Tue 9 Dec Aurangabad Ajanta Caves

Tue 9 Dec Aurangabad Ajanta Caves
The bus from Indore to Aurangabad in nowhere as nice as the bus from Bhopal. No pillows, no blankets. The king sheet that Carol carried was our only covering. At least our sleeper seats were lower seats.  That didn't mean a good night's sleep, merely that it was easier to get out to pee when the bus stopped, as it did every 2 - 3 hours.  Mike had the aisle bunk, which meant that he got to hold on to the outside pole to keep from being rolled into the aisle as the bus bounced along and took the turns.
At 0745 we arrived in Aurangabad, which will serve as our base for visiting the World Heritage sites of Ajanta and Ellora.  Aurangabad lies between the two sites; securing accommodations at either one would have been a tactical nightmare. Ajanta Caves are closed on Monday (ie, yesterday) and Ellora Caves are closed on Tuesday (today). We could not have procured a bus trip from Bhopal to Jalgaon [on the north of Ajanta] or Bhopal to Aurangabad [on the south of Ajanta] during the daytime on 8 Dec. So, good morning Aurangabad!
We have secured two nights' rooms at Manmandir Hotel.  The bus lets us off close to the hotel and a 30 R rickshaw drive gets us there.  It is not clear in advance that our credit card went through on the computer along with our reservation, but they have the charge.  Finally we get checked in, finishing up at 0830.  This is a curious hotel in a mixed commercial part of town. There is a private bus terminal, complete with restaurant, on the lowest level. Up to our room, where we shower, change clothes, and take down 5 days of laundry to be washed.
Over to the bus stand.  At 1020 our bus to Ajanta Caves is off.  It would have been nice to have gotten an earlier start on this 105 km ride, but given all the travel constraints detailed above, this late departure was the best we could do.
We get out at Ajanta Junction, walk through the tourist shop zone, and get on a shuttle bus to take us the last 4 km to the entrance.  This bus wheezes and chugs up the hill - we are praying that we don't need this bus on the way down.
Ajanta Caves consists of a series of extensively-painted caves built into tufa rock between 2nd C.  BCE - 6th C. CE.  Most were probably commissioned by merchants trolling the early trade routes through Asia to the Arabian Ocean, who supported Buddhist monks and their monasteries.  Some have called Ajanta the "Buddhist Louvre". The site lay under jungle foliage for decades until it was rediscovered in 1819 by troops from the East India Company. The paintings, and the fact that they still are in reasonably good condition (unlike, say, parts of the Mogao Caves of China that were desecrated by Moslem conquerors and 20th C. Communists), are what make the place worth visiting. 
There is a short steep climb to the first caves. A series of guys holding two-man palanquins wait hopefully for any tourists who want to be carried (500-800 R).  Mike is propositioned but declines.  A young Korean woman accepts and is carried up and down, cave to cave, over the whole set of caves.
The caves are arrayed over a horseshoe-shaped gorge. There are caves numbered 1 - 30, not all of which are open.  Most require shoes that shoes be removed to enter (these are holy sites, after all).  Most also have restrictions on the use of flash photography.  Thus the pictures you take are not at all great (at least the pictures WE got were not at all great).
The sculpted figures are exuberant, and the colors that still cling to them (all derived from natural water-soluble substances) are deep. There has been no attempt to touch-up anything, but some paintings are now enclosed in glass. Many of the murals depict earthly pleasures alongside Buddhist virtues. It is interesting to see the many depictions of Buddha in contemplation. There is a spectacular reclining Buddha with a serene face awaiting Nirvana.
By 1545 we are through.  It's getting hot and we have seen enough. Mike was really thirsty and got a large soda, which he drank quickly.  This induced a large amount of mucus and a some deep coughing which sometimes precedes vomiting, but didn't in this case.  Carol had said don't drink the soda that fast.
By 1600 we are back at the main bus junction.  Also at the gate is a privately hired jeep.  It cost us 240 R to take the local bus here.  We are offered rides back to Aurangabad for 400 R for the two of us.  We say OK, get into the front seat, and off we go.  It turns out we just missed the regular bus, and we would have waited a good bit for the next bus coming through. A front-seat ride was a real treat (and probably reduced the price the couple who hired the jeep had to pay the driver). Win-win all around.
It is well after dark when we get back to the bus stand in town.  We start walking back to Manmandir Hotel, get a little lost, and finally catch a tuk-tuk to get there.
We pick up our clean laundry and go downstairs for a little dinner.  Carol orders the mini-thali (100 R).  OK, nothing special. Mike is mostly thirsty, but gets the Hakka Noodles (95 R). 
Carol suggests booking a 0600 direct non-stop Volvo bus to Pune departing from the bus terminal in our building. For whatever reason, we don't act on it.
Tomorrow is Ellora Caves day.  With a good night's sleep we will get a much earlier start. 

