DR. V: AN EXTRAORDINARY JOURNEY

Unthinkable

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He crossed five continents over three oceans, through 76 countries and over 1, cities, wearing out pairs of shoes. In , his record was entered into the Guinness Book. The young Romanians travelled wearing the Romanian flag over their national costumes and wore sandals. They broke pairs of sandals and 28 national costumes. The Journey of the four Romanian students started on 1 April , at Bucharest, on a rainy weather and would carry them along the meridians of the globe, meeting at the beginning of the XXth century various notable figures, cultures and populations.

The four travelers faced all kind of amusing and dangerous situations. All four of us were dressed in national costumes and wore sandals, being accompanied by our faithful companion Harap. We left Bucharest behind and headed for Ploiesti — Brasov on foot. In order to financially support themselves, they held small conferences and shows, interpreting Romanian poems, songs and dances in all the great cities and capitals of the world. The shows were often accompanied by musical instruments, such as bagpipe, jews, harmonica, pipe, flute, reed.

In order to attend the contest organized in the French capital, the young Romanians prepared for 6 months in an intense manner. They studied the route, the climate, the oceans and the seas, the populations, the food, the currencies. French, English, Spanish, Portuguese and Italian. They set the route according to the evolution of the seasons, in order to avoid winter. They learned Romanian songs and dances. They equipped themselves with backpacks, canes, clothes, guns, cameras, spectacles, musical parts, small musical instruments, flashlights, electrical or carbide lamps.

Their journey through Africa was very difficult. The tropical heat would burn their faces and the sand would burn their feet. The sandals modified their shape because of the excessive heat and they were advancing with great difficulty. Under the burning sun rays, they walked for 18 days through the Arab and Syrian desert, on the edge of Sahara.

At small periods, a sandstorm would occur, blocking their way and burying them even up to their waists. Water was missing almost permanently and the supplies were quickly coming to an end. A caravan or an oasis that offered them more supplies could be found at large distances. Without being used to this sort of temperatures, the Romanian travelers were subject to extraordinary efforts. The journey took them through savage places, forests and places that were hard to reach. The Globetrotters faced some less pleasant "encounters", even some dangerous encounters with wild beasts.

During the night, when we slept in trees, the monkeys would come and attack us with tangerines, oranges, coconuts and even pieces of wood. They were so many that we had to use the firework machine in order to scare them away. We also fought other creatures here, such as the rattle snake, flying lizards that would immediately change their color and the hamadryad, a bigger and more dangerous boa constrictor. We had our own defense methods for each category of wild beast. We were often stopped by land elevations that could not be passed and had to be avoided in order to continue our journey.

One night we could not find a village to rest.

But the night and the fatigue forced us to set camp each in one tree. We set the hammocks well tied to the trees. But we could not sleep because of the wild beast that howled all night.

One Man's Extraordinary Journey and What Indian Railways Could Learn

Every once in a while, a fruit that would fall from a tree would make us shiver and quickly reach for our guns. Sometimes we would sleep in hammocks, in full daylight and we would see their shadows under the trees. We would stay still, being careful not to make any noise. Many times we would wait for the daylight without closing an eye all night. We had special beds made of net and hammocks.

The skin from their hands had started to peel because of the frost, despite the fact that they wore furred gloves. Their supplies were completely frozen, especially the meat, which could only be cut with an axe.

The snow cyclones covered them in snow up to their knees, sometimes even up to their waists and the only way they could create a path to move forward was with a small shovel. During his journey, Dumitru Dan and his colleagues met with state officials, dignitaries, diplomats, notable figures from various domains, simple secretaries, police agents, postal workers, doctors, priests or sea captains. They had the chance of meeting representatives of the Royal Houses, state presidents, state or province governors, ministers, consuls, commanders and military figures, mayors, presidents or directors of organizations and companies, secretaries, police officers, librarians, museum guardians, reporters etc.

Dumitru Dan, "Ambassador" of Romania, would always come in front of the official authorities and on stage dressed in his beautiful national costume, decorated with medals and distinctions received along his journey.

He never forgot to wear the Romanian flag on his chest. Both during his shows and during the various events and dinners offered in his honor, he would speak about his native country making the history, the folklore and the Romania traditions known all over the world. The young Romanian artists arrived in the Republic of Peru. The passage of the four Romanians through the areas inhabited by the dangerous head hunters could only be full of adventures.

After passing Trujillo City, the Romanian Globetrotters hired an Indian who knew well the habits and language of the Jivaroan people. They gathered supplies and hit the road. After a few hours, they reached the area inhabited by a tribe. Their houses were faraway from the main road, but a few tribe members were standing on guard and the Romanians could not pass without their permission. After the guide explained the situation, they had to sound a horn that had to be obtained by the guide. If they received two answers, the Globetrotters could pass, but if they only received one answer, the Globetrotters had to go to their cottage.

