There's one thing that drives me crazy here in India. It is the pharmacies and I admit that they make me crazy in every sense, both for how they are and the way they work. I explain better. When I was on holiday recently in Delhi I needed a pharmacy. Without any pharmacies of reference, I stopped at this pharmacy which was located in one the main avenues of Delhi.
In my imagination, the pharmacy par excellence remained the old pharmacy of the past, with the wooden furniture and the old ceramic vases on display. Strolling a while I found one of those pharmacies that are now coming up in almost every corner of the big cities.
The pharmacy that I visited was spread over a large area and was almost like a mini supermarket. The environment was particularly bright and warm, that transmitted positive sensations. It was perhaps due to the mix of external and internal light, architecture and the music in the background. The fact was that as soon as I entered I was captured by a sense of relaxation that encouraged me to slow down and stay.
Here I could find everything and even more but not only in the sense of medicine. It was in the sense of everything, from bread to milk, through disinfectants and soap. Then at the center, I could see the medical counter with a huge collection of medicine to cure almost anything in any way!
But before I get to one of those counters I passed through neatly stacked shelves of products of various kinds. The products ranged from depilatory creams to thermometers. The slew of body creams outweighed the imaginable, not to mention shampoo, conditioner and shower foam! There were products from known and unknown brands with solid packaging.
Everything was super well organized for example the counter for the pregnancy tests was well marked. And not far was a neat rack with condoms, drowned among a thousand similar products. I spent a few minutes in observation to understand what all those tubes served. And in my observation, my eye fell on the DNA test information desk. Yes, I'm not kidding!
Then I continue towards the medicinal section, with a corner especially abundant with vitamin capsules, tonics and supplements for all tastes, shapes and in sizes from mini to maxi. Then there were the real medicines, primarily those available without a prescription. There was really so many, from the classic tablets available in India without prescriptions to the more serious medicines. There were also the pills and antibiotics.
I then seek advice from the medical counter guy there for my occasional irregular bowel, who tells Linzess at present is one of the best. The behavior of the pharmacist at the counter was satisfactory both for the level of investigation, the explanation and the proposal of the product and finally for the empathy. It was really good. At this point, the pharmacist asks me whether I stay near, and tries to make a connection.
I wander for hours seeing the wealth of medicines that exist in our modern world. Wandering around the sales space I managed to grasp the origin of this feeling of wellbeing. There were motivational books and posters.
And, to calm my senses before stepping out in the heat outside at the exit of the pharmacy I find various super healthy drinks, ranging from the diet cola to the not so light to energy drinks. To munch on something, there were muffins of different tastes and crepes. To close the circle there was candy and chocolate.
Then there were always the friendly and courteous staffs willing to listen to my requests. It was all in all a very positive experience.