Category: Watson

February marked what I consider my brief and incomplete spiritual tour of India. While spending some time with a college friend in Delhi and enjoying some familiarity after my months of constant travel around India, I quickly grew restless. I stayed in Delhi as I waited for a response from my contact in Jaipur, an anesthesiologist and found of…(Continue Reading)

Wow. I am actually in disbelief that six months of my Watson have passed. I have spent this quarter of my year in various parts of India: Bangalore, Calicut, Manipal, Goa, Pune, Mumbai, Delhi, Jaipur, and I am currently writing from Pushkar. While in India, I have embraced a much more peripatetic approach than while…(Continue Reading)

“Oh, so you’ve learnt to eat with your hands.” I chuckle and shrug, continuing to tear the chapatti with my right hand. I remain casual, yet I do feel quite proud­­–finally, some approval. Nearly every time I have sat down to eat over the past two months, it has been an anxiety provoking experience that…(Continue Reading)

I’ve spent the last month working at two institutions in the south of India: Karunashraya Hospice and the Institute of Palliative Medicine (IPM). Karunashraya is a 75-bed facility in Bangalore offering free palliative care services for advanced stage cancer patients. IPM considers themselves to be one of the pioneers of the palliative care movement in…(Continue Reading)

Once again, I have waited until the last possible day to publish my monthly post. Perhaps with good reason–October has been a unique month of my Watson year. Between protests, solo travels, and meeting with my family, the time has passed in a completely different way. Instead of hands-on work, October has been more of…(Continue Reading)

Back at home, August is birthday month. There are something like six birthdays in my family in August, mine and my twin brother’s included. So while I am used to celebrating a birthday almost every week, I didn’t expect the trend to follow me here. First it was my host mom’s niece, then my host…(Continue Reading)

And just like that, a month has flown by (and I must write another post to reach my monthly goal). Once again, I have waited as long as possible–Quito has not taught me how to avoid procrastination. I had good reasons for my procrastinating…I was waiting until I had some grand conclusion or profound wisdom…(Continue Reading)

I was planning on journaling all summer to help me process the fact that I will not be home for a whole year. I think I actually journaled four or five times. I was planning on writing this pre-departure post weeks ago, not an hour before I board my flight to Quito…procrastination at its finest.…(Continue Reading)