Mon 8 Dec Bhopal

Mon 8 Dec Bhopal
Our hotel breakfast today consists of poha and paratha and tea.  The potato filled paratha, with a side of  "curd" (yogurt) reminds Carol of latkes and sour cream. She is irritated because every interesting museum in Bhopal is closed on Mondays.  We had about 1 1.2 hrs to squeeze in a museum yesterday afternoon, but didn't. So after breakfast we undertake a walk of 1.5 km or so to the Taj-ul Masjid, supposedly the largest in all of India.  Since our hotel has a 24-hr check out policy we can still keep the room for a while.
There's still a crush of people on the main street for that Muslim convention so we triangulate. We find a Muslim cemetery nearby, a quiet garden-like place in bustling old-town Bhopal. We can see two large minarets in the distance. Carol proposes that we follow interesting (and 100% no tourist) streets that trend uphill, while looking up to track the minarets.
We reach a major traffic circle with an imposing statue of some ruler (?) or conqueror (?) and eventually make our way to the masjid. You could probably fit 20-30 K worshippers in the courtyard for Friday sermon - maybe a lot more.  Today, the huge courtyard is mostly empty.  The masjid itself has a center and two wings, all facing west.  Inside the masajid (the term for this "mother of all mosques"), we spend time studying a world map with Arabic writing for the location names.  Near one doorway is a list of do's and don'ts:  among them - "Maintaining Good Smell".
Near the mosque is a body of water; older men throw bread to the fish. We catch the SR5 bus back to our neighborhood.  We do a final pack and check out - storing our bags by the front desk.  We have about 3 hrs to kill on the internet. 
Then out to Manohar.  It is 1500 - time to stuff ourselves, because we have a long bus ride ahead. Carol orders a South Indian plate, with vada and udappam.  Great.  Mike gets a veg pizza.  The Indian pizzas rate about a C+.  Carol will really miss this restaurant, as much for the wonderful mix of clientele as for the food, drinks and sweets. There's something very nice about sitting with white-clad Muslims, turbaned Sikhs, sari-wearing women, hip kids with their electronica. Lots of families, too. We look at all the sweets but don't buy. However, Carol asks for a lidded plastic container. After all, we have a long bus ride ahead.
At 1615 we grab a rickshaw.  The driver wants 150 R "because it is 11 km to Newmarket".  Mike pulls out the bus ticket from the day before showing the mileage as only 4+ km.  We settle on 100 R for the fare. 
We are at the Hans bus at 1635.  Packs are stored underneath.  We have bunk seats 13 and 14, which are both lower. Four young Aussies who are also headed to Aurangabad are several rows behind us.
Off we go at 1700. This bus is very nice - bedding, warm blankets and big pillows. And, wonder of wonders, there is a restroom onboard for women (the sign says "urain only"). The chatter ceases after a while and we get in some sleep. The bus heads westward.
At about 2100 we are in Indore - here we change buses.  This is a major transfer point for all the Hans Travel buses (after all, Hans Travel is based in Indore). We are about to get on the Pune bus - luckily, someone intervenes. Quick, grab our luggage. Our correct bus is still across the street, revving its engines.  So we run, load our bags once more, and hop on for the long ride south to Aurangabad.

