Giggly girls, boisterous boys

Some camps were at government (public) schools in poorer neighborhoods around Chennai. We checked the kids mainly for strabismus and
refractive errors. Of course, boys are a little rowdier than girls, but all were surprisingly well-behaved when it came time to do what needed to be done. And all exuded an ebullience that I found refreshing. American kids hate to see doctors and make sure you know it. I didn't receive that message with these kids. I looked different and therefore very exotic to them. Indeed, during my entire three weeks in Chennai, there wasn't a day that passed in which I wasn't incessantly stared at by one person or another.
At the first school camp, each child would come right up to me, salute, and chirp, "Good morning, doctor!" Very cute. Totally disarming. Do you know any child in America who does that when he or she sees the pediatrician?

When I pulled out my digital camera, though, everyone went crazy, at both school camps I went to. I was like a yellow-skinned alien who had descended into school, freed the children of class for the morning to do some cover testing and refraction, and then pulled out a magic little device that could capture their smiles, something they and their families could only dream of affording. Taking a picture of them and then showing it to them on the camera completely delighted them.