging from the ones we've documented the past 2 Sundays and also several other styles from different regions.  

Welcoming sign to Haailand resort

At Haailand, I was able to get what I consider the best panorama I've ever taken on my iphone.  The view was simply stunning.  In this resort, you seem to forget about all the poverty you see everywhere else in Andhra Pradesh:

Panorama from a building in Haailand Resort

We took in a couple performances from this building.  There were singers, dancers, and acrobats all performing in the small square directly in the center of the panorama shot.  We soon realized that the building directly in fron of us with the green dome would be a better place to see the show, so we relocated there.