Sun 7 Dec Bhopal

Sun 7 Dec Bhopal
Hotel Sonali serves a business clientele, so there is a fresh crisp newspaper in our door in the morning. Breakfast is also included for our class of room - so at 8 am Mike gets an omelet and Carol gets a poha dish. Milk tea for both.
At 9 am we are at the bus stand for a bus leaving for San Chi, a Buddhist site. Mike dozes. On the way we pass a huge walled-off expanse of empty land. Some holes have been punched into the wall; a few people use this as a pass-through to more developed areas further out of town. Some sections of the wall are covered with anti-Union Carbide messages. However, the site of the gas disaster was the other side of Bhopal. Could this be a different brownfield? Don't know. But we do pass some medical research (and, presumably, treatment) facilities.
We arrive at San Chi 46 km later, about 1045. Tickets to enter are 250 R each.  There is a short steep climb up a hill, and we are in.  This is an old set of ruins, dating from 3rd C. BCE, that was the site of 5 stupas and a number of Buddhist monasteries.  Prince Siddhartha never slept here, but relic boxes containing bone fragments of two of Buddha's most noted early followers were unearthed here. Fortunately (or unfortunately) San Chi has been entirely reconstructed and now seems to Mike like a historical theme park for Indian tourists, rather than the historical ruins we have seen in other countries.  Still, the intricate sculpture (including round-bellied figures and Bodhi trees) is beautiful and the quiet countryside (and clean air) wonderful.
During our visit we meet Shomit, his wife Shurti, and his mother.  He teaches planning and architecture here in Bhopal, even though he hails from Aurangabad.  We talk about water and the desertification of northern India.  His program has been evaluating step wells and pumping systems, along with other systems of water storage. They are also familiar with the Hans Travel bus, having taken it several times.
They offer us a ride back to Bhopal.  On the way back, Shomit points out that we are crossing the Tropic of Cancer line, and so we stop the car for a photo op.
We get in to town about 1530. They drop us off at Palash Residency Hotel. Hans Travel is just a few meters away on the side street.  We now know where we need to assemble tomorrow.
We are in Newmarket, the second (first?) downtown of Bhopal.  Here a theater showing the just-released Bhopal: A Prayer for Rain.  This film, released on the 30th anniversary of the Union Carbide disaster, is being shown (in Hindi, we think) either at 1800 or 1900.  There is a long line to buy tickets. We demur.
Up the street we pass the Nehru Statue, and then see and enter Bapu ki Kutia, an eatery highly recommended by Lonely Planet.  We get a paneer masala (120 R), bhindi do pyaza (95 R), a roti (12 R) and a buttermilk (18 R). Plenty tasty.
We take a city bus (SR3 or SR4) back to the railway station (12 R each).  We spot a gurdwara (Sikh temple) in the area around our hotel and then, at sundown, a big mosque.  Bhopal is 40% Muslim and this is the Muslim side of town. We have also seen women wearing Jain dress. What a melting pot!
It is dark. Internet time - and time for a quick visit to Manohar for a lime float and a milk shake. Then gather in the hand wash, do some more, watch some TV, and to bed.

