udaipur... our adventure continues

udaipur... known world over for it's lake palace (which was featured in a 007 movie) and abundant wealth and rajasthani wealth, and considered the most romantic city of all of india. well, the extent of what we saw in udaipur was mossie's house, the hospital, and the train station. actually nisarga never saw the train station, i went with one of mossie's sons.

originally we were not goin to stay with her, i figured if we are stuck here for a few days lets stay near the lake palace so at least we have a good view. but the reality was that nisarga was still very dependent for basic things and he wanted the reassurance of being close to others. i agreed. he had no idea what udaipur is known for, it didn't matter. and boy did we ever get "help".

Now we were in the city. Running water, toilet, shower, even a washing machine. Mossie and her husband moved into the boys room and the brothers moved in together in one room. The one thing about Mossie is that she likes to feed people. I was already feeling a bit whale-ish since i had not been doing much activity and eating heavy food in Rajpura. But boy does she pile it on! Breakfast, which i usually don’t have anyway, then tea and biscuits, then lunch, then tea and pakoras, then dinner and tea. What??? No way!!! That was my answer and i wasn’t going to be guilt tripped into it. Nisarga on the other hand ate ate and ate some more! He realized later he was numbing his feelings with food, but in the meantime he sure was enjoying Mossie’s cooking. Her sons told us that it’s great when guests come and stay because the quality and quantity of the food increases. Bless them!

He had a CATscan done, fancy!!! It revealed two fractures in fact, one on each side of the ankle. The original, white, cast was removed with a pizza slicer that made Nisarga quite anxious. We were both surprised to see how swollen his foot was and how bruised. And his psoriasis was totally inflamed. A hi-tech cast was put on... using water to seal it. A blue one made of fibreglass which was lighter and water resistant. The doctor said he had to spend the night if he wanted his insurance to cover it, which was bullshit probably but Nisarga accepted. A skin doctor prescribed some ointments for the psoriasis and he was taken upstairs to his room, the best category available. I went back with the hired car and Mossy to pick up a few things for the night. The way it works in India is that it is assumed, and expected, that an attendant, usually a member of the family, stays with the patient at all times. Likewise it is assumed and expected that the family bring over food for the patient. At the public hospitals food is indeed crap and you even have to bring your own bedding! But this was a super fancy private hospital. We assured Mossie she did not have to bring any food over and that we would be ok. Hell, if this was the only way we were going to get some privacy then i would gladly stay at the hospital with him.

the doctor said that in order for his insurance to cover it we'd have to spend the night... which in all probability was not true. but we accepted as it would give us a night alone after a whole week. well... so we thought. every 30 minutes someone kept showing up, to clean, to check on him, to do this or that. so much for our romantic get away in the hospital! we watched movies on the laptop and laughed at the situation. Mossie and Mohit showed up with dinner, of course. And then later the father and the other son also showed up to check on us. So much for a peaceful and restful night at the hospital... never mind romance or playing patient and nurse!

as a side note, every time a nurse or doctor came they spoke directly to me, not him... because i was the attendant. it was hillarious! I realized they were not serving him Indian food and assumed it was again that they thought a foreigner would not like it. We complained and after a couple of phone calls and a visit by a kitchen staff, he was served Indian food; which was much tastier and 10 times the quantity of the “western” option.

so with a new fancy shmancy cast on and walkin sticks, the only thing left was to send the bike to our final destination, goa, and get ourselves there. the bike could go ahead, on the train. oddly enough that was the cheapest and most reliable way to do it. wow. had it packed as cargo and had to fall back on trust (uuugggg). i convinced nisarga to go to bombay for a layover so to speak instead of straight to goa on the train. since i have to manage this transition i know i can get us from a to b to c on the bus. but the train and train stations... not one-legged friendly! so off we go on the overnight sleeper bus to bombay!

so that was our 4 day adventure in udaipur. we are grateful for the home and family care provided to us by mossie, and we hope to return when we can actually see the city!