My experience working with the Swami Vivekananda Youth Movement in India can be summed up in three words – inspiring, challenging, and fulfilling.
Inspiring: I found it extraordinary how SVYM serves such a diverse geographical population who all have a diverse set of needs. You can be in the city of Mysore, where SVYM offers palliative care services, and then drive three hours into the countryside, where SVYM educates tribal kids. SVYM’s commitment to service and community-focused care demonstrated the qualities developmental organizations need. Furthermore, I was fortunate to have the founder of SVYM, Dr. Balu, speak to our cohort. After hearing that Dr. Balu created SVYM when he was 19, I was inspired by how someone around my age could foster such a meaningful impact. SVYM now serves three million people, proving that one determined person can create a difference.
Challenging: My experience in India would not be as memorable if it were not for the challenges that came with it. The vegetarian diet was a significant adjustment from my nearly- carnivore diet in the U.S. I was worried about how my body would respond to the change in diet, but after the first week in India, I was surprised that I preferred the vegetarian diet. In fact, I had such a positive experience going vegetarian in India that I have incorporated eating much less meat into my American diet.
Another challenge was my research project. My research project for SVYM was measuring patient satisfaction after cataract surgery. I was given a lot of autonomy for the project, which was a blessing because I had the freedom to conduct the project any way I wanted, but also a curse because there were a limitless number of methods on how to measure patient satisfaction. After doing a lengthy literature review on ways to measure patient outcomes after cataract surgery, I finally developed my research proposal. My research proposal adopted a cataract questionnaire that was used in other countries such as China, Malaysia, and England. I then modified the questionnaire so that the questions were relevant to the Indian and tribal context in which SVYM works with. I am excited about implementing this questionnaire because it has never been analyzed within the Indian context, and it will introduce a standardized system for measuring patient satisfaction after cataract surgeries. Lastly, I would like to give special thanks to Dr. Seetharam and Dr. Manohar for guiding me along the way to my first independent research project.
Fulfilling: My six weeks in India is an experience I will continuously reflect on throughout my personal and professional career. Being in a country where the language, food, and people are different than what you have been surrounded by your whole life can be uncomfortable at times. But it is this uncomfortableness that allows you to grow as a person. By embracing discomfort, I have learned so much during my six weeks in India that no class could have ever taught me. I think my favorite experience in India, though, was the people I met along the journey. It is not similarities that make me feel connected to people, but rather our differences. The students, staff, and mentors under SVYM have given me a taste of what Southern Indian culture is like, and I hope to have shared some of my American culture with them as well. Whether it was discussing the Indian and U.S. healthcare system, sharing our different music tastes, or playing a competitive badminton match (and always losing), our differences quite literally spanned thousands of miles apart. I was sad when I had to say goodbye to the many friends I made along the way, but I cherish my experiences with everyone and hope we cross paths again one day.
