So everyone started leaving me, but I was in this bubble of excitement getting ready for Agra, Jaipur, Nepal and TAYLOR AND EVAN! Friends from home! Couldn't wait to see them. I'd bought the airplane tix for Nepal, arranged the car for Jaipur/Agra, the guest house in Gurgaon, and even a room for us in Agra and Pokhara. I felt pretty on top of things, I was even mostly packed a day or two before I left--not bad for miss Aly disorganized.
So, at 4am I head out to the airport. The night before on the way to dinner I'm sitting in Gopaul's car and one of the drivers, who I think is Muti b/c I'm not paying much attention and he was just driving us the day before, pops his head in to tell me he'll be driving me in the morning. Ok, So I walk down stairs to where we always get the drivers, and there is a car there that usually isn't this early in the morning, but no driver. So I wait a few minutes, then start getting nervous. Ok, well, if he's sleeping in the car I can call and wake him up, right? So I do. I call Muti. After almost the whole hindi song that is his 'it's ringing' tone, Muti picks up, a bit discombobulated to say the least. 'Muti, it's Aly, aren't you driving me to the airport?'
'Hello ma'am, what ma'am?'
'The airport Muti, aren't you driving me?'
'Yes ma'am, on my way ma'am'
Hang up. Think for a sec. Get TERRIBLE heartburn, hear something moving in the car and see a foot. Oh shit. it was GIRI. Shit. Shit Shit, how could I do that? What is my problem? I know these guys, they've been driving me around and chatting with me for three months, and I can't figure out who is supposed to drive me to the airport at 4am?
I knock on the window and wake up Giri, I then call Muti and tell him how I am stupid and he should go back to bed and I was confused from the night before. Giri has to explain to Muti what I did in Hindi, and my guess is that he said something along the lines of 'Stupid white girl thinks we all look the same and got us confused, it's ok, I'm driving her to the airport, we are on our way now'...And I don't say he said this bc they are mean, bc they are some of the sweetest guys ever, I say it because I am stupid and should have known better.
So no, that was not the not April Fools....it gets worse. Halfway to the airport in the wee hours of the morning I am going through everything I needed to bring. And I got heartburn, again. The tickets to Nepal! Shit. Shit. Shit. Giri hears me gasp, asks what's wrong, asks if we need to go back. I look at my watch and realize that because of my earlier antics, we do not have time to go back. I can't miss my flight to Delhi.
I know what you are thinking, why does it matter? print them out again at the office. NOPE. In India they do paper tickets. If you don't have the paper tickets, you are SOL. And so, I stress and I stress and I think of all the possible things I could do. Namely call my friends, ask them to overnight them or interoffice mail them or something, we aren't leaving for Nepal until Friday, and it's only Tuesday. But, I won't be in the office the rest of the week. In fact, I won't really be in Gurgaon during business hours either. Shit, Shit, Shit. Plus, it's way too early right now to call anyone.
I try to calm down, relax on the plane. Eat my omelet, thank you Kingfisher Airlines for your lovely service. And sleep as much as I can.
I arrive in Delhi and find my driver, Ramesh. He has a sign for me and everything. Aaah, Google India, thank you for everything you do. I ask to go to the guest house. I figure he knows where he is taking me. He doesn't. Lovely. I pull out my computer and try to pull up the email with the address--I find it, we get there, I shower and am at work by 11, still a little stressed out.
In the meantime I text Jason and say 'please call when you wake up, I need your help (no, I am not hurt)'
Jason calls, I tell him what an idiot i am and he says he'll do what he can, but that i should talk to the travel people and see if i can have the tickets reissued.
ok. I can do that. I find the travel people as soon as I get to the office. Kamal tries to calm me down, I am a little hysterical. How could I potentially have ruined this trip for us? we were so excited for Nepal, were there other places we could go in India--sure, but then we are each out 300 bucks, that's a lot of money to not fly to Nepal. I will get the tickets, there has to be a way.
Kamal says interofficing works just fine, and he can talk to the travel desk in Hyderabad and have them send the tickets via courrier to him, if they get in the mail by 3pm today, they will be to him tomorrow. Sigh of relief. Only, how do i get the tickets? I am going to Jaipur and Agra, I will get back late thursday night and our flights are for 6:45am friday morning. Don't worry he says, the office is open 24 hours, I will leave them for you. Wow, lifesaver.
And now comes the part where my friends don't believe me. Priz refuses to let Jason into my apt b/c she thinks he's playing an April Fool's joke on her. I mean, who wouldn't--on April 1st when we keep talking about playing tricks on each other, I do something no one would think of, esp after traveling for 3 months and having to remember tickets every time.
I call Priz, and try, without sounding mean, but without trying to laugh at my stupidity (for if I laughed she'd think I was joking) and explain that is in fact true, that I am in fact that irresponsible, and I did, stupidly, leave the tickets in my desk drawer at home.
