moving on...

Anita, being the all rounded saviour that she is, suggested we move to Udaipur when we were ready. Dr. Yamuna had stressed that it is important that the second cast, which is put on a week after the first giving the leg time to heal a bit and for the swelling to stabilize, be placed by a proper orthopaedic not a general doctor in a village hospital. We agreed. So did Anita.

At this point Nisarga said “I wish i had health insurance!”. I looked at him and said “you do!”. That’s right! He had health insurance!!! He forgot. When he was in Poland over the summer he paid for 6 months coverage and it was still valid. He started to call Poland and see what was covered. We found out that from that point on the only medical bills which would be covered would be at doctors and hospitals of their choice, and transportation to and from. Not lodging? Well... if he agreed to go back to Poland they would pay for lodging while he was seen by a doctor, and his flight back with whatever special requirements he had to keep the leg elevated. That way doctors from Poland could attend to him back home. But if he did not agree to go back, not even lodging was covered. Does that make any economic sense to you??? Not us either!!!

No problem says Anita! My mosie (aunt from the mother’s side) lives in Udaipur, go stay with her. We needed to get him walking sticks (crutches for the americans reading this) and i was very ready for some privacy, so either way we needed to go to Udaipur soon and we always had a backup plan if we needed a place to stay.

The boys and i went to hire a car, one that Nisarga could fit in with his leg across the seat... a van of course. Anita talked to her mosie and she said that yes we could stay there for as long as we wanted! And, as luck would have it, she owns a photo studio where we could develop the pictures we had taken (hundreds) on the spot, and give them to the Kumars. Perfect! And she has two sons so if need anything, they are at our disposal. Wow!

The night before we left the women gathered around and put mahendi on my feet and hands. There was a special dinner cooked which was super tasty! The next morning papa angel put on his turban, set it well, and then placed it on nisarga’s head. There was so much pride in that moment. Then the mom went and got her dress up wear and put it on me, along with some jewellery. And so began a beautiful photo shoot with the whole family as if it was our wedding actually. The night before the wedding the woman gets mahendi, just like i did, and then there we were... in the celebration afterwards with all the family pictures being taken. There were blessings given and even the monkeys came out to the road to wave good bye. Papa angel had tears in his eyes. And wouldn’t you know it? We drove past those Jain temples we had wanted to come to this village to see. We didn’t stop, as there was no way for Nisarga without crutches to be able to go inside, but we hope to be back to visit our host family and those temples one day.