Sat 6 Dec Bhopal

Sat 6 Dec Bhopal
The train heads to the southeast. We sleep until about 0830, at which time Mike relinquishes his seat to the gent who held the original ticket.  For the next 3 hours they talk, joined by his colleague (Carol lays low and follows the scenery).  These two fellows, a Muslim Shiite and a Christian, both from Nagpur, had taken a 21 hr train ride - almost as far as from Jaipur - to transact some business. Almost immediately, business completed, they caught a train back to Nagpur.  They seemed to be business partners in some respect.  One of them asserted that 9/11 was an inside job - how would a jet fuel fire have brought down such huge buildings?  We three talked about Indian food and Indian politics.  Time passed, and one guy thanked Mike for taking 3 hours out of an otherwise very boring trip.
It turns out that their loooooong train ride was competitive with their airplane alternatives:  Nagpur to Delhi to Jaipur, followed by bus to the town, and then the reverse. Not an easy trip, but surely better than any bus alternative. 
At some point in our journey, we leave the tourist-hub state of Rajasthan and enter Madhya Pradesh, rarely visited by tourists.
Since our train was late in leaving Bundi, we presume that we will arrive in Bhopal around 1230. At 1140, passengers around us say that we are at the Bhopal station!  Quick onto the platform (as with all transportation actions we have to be quick, because things happen quickly, and you might end up involuntarily going on to the next stop).
Bhopal has a booming train station, surrounded by snarled traffic and vendors of all kind.
Guidebooks in hand, out for a short walk to Hotel Sonali, where we are booked.  Sonali is not easy to find, since it is on a back street.  But we find it.  A back room (with balcony) on a back street means downtown quiet, much to be desired. And a chance for Carol to do some hand laundry.
We check in, shower, change clothes, and go up two blocks for lunch at Manohar Dairy and Restaurant.  Bright yellow sign outside, busy tables inside. Manohar is half restaurant, half sweet shop. We are handed the English-language menu, which seems to have the same layout of menu items as the Hindi menu. By pointing, Carol orders the large thali, which includes a glass of buttermilk.  Mike had the smaller thali, with one fewer dish, and without the buttermilk.  After we finished we asked for the check, so the waiter brought two cups of chai.
By now it is 1500.  We aren't going to get to any tiger parks this trip, so our goal today is to visit Van Vihar Zoological Park, where they have tigers.  A 150 R rickshaw ride takes us there.  We leave the crowded central part of the city and come to a much greener and upscale area. Upper Bhopal Lake, the oldest man-made lake in India, was created by Raja Bhoj in the 11th Century by constructing an earthen dam across the Kolans River.
A gated area indicates the entrance to the park. We purchase tickets and walk in.  The park is linear, along the lake.  Animal exhibits are located every 200-500 meters.  The total walk is 5 km down and 5 km back, which is out of the question (it will be dark and the park closed long before we could finish such a walk).  However, the tigers are only 1.6 km in, so off we go. Being outdoors and walking is a great antidote for our demanding overnight train ride.
We see an Asiatic lion, some panther/leopards, some tigers, and some white tigers.  It seems that these large animals are in two kinds of enclosures - a large spacious walled and fenced area, in which it is impossible to see the animals on the far side, and a smaller closer cage, in which there are one or two animals reasonably visible to park visitors.  Perhaps the animals are shuttled between the cages on a daily or weekly basis?
It isn't Sasan Gir, it isn't Ranthambore. But we are seeing animals in a much more spacious and natural setting than in any zoo we have ever visited. And they are awake and active, doing their own thing. One tiger is playing kitty cat, luxuriously grooming itself. No long jeep rides or guides with GPS. Less time, less money. Works for us.
About 1630 we have turned around and are walking back.  On the way back, one of the tigers has caught a monkey and is chowing down. A sloth bear is engaged in some weird perseverative behaviors, twirling a very large rock back and forth.
We walk out from the zoo into an amusement park environment.  There are kayaks and paddle boats available for rental. The teenybopper guys and gals of Bhopal strut along the lake, snapping selfies. We read later that some feel that the loud noises from the entertainment zone and country clubs are adversely affecting the nearby animals. 
The rickshaw cost 150 to get here, but the going price seems to be 180 to get back to town.  Something about a parking fee?  Go figure. Anyway, finally a driver agrees to take us to the Rwy. Sta. for 150 R (it is easier than to say Hotel Sonali). 
We wanted to maybe see the famous mosque on the way back but for some reason our driver was leery of taking us there. It turns out that today is the first day of Aalmi Tablighi Ijtima (World Preachers’ Congregation) an annual 3-day event considered among the top five Muslim conventions in the world.  "Over 15 lakh Muslims" (that's 1.5 million people) from various parts of India and Malaysia, Iran, France, Russia, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Jordan, Indonesia, Sri Lanka are expected to converge on Bhopal.
Back downtown, we spend an hour on internet to determine that Hans Travel has a sleeper bus from Bhopal to Aurangabad, our next stop, leaving 1700 and arriving 0740 the next morning.  Total fee 1500 R for two tickets.  We book for 8 Dec.
Out for "dinner" at Manohar.  We just order drinks and milk shakes.
The range of TV channels is good in our hotel. We indulge before we go to sleep.
To get the big question out of the way - why have we chosen to visit Bhopal? There are some places, like Soweto, Selma or Dachau, that are forever linked with catastrophic histories. We aren't in Bhopal because of the Union Carbide gas disaster of 3 December 1984 (the 30th anniversary of the explosion, and the release of the film "Bhopal: A Prayer for Rain" have been featured in Indian and international news this past week). Bhopal is a city of 1.8 million with a strong Muslim flavor.  Bhopal is also the best choice as a base for visiting our first Buddhist site, Sanchi, and beginning our westward return to Mumbai.