Priz, Jason and Brian all head to the apt together at lunch time, they call me as they walk in. I tell them exactly where the tickets are, realizing how much other weird random crap is in that drawer. Jason finds them and they all give a sigh of relief.
'Dude,' he says, 'You have no idea the retaliation plans we had for you if that was a joke.'
Yeah, I know, but it's not and I'm an idiot.
Thank you Jason, Priz, Brian, Kamal and Krishna for coming to my rescue and helping me, Taylor and Evan get to Nepal!
Sunday, May 4, 2008
Icky Bugs
Back from Cabodia, only a one week left with the whole crew in Hyderabad, and I caught something nasty. That's not fun. Went to work on Tuesday with high hopes for the week. Kick off HTML store building. start wrapping up my projects and shop, go out etc pretty much every night of the week. My how that was derailed.
Tuesday Phoebe was there visiting, we had a meeting, she wanted my bargaining skills. Left work at 2pm for Shilparamum, this great outdoor market in Hyderbad that's only 5 min from work--scarves, bangles, bedding, pottery--you name it, they probably have it, and all at the right price. Also, I have a friend there. He calls out 'Googles, Googles' when you walk by. I mean, as if I didn't stand out enough as a white person, I also apparently stand out as a Googler, even in India--sweet. Well, something worked b/c after sitting in the heat sorting through Pashmina scarves for a half hour, we ended up with about 12, and bargained him down pretty low, even on the nice ones. YIppeee, finally I learned something in India.
We returned to work and I realized something wasn't quite right. I felt feverish, had the shivers in the 40 degree heat (celsius people--imma go with about 104 degrees), and I was sweating. Immediately I blamed Jason and figured I'd caught the fever he had. And so I headed home to rest up--there was a managers dinner that night I didn't think I should miss.
A/C on full blast, still really really hot, slept for two hours, somehow made it to dinner. Left early and went straight to bed--woke up in the morning with tummy pain. ugh. Today was our big training day, I needed to go in. Only till noon, and then i couldn't make it anymore. Back to bed, where I slept all day again, only I kept waking up bc of the pain in my tum. To be graphic--it was just this terrible gassy feeling and gurgling. At least I didn't have a fever anymore?
Thursday I saw Alysia at our last 'Thirsty Thursday' dinner at Fusion 9...I'd only ordered chicken soup--how terrible to only order chicken soup at Fusion 9! Alysia's eyes about popped out of her head when i told her the kind of pain i had--she convinced me I had a bacteria and was probably bleeding internally. Awesome. Apparently I needed to go to the doctor, again.
Friday morning Sayeed and I head to the doctor, not Apollo, the 'fancy' hospital where all the expats usually go, but Care hospital--the hospital that used to be a 4 star hotel, and is now super busy and confusing. They'd told us to arrive at 10, but at 9:45 when we arrived they doctor was still doing rounds, and would be for another 45 min. I showed Sayeed my pictures, he loved them. That was fun. Finally we see a guy who's white coat says Dr. Mohammed something something, my doc--and Sayeed follows him back into the room where he'd disappeared. In we go, past the others waiting. I have to explain to the doctor (and Sayeed who'd come with me to translate just in case) what was going on, the tummy pain, the other stuff I won't make public to the entire internet....Doctor FREAKS out because I was in Cambodia, asks if I am on prophylactics--well, umm, yes. I have Cystic Fibrosis I say, my doctors from home told me to start taking Cipro, so I did last night. No he said, Malaria pills? Oh, yes, Malarone I say. No, no, not strong enough. No fever, not dehydrated, still he wants me tested for Malaria..umm, doesn't malaria involve a fever i ask? No he says, there are kinds you can develop in Cambodia that will be resistant to your malarone and do this to you. If you'd stayed in India, I wouldn't worry, but you went to Cambodia. Interesting, tell that to mom.
Ok, upstairs, doc wanted me to get a blood test, and at this point I just want to know what's wrong with me. So I do it. I mean, it's not such a bad hospital right? Indians survive this kind of medical care, I can be tough, right? We go up to the lab and the guy does not wear gloves, nor does he wash his hands before he begins to put the strap thingy on my arm. NO I say, please wash your hands, Sayeed says it in Hindi, he rolls his eyes and grudgingly goes to the sink. I then watch what he's doing with the needle, notice that it's taken out of a plastic container, but not a plastic sealed bag--new, right? Sayeed sees the needle and makes that noise he makes, sucking in air thru the sides of his mouth, shocked at it's size. Sayeed! I say, Don't scare me like that, you just said I had to be tough!
And that's it, I return home with more antibiotics and these weird electrolyte packages. When I tell Priz and Jason I got blood taken they freak out and start sending me stories about kids who got HIV from used needles in Indian hospitals. Thanks guys. I am going to bed.
