Random Fun Facts: First Edition

1)  The bathroom is about a mile away from where I sit at the Site; ok, maybe not a mile, but it’s a good 2-3 minute walk that involves going outside.  I’ve noticed on such excursions that I consistently go to the wrong side of the staircase to pass people.  In the US we keep to the right, in India they keep to the left; both dictated by their respective driving practices.  The result is that I’m fairly convinced that all the Vizag personnel are wondering who the self-entitled white girl is who keeps making them deviate from their norm and move to the right on the staircase. Also, speaking of bathrooms, there are urinals in the woman’s bathroom and they put mothballs everywhere for fragrance.  Lastly, all bathroom stalls have little hoses to clean off your butt when you poop.

No, I haven't used this device.  I'm not sure it's more hygienic than TP.

2)  Indians do a sort of head bobble when they socially interact, typically to display understanding, but it kind of makes me dizzy when I engage them or even just watch.  Also, you can’t ask Indians yes/no questions because they will always deliver a ‘yes’ which means nothing.  They say yes primarily to please, but then whatever you asked for does not get accomplished.  This is particularly pronounced at restaurants, where service tends to be extremely slow; when you do get your food, however, they insist on serving it to you and will take the plate away from you to get you more if they see you trying to get it yourself.  Like in Mumbai, this continues to irk me.

3)  I took a tour of Vizag's manufacturing area and experienced something I never, even in my wildest dreams, thought I’d feel: Mixing Tank envy.  Granted, I don’t expect anyone to understand what I’m talking about since it exclusively relates to compounding pharmaceuticals, but an example may suffice to convey this sentiment.  Imagine you have a super pitiful small battered and bruised mixing bowl and all you have to blend its contents with is a shotty old-fashioned rusty hand-crank mixer.  One day you go over to a friend’s house and they’re sporting a state of the art KitchenAid Professional 620 Stand Mixer.  What you feel is not unlike how I felt looking at those gigantic shiny and new 6,000 Liter tanks with two built-in impellers designed for optimal mixing.  Oh, the drugs I could make!  Or rather, the drugs my Compounders could make since I’ll be Supervising Compounders, not actually compounding the drugs myself.  I'm so proud!  (PS Who in their right mind would pay $900 for a F$#!ing mixer?!)

4)  I’m no longer surprised in the slightest that the majority of NYC taxi cab drivers are Indian.  Compared to India, NYC traffic is comparable to a wide open country road.  Most importantly, though every instinct tells me I should be petrified, I sit back and relax as our driver maneuvers effortlessly around the mind-numbing array of motorcycles, buses, cement trucks, tuk-tuks, pedestrians, food carts, Indian dogs, cattle and tractors.  I simply trust him.  Interestingly, the traffic exclusively relies upon the culturally specific and intricate language of horn honking.  Everyone seems to understand and communicate via the duration and number of honks and moves accordingly like an elaborately orchestrated dance; its hypnotizing.

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