Work ethic of the Indian Doctor

Dinner with neighbors #13 - The Doctors.

I traveled across the country to present a speech and workshop on community building at the International Listening Association's 46th annual convention at the University in Maryland and was invited to dinner with these two Indian doctors, Tarun and Anisha. Well, they're residents now, they'll be official doctors in a few years.

It's my first encounter with the International Listening Association, but what a fascinating crowd of PhDs, educators, and change-makers of the world - all focused on examining the social connection element that brings people together. Listening being a key ingredient. I'm presenting a talk on how this community is rebuilding. Where we struggle, where we thrive, and how we could generally use better listening from our government, our friends, our neighbors... perhaps.

At dinner with these two doctors-in-training, Anisha spoke about how she had set up several projects that study and train doctors to have better communication and listening skills - something that directly effects patient satisfaction. She mentions how doctors in India are under constant threat of mob attacks (not mafioso, but dozens to hundreds of angry civilians with sticks) on hospitals because of anger at doctors. She says in the west, they're better, but there's still lots of room for improvement. Tarun and Anisha both share stories about growing up studying for med school in India. Instead of 11th and 12th grade, they have something called... coaching - which is essentially hardcore prep school, but it's 365 days a year. Not a single day off of school for two years.

Tarun says that he would dream about biology. He would go over his maths in the shower. He would practice organic chemistry on his bike rides to and from school. He would study upwards of 16 hours a day.

Anisha said that was pretty common. I can't imagine that, and yet, the drive and motivation of a culture to get their youth to succeed is missing in America. For better, for worse? It's unclear.

But what a story, and what a pleasure to meet these two wonderful listeners