You Just Can't Plan in India

So before I even start this blog, let me first tell you that while I am typing, Survivor is on TV because I am waiting for Friends to come on this channel and it reminds me of when people used to ACTUALLY watch Survivor...like 20 seasons ago

Now today did not go at all like I had planned it to. I must first tell you that even though I have not mentioned it, I start off everyday in India for the past...2 or 3 weeks with horrible stomach cramps. I gotta give it 15min to half an hour and they go away and I go on with my life. No problemo. But today I woke up at 8 am with stomach pains and didn't have to leave the hotel until 9:15 so I am thinking I have plenty of time. Then Shibu calls at 8:45 and says not to worry about getting there until 10 or 10:15.

Now I have even more time! Except that this time the pains do not go away. I have a god awful stomach ache on the very last day I get to go to the clinic. And being VERY experienced with stomach issues, I know that the only thing to do is to ride it out and hopefully doze off and after awhile it will go away. So I tell Shibu that I am sick but that I will rest and hopefully come in at the end of the day.

I proceed to either sit on the floor and pour hot water over my stomach (my solution to not having a bathtub) or to find a comfortable position on my bed and try very hard not to move except to eat a few biscuits or drink some water. I eventually fall asleep watching Nightmare Before Christmas. I wake up shaky around 12:30 with Shibu telling me that he has to leave at 2 for a case. So I get up and get dressed and go sit with Shibu while he eats.

He and I chat about life and such and how I will miss him very much and how I am supposed to call if I need ANYTHING veterinary related or otherwise and he is supposed to let me know whenever he finally decides to come to the US.

Then I went home with Suhra (I don't know if this is the correct spelling and as I suspect you don't care, I will not be getting up to check but she is the lady I visit with after work) and we went to her daughter's house. I have never felt more appreciated as they kept telling me how much they would miss me and Suhra told me more than once that she loved as her own daughter and did I really need to go back to the US? I tried to chat with her granddaughter who is only in about 2nd or 3rd grade, Neha (knee-ha) but she is very very shy and would only grin. Even when I asked her what it is she likes to do because I want to send her a present from America but she did give in and tell me bye eventually and she took a picture with me :-)

But anyways, they made me food, enough food to feed at least 4 or 5 people, and I was the only one eating it. And everyone watched me eat....and told me not to worry about it. But it is weird to have 3-4 people watching you eat. Very strange. Plus the food was amazing but it was the only food I had eaten that day and I did not want to eat too much and anger the stomach gods into making me sick on the train tomorrow. They insisted that it was ok and that it made them happy just seeing me eat. Whatever floats your boat man.

I promised that I will visit when I am back for a few days before I fly out. And I promised Suhra that I will write her letters and will email her daughter. I also plan to send her granddaughters those animal shaped bracelets everyone is nuts about in the US, I think that would be fun!
Got my sari blouses today!!! YAY! The tailor who did them is a woman who has trouble speaking and doesn't speak English, but I paid 50 rupees more than I needed to because she is so nice and looked so genuinely happy to see how happy I was that they fit. We did many thumbs up and I really am so excited. Can't wait to wear them!

As a last note, I had two weird dreams while I dozed this morning. One was that one of my adult teeth got loose and came out. In the other I was walking around Fort Cochin but I had no clothes on so I was trying to find something to wear (no clue why I was naked in this dream) and so I ran into a shop and wrapped a quilt around me but I knew the quilt would be very expensive so I was trying to figure out how much I was willing to pay not to be naked when I realized that I was wearing the Ali Baba pants and that I could pull them up to cover my top and not have to pay anything. Yea dreaming when you are sick is messed up.