Please Kill Me

I took a sleeper bus to Jodhpur which was very different from the sleeper cars you get on the train.  The train cars have airconditioning (a bit too cold actually) a pillow, sheets and a blanket.  The sleeper bus is a dusty pod with sliding windows.  It felt just like Burning Man.  You are breathing in very dry dusty air, on dusty bedding.  Your earplugs barely muffle the sounds of very loud repetitive music (coming from the driver's cab.)  And people coming and going in outrageous outfits.  Add a terribly bumpy road, frequent stops, shouting farmers loading the bus and ferocious mosquitoes.

I got to town in a pretty miserable state.  Somehow I must have fallen asleep because I woke up to a guy shoving me yelling at me to get off now.  I made my way to a guest house that someone had recommended, I think my idea of roughing it is a bit different than his.  The room was way up at the top, so broiling hot.  It was exactly the size of the bed, plus a nook in the corner which housed a pile of old dusty furniture and a walkway on one side.  Real sleep was only only a fantasy, especially with the mosquitoes that didn't respect the windows, maybe if there was glass or a screen on them, or some sort of shutter it would made it clearer to them that they were not welcome.

I was proud of myself for drinking so much water.  By noon I had almost finished a liter.  And then I had one more gulp, and realized why I was so thirsty.  The water wasn't going anywhere, it had just been piling up in my stomach until that last gulp filled it to the brim and it had to come flowing back up like a gusher.  At the bottom of the clean pure water that had taken 6 hours to consume was a nice little pool of blood.  I have food poisoning, A.K.A Delhi Belly.

I tried to make my way up the the fort but the midday sun, hills and water sloshing around in my belly, not going anywhere proved more determining than my resolve for sightseeing efficiency.  I'm writing today off.

In the evening I went for a walk through town, going downhill and trying to keep to only right turns but because of the winding roads there was no way I would find my way back.  I finally saw enough and waited at an intersection looking for a rickshaw and sat down with some guys who were playing carrom.  They taught me the game and kept an eye out for a taxi but none were coming so one of them just gave me a ride back home.  That was a very hospitable gesture since I was about 15 minutes away and petrol costs twice as much here as back home.