The Sleepless Sleeper

I have just got back from a 10hr overnight sleeper bus journey. The bed was fine, but impossible to sleep because of the state of most of the roads.
I had to share a double bed with the boy-assistant of the clinic. He can not speak any English, every time I looked over he just stared like a reject from Sesame Street (plus a trainee-tash of course). Sorry if that sounded mean, for he is a nice lad really.



We went miles to another rural clinic. This time it was "proper" India. Paddy fields, edge of a rain forest, wild elephants and leopards.
I stayed with the extended family of my hosts. They are farm owners and after being fed well settled down to 6 in a room on the floor.


In the morning the hot water for the shower was heated by a real fire the water was drawn from a well inside the stables where the mandatory holy cows lived.
The water was so pure I imagined if I pulled a poisoned arrow from my chest, just a splash would have healed the wound as I looked on in disbelief.


Even the spiders in the toilet were friendly. In fact the one I saw (close your eyes Sam) was so big I 1st apologized for I thought the room was occupied and they had just forgot to put the latch on.


I was the guest on honor, and they rolled out the straw mat especially.
I now know how the fois gras ducks feel. If they like you they constantly feed to from the moment you arrive to the moment you leave. And of course saying no is not an option.


The hospitality was the warmest I had felt, true nice, pure people.

In the morning I had a wander around the farm and took some pictures, pure fresh air and countryside. Roy, this is how you palm trees will grow if you lead a purer existence.


We headed back down the road where I saw wild monkeys....(ordinary monkeys I was told) just as “Old-Ben-Kenobi” was arriving with the rest of the exiled Jedi to pick the rice.


On day 2 of the clinic I saw over and over again people with dangerously high blood sugar being reduced to normal levels and coming off their drugs for reducing blood sugar. This is the norm with Maheshs’ treatment.

I did see a horrible case of a 7yr old boy where his skin was horrendously burnt by falling into a vat of hot sugar on a farm.


Oh and the girl we treated a week ago for the brain tumor dislodged by her teacher hitting her (she had a scan before she came to see us, but the results came out now). Well we were hoping she would go into a high fever (a good sign of recovery).
She did just this and she also opened her eyes properly and started to speak. Her family was over whelmed for she was on the way to recovery.
We asked if her normal Dr would give her a glucose infusing for she could not eat. We specifically asked for no drugs for this would interfere with her treatment.
Unfortunately, the Dr also infused her with anti-fever drugs to bring it down the fever and within mins she went into a coma.
Such a shame, a wasted case.
The parents live far away so we have sent new treatment to try and stimulate her again (rather than suppress) in the hope it is not too late to bring the fever back and hence her recovery.
We'll see, she was A hopeless case to start with and her one sign of recovery was ruined by a well meaning Dr. No one though she would live more than 2 days.

On a more cheery note. TONIGHT I am heading into town. Two weeks without a break, I need a break. I will go see some temple thing, then walk past the Government building and some other stuff before getting hammer-smashed in some bars on the world famous Mahatma Gandhi Road.
As you can see Plan A = Sightseeing + booze. It is always best to include the mandatory Plan B within Plan A, then there is no chance of disappointment.

Oh and I nearly forgot. I now have an India mobile number, so feel free to txt/call.
+919900825217