Fri 5 Dec Bundi

Fri 5 Dec Bundi
Up at 7 am.  Mike administers an injection.  A little better than last night, but not much. But he slept well - the best in days - and the fever has broken.
Time to leave our pretty room and the trailing flowered vines framing our window. By 9 am we have checked out of Braj Bhushanjee and deposited our backpacks near the reception.  Since we are leaving Bundi early tomorrow on a 0116 am train, we would prefer to leave the baggage in the hotel until midnight. However, the somewhat inflexible management wants everything gone by 7 pm so it can lock up for the night.
As we are leaving Braj for the day, we have a conversation with a group of Italian hotel guests.  They are driving to Ranthambore National Park to (hopefully) see wild tigers. One, a pharmacist, looks at Mike's list of medications and says he agrees totally with the prescribed treatment plan.  But the total price is as astonishing to him as it was to us. 
In this neighborhood of historic houses, there are more little boars than random cows roaming the streets and munching on litter. Litters and litters of litter-eaters, as a matter of fact.
It is now 0915. Mike is feeling a whole lot better, but trying to visit Bundi's 17th-century palace and climb to 14th-century Taragarh Fort w/o breakfast is way too much for us.  We look for street food for breakfast, find none, and settle on breakfast at Haveli Elephant Stables. Yes, a hotel installed where the royal pachyderms were once housed, complete with elephant tether stones. This huge courtyard with six backpacker rooms and 20' ceilings abuts the fort and palace.  A very cool place. For breakfast we each order a veg omelet (130 R each) and two pots of tea (80 R each).  We have had good omelets and terrible omelets so far in India (usually way overcooked or too salty). Ours here are quite good, as is the tea. Note: The menu also offers "special lassi"  (probably contains bhang). Happy Dumbo dreams.
We are at Hathi Pol (Elephant Gate) at 1040.  We buy tickets for the fort (100 + 100 + 50 for the camera) and for the palace (100 + 100 + 50 for the camera) and decide to tackle the fort first.
It is a long way up to the fort.  Slowly, slowly does it.  After the last gate, we continue straight uphill.  Should have turned sharply right.  We come to 2 "baori" (step wells) - huge cistern-like structures designed to capture all of the monsoon rains for the long dry winter/spring.  When we see them, they are mostly empty and the remaining water is green and murky.
On the way down from the wells we find the path we should have taken, but don't follow it correctly.  Some bushwhacking through thorn bushes that pierce the rubber soles of Carol's shoes, and we are finally at the fort with its steep walk up to the top.  Great views. At the top we see a temple nearby.  So we find it after we descend from the fort and go in.
Finally, on the way out (1300) we see 6 or so monkeys, far fewer than promised in the guidebooks, but greater than zero.
We are downhill and into the palace before 1400.  Carol notes that the entrance guard has six toes on one foot. There is no palace museum to speak of, merely a walk through an old and very fine mega-haveli, with some dimly-lit but impressive murals.
As we leave the gates to the historic sites we spring for 2 special lassis (pistachio, saffron, cashew, dried fruit) for 40 R each. Yum.
At the bottom at 1420.  Off to explore Bundi. We walk for a while through old town, past the photogenic elephant statue on a roof, placed in honor of the elephant gifted by Shah Jahan to Rav Raja Shatrushal Singh in apx 1700.  We also order another special lassi nearby.  We do NOT order the "special" special lassi which has bhang in it.
By 1500 we take a short 30 R rickshaw ride to Dr. Anil for the last injection.  It turns out that the injection needle has come out, so Mike gives money to the assistant to purchase another cannula. The assistant inserts the new cannula and then completes the 4th injection.  It turns out the syringe fills better if the bottle with contents is upside down above the syringe. 
Time to see Dr. Anil. He is greatly surprised that Mike was able to climb to the fort.  He gives us his card in case Mike has problems in the future.
It is now 1600.  We walk back through old town. In a district with a thriving jewelry section (all the way from cheap bangles to silver toe rings and thick silver ankle bracelets to gold jewelry of all kinds) we pass a row of kite sellers. Then we hit the internet for 2 /12 hrs. 
We return to Braj at 1900.  We pick up our backpacks and head to nearby Nawal Sagar Palace, a 300-year-old former royal residence. With lots of time to kill, we go to its restaurant for a slow dinner  (we had thought of holding our slow dinner at Braj, but they only serve the set dinner if you order it 3 hours in advance).
At Nawal, we drop our baggage in a corner of the rooftop restaurant. We order smoking chicken (200 R) and alu gobi (potatoes with cauliflower that seemed to be more like potatoes with cabbage) (110 R).  To stretch out dinner we order two cups of ginger lemon honey tea after we finish the mains. Aside from a French-speaking couple with an exceptional Francophone Indian guide, we are the only indoor patrons. Luckily for us, service is slow.  We bide our time.  Finally, at 2115 they present our bill, and we leave.
4 more hours to waste until the train leaves.  We walk up the street and see our tuk tuk driver from earlier today loading up some passengers (Polish-speaking?) at Haveli Uma Megh to go to the train station.  He says he will return in 30 min.  The proprietor of Uma Megh invites us to wait inside, away from the scooters loaded with teens roaring up and down the street.
Sure enough, 35-40 min later, the driver returns. We pile in, give him 200 R for the trip and we are off.  We arrive at the train station at 2240.  As we unload he mentions that he collects American dollar bills. We give him one. He is so smooth and affable that it doesn't occur to us to ask for a deduction from our original payment until well after he departs.
We follow a ramp up one story to the platform. Maybe it is the lateness of the day, but it feels chilly up on the platform level. There is a waiting room for folks with better class tickets so we go in and wait. 
There is a cow on the railway platform, wandering to and fro. Presumably, it ambled up the ramp; no one makes a move to displace it. There are also 6 monkeys in the rafters.  Do not stand underneath the monkeys!
At 0100 we go out to the platform to wait.  There is a family of English speaking Indians, one of whom is going to Bhopal on our train.  1:16 comes and goes.  Other trains come and go, but not our train. 
This is a one track station.  About 2:15 there is an announcements that our train is arriving on Track 2!  Track 2??  So we passengers all jump down 3 feet to the tracks, cross all the tracks, and wait in the dirt on the other side.
Finally, our train comes in. Our car sleeper stops way down the track! We RUN for our car, hoist ourselves up to get in, and find our designated seats (single-wide beds).  Carol has a lower berth.  Mike has an upper, but cannot manage to clamber up.  A younger fellow graciously volunteers to trade.  He takes the upper berth - Mike gets his lower berth. 
It is 0245.  We are in bed.  The train is on its way to Bhopal.

