Delhi Belly

Even though I was riding on a local bus back to Delhi last Tuesday, I thought the trip would still end at some sort of actual bus terminal.  During the final half hour or so of the ride, whenever someone wanted to get off the bus, the driver would just sort of slow down without really stopping so they could jump out along the side of the road. This should have been my warning sign.  When we finally arrived at our destination, the driver just stopped on the side of the highway in the middle of nowhere.  I probably could have gotten off the bus a few stops sooner, but throughout the whole trip I'd really had no idea where were were at any given point.

Once I got off the bus, I was so tired and sick that I just hopped into the first rickshaw waiting in line.  I begrudgingly agreed to pay the fare he was asking even though I was being totally ripped off and he wasn't willing to negotiate.  The ride to the hostel was freezing cold since the rickshaw was completely unenclosed.  Also, as we got closer, it became clear that the driver didn't actually know exactly where he was going.  I was no help since everything looked totally different in the dark and without a million cars around.  The driver didn't have a phone so in the end I had to make a roaming call to the hostel from my phone so they could give him directions.  Once we finally arrived I gave the driver 50 fewer rupees than agreed upon since he had gotten us lost.  In spite of that, I still paid more than I should have.  Gotta love being a foreigner.

After sleeping in quite a bit the following morning, I went to one of the "newer" sections of New Delhi in pursuit of my continuing efforts to digitize the tapes onto my computer.  My new plan was to try to get a Firewire 800 cable so that I could connect my video camera to my new laptop.  When I got out of the subway, I first went to get a pizza at Sbarro since I was still living in fear of eating Indian food.  That turned out to be a mistake since I ended up getting a bad case of heartburn possibly related to my earlier stomach problems.  After eating, I headed toward the computer stores, many of which were decorated for Christmas helping to get me a bit more in the holiday spirit.  I kept striking out at store after store, though, I was getting closer as each unsuccessful shopkeeper tried to direct me to the correct place to go.  Just when I was about to give up, the last shopkeeper I asked told me to go down a hallway on the second floor.  This small storefront turned out to be essentially a "cable" shop.  They had the cable I needed that would connect my camera to the computer, though I still wasn't sure if my camera was compatible with the new version of my editing software.  I decided to take the risk and bought the cable.

I was still weak from my food poisoning and on the train to get to the stores had actually felt faint from standing up until some other passengers noticed and offered me their seats.  On the way back it was no  different, only this time it was more crowded even on my all-women's car since it was the middle of rush hour.  As we were approaching the stop where I had to change lines, I literally thought I was going to pass out.  Thankfully the women who were standing nearby ushered me to a seat and offered me bottles of water.  One woman, in particular, was especially helpful, offering to get me medical help.  At first I refused, but then decided it might be a good idea so I let her help me up to the first aid station.  The woman, who was studying to be a doctor, stayed with me for more than 20 minutes and even brought me back down to the platform with the station managers to make sure I got a seat on my next train.    The good samaritan waited until the train pulled away before leaving to go about her own business.  It meant so much to me that she was so caring to a complete and utter stranger.  l'll never forget her kindness.  She is going to make a great doctor some day.  Once I got to my final destination, there was a wheelchair waiting for me and I felt there was no way I could refuse to get in it.  Still I looked immensely silly being wheeled up in the elevator and even more so after I was unceremoniously ditched by the exit turnstiles to walk out of my own accord.

On Thursday, I spent the whole day just relaxing at the hostel, writing postcards and loading the music video footage onto my computer (the cable worked!)  Apparently I had selective amnesia when I left this hostel the first time, because I had forgotten about the construction work that was going on for more than 12 hours a day right next door.  It was loud and dusty (and the night before I saw a rat... a RAT not a mouse... scurry from the kitchen counter into a hole in the floor), but I was still so sick that I couldn't be bothered to find a more suitable place to spend the day.  The internet was even down for most of the afternoon so I had to go to an internet cafe to print out my plane ticket.  At about 12:30am, I took a taxi to the airport where I hoped to catch some sleep before my 5:30am flight to Jordan.

I'm not going to lie to you--by the time I left, I was quite ready to move on from India.  I honestly didn't have the easiest time there and not just because I got sick.  I had quite a hard time dealing with all the people, pollution and noise.  Of course there were some amazing sites--the Ganges and the Taj Mahal, among them, and I made some great memories.  However, the sensory overload was just too overwhelming for me that point in my travels when I was feeling tired, burned out and homesick.  I'm not saying I would never go back to India, but if I did I think it would have to be part of a much shorter trip.