I missed seeing Race with the team that night bc I was too sick. I ate noodle soup for about three days straight and I missed all the fun 'out' nights before everyone left. Luckily though I recovered enough before meeting Taylor and Evan for our weeklong adventure. But let me tell you, being sick in india is no fun, even with your surrogate family and everyone there to take care of you. Oh, and when you are sick, stay far away from WebMD, it has a great way of freaking you out and thinking you have just about any disease that even remotely resembles the symptoms you exhibit--Giardia? Dengue? you name it, I was convinced I had it.
Tuesday Phoebe was there visiting, we had a meeting, she wanted my bargaining skills. Left work at 2pm for Shilparamum, this great outdoor market in Hyderbad that's only 5 min from work--scarves, bangles, bedding, pottery--you name it, they probably have it, and all at the right price. Also, I have a friend there. He calls out 'Googles, Googles' when you walk by. I mean, as if I didn't stand out enough as a white person, I also apparently stand out as a Googler, even in India--sweet. Well, something worked b/c after sitting in the heat sorting through Pashmina scarves for a half hour, we ended up with about 12, and bargained him down pretty low, even on the nice ones. YIppeee, finally I learned something in India.
We returned to work and I realized something wasn't quite right. I felt feverish, had the shivers in the 40 degree heat (celsius people--imma go with about 104 degrees), and I was sweating. Immediately I blamed Jason and figured I'd caught the fever he had. And so I headed home to rest up--there was a managers dinner that night I didn't think I should miss.
A/C on full blast, still really really hot, slept for two hours, somehow made it to dinner. Left early and went straight to bed--woke up in the morning with tummy pain. ugh. Today was our big training day, I needed to go in. Only till noon, and then i couldn't make it anymore. Back to bed, where I slept all day again, only I kept waking up bc of the pain in my tum. To be graphic--it was just this terrible gassy feeling and gurgling. At least I didn't have a fever anymore?
Thursday I saw Alysia at our last 'Thirsty Thursday' dinner at Fusion 9...I'd only ordered chicken soup--how terrible to only order chicken soup at Fusion 9! Alysia's eyes about popped out of her head when i told her the kind of pain i had--she convinced me I had a bacteria and was probably bleeding internally. Awesome. Apparently I needed to go to the doctor, again.
Friday morning Sayeed and I head to the doctor, not Apollo, the 'fancy' hospital where all the expats usually go, but Care hospital--the hospital that used to be a 4 star hotel, and is now super busy and confusing. They'd told us to arrive at 10, but at 9:45 when we arrived they doctor was still doing rounds, and would be for another 45 min. I showed Sayeed my pictures, he loved them. That was fun. Finally we see a guy who's white coat says Dr. Mohammed something something, my doc--and Sayeed follows him back into the room where he'd disappeared. In we go, past the others waiting. I have to explain to the doctor (and Sayeed who'd come with me to translate just in case) what was going on, the tummy pain, the other stuff I won't make public to the entire internet....Doctor FREAKS out because I was in Cambodia, asks if I am on prophylactics--well, umm, yes. I have Cystic Fibrosis I say, my doctors from home told me to start taking Cipro, so I did last night. No he said, Malaria pills? Oh, yes, Malarone I say. No, no, not strong enough. No fever, not dehydrated, still he wants me tested for Malaria..umm, doesn't malaria involve a fever i ask? No he says, there are kinds you can develop in Cambodia that will be resistant to your malarone and do this to you. If you'd stayed in India, I wouldn't worry, but you went to Cambodia. Interesting, tell that to mom.
Ok, upstairs, doc wanted me to get a blood test, and at this point I just want to know what's wrong with me. So I do it. I mean, it's not such a bad hospital right? Indians survive this kind of medical care, I can be tough, right? We go up to the lab and the guy does not wear gloves, nor does he wash his hands before he begins to put the strap thingy on my arm. NO I say, please wash your hands, Sayeed says it in Hindi, he rolls his eyes and grudgingly goes to the sink. I then watch what he's doing with the needle, notice that it's taken out of a plastic container, but not a plastic sealed bag--new, right? Sayeed sees the needle and makes that noise he makes, sucking in air thru the sides of his mouth, shocked at it's size. Sayeed! I say, Don't scare me like that, you just said I had to be tough!
And that's it, I return home with more antibiotics and these weird electrolyte packages. When I tell Priz and Jason I got blood taken they freak out and start sending me stories about kids who got HIV from used needles in Indian hospitals. Thanks guys. I am going to bed.
I missed seeing Race with the team that night bc I was too sick. I ate noodle soup for about three days straight and I missed all the fun 'out' nights before everyone left. Luckily though I recovered enough before meeting Taylor and Evan for our weeklong adventure. But let me tell you, being sick in india is no fun, even with your surrogate family and everyone there to take care of you. Oh, and when you are sick, stay far away from WebMD, it has a great way of freaking you out and thinking you have just about any disease that even remotely resembles the symptoms you exhibit--Giardia? Dengue? you name it, I was convinced I had it.
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