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Delhi heat and fever
Entry 36 of 41 | show all | print this entry |
As I mild fever numbs my brain, I am dealing with saying my goodbyes to India. The last several days of transit have taken their toll on me and I am not feeling at "full power." I am barely dealing with the intense heat that seems to envelope me in a choking, thought amputating fog of blistered brain cells and sweat that seems to pour from every inch of my body.
Parting with Diu was a melancholy affair. However, I needed to head to Jaipur to get some problematic shipping issues sorted. The 11 hour trip via sleeper bus to Ahmedabad was the least painful part of the journey as I slept through most of it quite soundly. When I did get to Ahmedabad it took me a couple of hours of running around trying to sniff out the commission sharks while trying to get an onward ticket to Jaipur that morning. Unfortunately it proved futile and I had to go to Udaipur instead.
As I waited on the bus anxious to depart for Udaipur, the bus driver did about a dozen circles around the bus station to pack the bus to capacity. With the bus bursting with sweat and flesh and the morning sun already ravaging the passengers we set off on the 7 hour journey to Udaipur.
India in the hot season is an unbearable oppressive beast. The winds instead of providing a cooling reprieve, feel like a blow dryer gusting against skin. Breezes that hit the face parch the lips and scorch my eyes and I have to continually blink to keep my contacts from shriveling up. The intensity of the heat tires the body and slows the brain and I become soporific unable to keep my eyes open. Through the entire afternoon on the bus to Udaipur I jugged water between naps that verged on dream like mirages as I came in and out of consciousness.
Finally arriving in Udaipur I booked my next bus ticket that evening to Jaipur where my textile shipping troubles await. As I had all afternoon and evening in Udaipur, I headed to Lake Pichola and the old city to relax and have lunch. The second time around I found Udaipur even more charming and wondrous. The intense glare of sun on the wind swept surface of the lake, the gentle arches of Raj and Mughal architecture, the winding streets bursting with shopping delights, and cold fresh lemon sodas in the company of elephants. It's pure bliss to find one enjoying a mango crumble and soda whiles an elephant and his mahout smiling in your direction. There is no love as beautiful as that of an elephant and his mahout.
While wandering the old lanes of Udaipur and taking in the inlaid havelis, I see Jo coming towards me amongst a group of backpackers. Jo and I manage to continually bump into each other throughout the continent and even managed to arrive in India the same day as well as leaving the same time albeit different flights. Despite being separated at Diu only several days prior, we launched into a new rendezvous with Udaipur swirling about us.
Lal Ghat Guesthouse is a beautiful haveli on the shores of Lake Pichola overlooking the city palace and the orange sunsets. A veranda juts out over the banks of the lake as travelers gather together to eat, smoke, drink, and chat away the days. This scene so common in India has become intoxicating to me as the constant stimulation of conversation, philosophical debate, political exchange, and adventure tales keeps me entertained all my days. With my departure quickly approaching, Jo and several other travelers convinced me to spend the night and leave the next day. As it does not take much for me to accept a simple suggestion, I answered with the usual "why not."
Jo quickly took charge and called the bus company to change my ticket. After informing them that she is a nurse and that I have a serious intestinal infection with explosive diarrhea and near kidney failure which would result in me potentially dying on the bus, they agreed to refund half the cost of the ticket. With my booking moved up one day I spent the rest of the evening enjoying new found friends and the giant bats gliding in great clouds above the lake.
Night slipped into morning as I roused myself from a deep restful sleep in the immaculately clean hostel dorm. After yoga on the roof while watching the sunrise change the city from hazy night blues and grays to gentle sweeping swaths of yellow, crimson, and orange. The heat once again hung at the brink of bursting through the gentle mornings calm. That next evening saying sad farewell to Udaipur I was on my way to Jaipur.
The bus ride proved to be too much for my health to handle, as I spent the night awake and violently jostled by the bouncing bus. The last sleeper bed in the back is the least coveted place for an overnight journey as it is common to find oneself suspended in mid air as the bus hits a treacherous bump before crashing down back onto the bed with a rude start. Needless to say I suffered sleeplessly most of the night before arriving in Jaipur in the early morning exhausted and with a fever slowly growing in my chest and head.
Jaipur was just as dusty and congested as I had remembered it. The summer heat however inched it up a notch in its brutal assault on any passerby or inhabitant. After a filling European style breakfast of eggs and a crisp India Sunday Times, I headed to HanumanJi Ka Rasta, one of the largest gem dealing areas in the world, to meet my Indian friends and problem fixers. Things went smoothly enough as a trustworthy Indian friend is indispensable for sorting out all types of matters, and in no time I was back on the Shatabdi Express to New Delhi.
Being fed snacks, drinks, and juices for the entire 5 hour train ride on the Shatabdi, I reveled in the heavily air conditioned confines of the pristine train cars. These express trains are truly a most marvelous Indian respite from regular lower class Indian travel. On time, well serviced, and carrying an elite crowd of India's middle class speaking eloquent English they are easy on the nerves. At the Delhi train station I was met by my hotel and my weary, fever addled body was transported to my Paharganj mid priced hotel.
Now I prepare for my night flight to Europe after 6 months traveling the subcontinent. It looks like I might be coming back after the hot season and the last drops of monsoon rains in September. I can't imagine being away for too long. Everything is possible here and I quite enjoy that vast landscape of potential.
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| 36. | Delhi heat and fever - Delhi, India Apr 30, 2007 |
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