More on doctors and life in general

Sid has had fever since Saturday. Last night it was particularly high and being used as we are to 24-hour helplines in the US, we called the hospital (where his ped consults) at 6 am. This is a children's hospital, quite well known in the area. The guy who answered the phone told us there are no pediatricians there at this hour, best thing would be to talk to the doctor. He just gave us the doctor's home number. I spoke first to her husband and then to the sleepy doctor herself. She told us to sponge him down with cold water and he'll be fine. My MIL seconded this suggestion and we did it, it did help him.

Later in the day, I took Ani to see her for his immunization shots. She asks me how Sid is, and considering that today was his 4th day with fever, dashed off a prescription for an antibiotic.

Some glaring differences between US pediatricians and peds here - In India, most peds don't check for ear infections, which is one of the first things they do in the US. On the other hand, antibiotics are not the first line of defence in India. But, they freely prescribe antibiotics on the phone or without seeing the patient.

Guess there are good and bad things in both approaches. However the ability to wake up the doctor at 6 am and speak to her was just great. No way would they hand out the doc's home number in the US.

In other news,Arjun got his 3rd tooth. Sid is yet to start on the toothy front.

D got his car finally - Maruti Swift (http://www.marutiswift.com) - Azure grey color. Car looks very nice, feels solid. Maruti's well oiled marketing machine tried to sell all their rust proof paint, insurance, finance etc etc but by now we've seen it all to get the "topi" put on us any more.

We're now in our 4th month here. Slowly getting adjusted to a different cadence of life. There are infinite number of good things about coming back and infinite number of things we miss about our old life in the US.

Staying at home makes me restless but on the other hand I can't imagine leaving the kids and dashing off to the other end of the city and putting in long work days right now. I hope to find some happy medium one of these days. In the meanwhile, my days are filled with baby and kid stuff, packing lunch for D, calling the washer/dryer repair guy/plumber/water supply guy, picking up Ani from school, shopping at Foodworld, taking kids for their shots etc. Am quite a regular
soccer mom now, the Santro being my minivan of choice :)

Servants and stuff

I read this article called "Rich Desi Poor Desi Smart Desi" (a humorous take on "Rich Dad Poor Dad"). Basically talks about how the average techie desi will probably save a 1000 bucks a month throughout his tenure in the US, return to India and then end up saving around 500 bucks a month - prices in India being what they are, esp in the big cities like Bangalore, this kind of desi is destined to remain poor because he ends up actually taking a pay cut to come to India, spending as much as he would in the US and then actually saving less. The Rich Desi on the other hand is the one who made it big in the US and can actually afford servants there etc. This type will never return to India. The smart desi is supposedly the best kind - he buys property in India like crazy when has the US dollar power, rents it all out and lives life king-size.

I'm not sure which category we fall into - we're definitely not rich, or else we would not have returned, as per the theory ;D No property rented out to make us smart desis either!

Talking of servants, my observations (along with Deepak's) are -

1) You get a lot of hired help in India but they are totally unreliable. Any tales you heard of people arriving late here are very true. Our plumber turned up after 15 days today to finish what he had left had done.

2) The disparity between the "servant-class" and the upper middle/middle class is huge. I went shopping in Spencer's (Costco type outfit) yesterday for cleaning supplies, juice, fruit etc. My bill came to 2K, which is the monthly salary of our nanny.

Given this disparity it is natural that they will look at all your "stuff" and comment. We come in contact with several people during the day - the nanny, the maid who cleans the house, the chowkidar, the driver, the garbage guy etc. - most of them have commented on the "American" toys and furniture we have.. it becomes natural to keep valuables under lock and key and become very cautious about what you take out.

3) They don't know how to operate our washer and dryer or to clean my nonstick/ceramic cookware. So I end up doing dishes late in the night and lugging laundry up to the laundry room. Sometimes makes me wonder what we have all these people for!

4) Loss of privacy. This is a big one for me so far. I expect I'll get used to it as time passes.

5) The maid servant will clean the bathroom but will not touch the toilet - it is beneath her to clean it!

By now anyone reading this will say, comeon! You're grumbling too much.So let me list the positives.

1) Our chowkidar Sunkiah does the water management i.e., when water comes at some unearthly dawnish hour he turns the pump on and makes sure our over head tanks are full. Our house is relatively secure because of his presence.

2) Our nanny makes my day sane! Enough said.

3) Due to the driver (actually he is my FIL's driver, whom I borrow liberally), I don't have to worry about chaotic traffic or non-existent parking when I go out shopping etc.

4) Food never goes waste. There is always someone willing to take yesterday's rice etc. We eat a lot healthier here because the food is always made fresh.

All in all, servants are definitely a mixed blessing. Love them or leave them, once you get used to them, you cannot do without them!