Sitting in the modern Delhi airport waiting for the next flight I met a Western Buddhist Monk (a student of the Galugpa tradition) who was delightful and I told him about the Journey. We exchanged mutual blessings and shared a table while I enjoyed Pizza Hut Indian style. When he got up to catch his flight a young man took his place who also bemoaned the corruption of the police in India. Apparantly a policeman had ticketed his motorcycle for being parked illegally just as he was walking up. The policeman then solicited a bribe to not ticket the vehicle.
On the flight over to Dehradun (which is very short) I was happy to discover I was sitting next to John S, my partner from the Huntsville Office. That was very auspicious or perhaps great planning from the travel department of our company. The landing into Dehradun was a bit turbulant, possibly because of the nearby Himalyas. After some negotiation we got a cab into town, which was a long ride. There were many trees and monkeys sitting next to the side of the road. There is no other way to describe this taxicab driver's style than motion sickness. This is the point when I first felt nausea...not something I normally feel.
Those readers sensitive to descriptions of bodily functions should stop reading at this point.
By the time I got to the hotel room in Dehradun (much more modest accomodations than the hotel in Kolkata) I was feeling pretty darn bad. And I continued vomiting all night long. I continued to hydrate myself since I figured I must have caught food poisoning from Pizza Hut!!
When it continued into the next day the hotel called a Doctor who prescribed Cipro-D a sleeping pill and a mystery pill that I could not figure out. The doctor charged 1000 rupees which is about $20 and the medicine was inexpensive by western standards. The doctor recommended I eat rice and curd or Kichuree. I decided to try both. The hotel brought the rice and curd with hot chiles (which I knew to stay away from). The Kichuree was prepared in a very spicy manner and was unsuitable in my condition. I next requested apple sauce. Apple sauce is not available in India. One can however order bananas and brown toast. For some reason I had to order this 3 times before I got it...I suspect they thought I was ordering in advance for the morning. (We have had some communication problems with the staff at our hotel since there is only one person on staff who is fluent in English.)
This is why I have not blogged in a while...I have been asleep....or sick...
The antibiotics or the original cause of the nausea (gastroenteritis?) next caused diarhea of the dramatic dark impulsive variety. But that all seemed like a holiday compared with the vomiting I had experienced earlier and I just took imodium until it stopped. I don't know how long imodium lasts but it has been a couple of days now and Imodium really seems to work.
How are you feeling now?
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