In their case, the guards only replied with one answer and the Romanian travelers had to prepare for the visit. In order to prevent any misunderstanding and to prove the good intentions of the Romanian travelers, their guide painted their face in red, with various symbols, as well as their chests and hands, according to the habits of the indigenous. They attached feathers to their hats and they dressed in a special costume, a sort of native coat.

After that they left for the cottage. Arriving in front of the Jivaroan people, they saluted and started a conversation through their guide. The indigenous were looking at the Romanians with curiosity, being mainly fascinated by their weapons. They immediately thought that the Jivaroan people were expecting a white man steak.

With all their rules, the guide explained that the Globetrotters were expected in the city and that they had to arrive there on time. The saluted the indigenous in the same manner and left. But the furious Jivaroan people threw their spears and walked behind them for a few meters, towards the access road. But they escaped unharmed this time as well.

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They would walk on the streets with all sort of strange costumes, others would pull wagons that transported the audience, when an extremely hilarious show appeared before their eyes. It was a Chinese wedding. The groom and bride walked dressed in silly costumes and were accompanied by a crowd of people dressed in multicolored costumes.

Some of them had a belly in the shape of a pear, while others lodked like circus clowns. Seeing all these hilarious images, I could not stop myself from laughing. Suddenly, a big Chinese came next to me, grabbed me and made a sign. Three yellow heads appeared in the next moment and I was grabbed like a package and raised on the shoulders of two Chinese, Sons of the Heavenly Empire, without having the chance to oppose any resistance.

I was sure that these people were not taking me to a nice place. Where were they taking me? A big gate opened and I found myself in a big, square room, in the middle of which there were 4 Mandarins. Almost 15 minutes had passed without anyone asking about me. It struck me that he could be bleeding from his mouth while they were panicking about blood-vomit, which was a much more serious issue. I was driven by the situation and was in a hurry to find some help. Since April , when I responded to an accident victim and saved his life, I have started paying a lot of attention on first-aid and emergency response topics.

In theory, I know a variety of first-aid procedures applicable to injuries due to accidents and for a few commonly occurring medical conditions. However, a cancer victim possibly vomiting blood was something I had only seen in the movies and had no idea about what procedures to follow under these circumstances. I opened Google maps in my phone to find out the exact location of our train.

Death of fellow travelers

The train had just crossed a place called Veldhurhi and the next closest station was Kurnool, around 35 km away. With some luck, I was able to dial the Omega Hospital emergency number found in the discharge summary. The call was received and an operator connected me to the doctor on emergency duty.

I explained the situation, shared the patient number and asked for guidance. The doctor on duty advised me to immediately admit him to the nearest hospital to get the bleeding arrested. He also asked me to have him sit or stand till he gets to the hospital to prevent choking. I explained the situation and urged him to make some calls to get some help. He appeared very calm, accompanied me to meet the couple and asked them if they wanted to request any doctor.

He appeared to be following some protocol. I learnt later that the TTE is accountable for stopping a train for any emergency and must answer a lot of questions before the authorities. He dialled a number, spoke in Telugu, explained the situation and requested the presence of a doctor. Meanwhile, I asked the TTE to look for any doctors travelling in the train.

From the passenger manifest, we were lucky to find a doctor, Dr. V Rao, travelling in the first class compartment. We had crossed only two compartments when I was jolted to find a very old man in white shirt and white trousers lying down in the vestibule on the floor between the compartments.

His head was down, his tongue was out and he was leaning on the toilet wall. I sprinted to him and started tapping his shoulder. I shouted and asked if he was ok. I checked his shirt pocket to see if he had any ID and to my disappointment there was none on him. He was still breathing, though. The man started responding and moved his head. He could barely open his eyes and was trying to lift his right hand, as if in a bid to get up from there.

I kept asking him about what really had happened and if he was hurt. He appeared to be fine and I thought he probably had fallen down in between the vestibules due to the constantly shaking floor between the compartments.

He was really old too. I palpated his spine to look for injuries but found no signs of it. It also struck me that he was probably running low on sugar. The man was traveling with his wife and she had no idea that her husband had fallen outside the compartment. Here are a few new tomes hitting the market this month for you to enjoy on a summer day.

American Eden by Victoria Johnson.

Celebrating a remarkable journey

But you might not have read up on David Hosack, the American botanist and doctor who accompanied Hamilton and Burr on their fateful duel. David Hosack, Botany, and Medicine in the Garden of the Early Republic you can read more about his life as a pioneering botanist, pharmacologist, and surgeon.

Start reading up on the strange history of hormone research in Aroused: From one of the giants of the science writing world comes a giant book. Lost in Math by Sabine Hossenfelder.

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