Thur 4 Dec Bundi

Thur 4 Dec Bundi
Up early and pack.  Down to breakfast of omelet, toast and a large bowl of fruit salad.  After breakfast, we return to Haveli Braj Bhushanjee, where we booked and paid for the promised room.  Our new room is a real work of art in a 200 yr old haveli. And it has external windows and a honey of a bathroom. At 900 back to Bundi Haveli, where we check out, pay the bill of 2200 R (2000 for the room, 200 for last night's dinner), and walk our bags over to Braj.
It has been days since we've done laundry and we both need clean clothes.  Braj does not have in-house laundry, but they recommend a place down the street.  We walk several blocks but this laundry isn't open yet.  A kid on the street notices these 2 foreigners with a big bag and motions us to follow him into the neighborhood.  We end up at a home-based laundry that promises to have our large load cleaned by 9 pm.
We still have to figure out we will get from Bundi to Bhopal.  We go up the road from the laundry to Shivam Tourist Guesthouse and Travel Agency, where the agent spent a huge amount of time running down possibilities, always with no available seats.  Finally, he notices that on Saturdays only, there is a train from Bundi to Bhopal. leaving Bundi (and not some other city that we have to take a bus or taxi to get to) at 116 am and arriving 1135 the next morning.  He can't book for us until it is noon (some strange regulation about advance tickets), so he recommends we take a 200 R rickshaw to the train station at the edge of town and return to buy the tickets.
We do and purchase two tickets for 2960 R.
Mike is still coughing up a storm. The family running Shivam also makes an appointment for him with a well-known local physician, Dr. Anil, for 1300.  At this point we have nothing better to do than to go over early, so our rickshaw driver takes us into town a little after noon (50 R).
Dr. Anil's clinic has an outdoor waiting area.  About 10 patients have arrived before us.  A list circulates and we are #14.
Finally, the clinic door opens at 1300.  About 1330, we are ushered in.  Mike's temp is taken at 101.1 F (fever!).  The doctor says he wants more info, so he writes medical orders and sends Mike to a lab nearby  (doctor's fee 100 R).
The lab sends a motorcyclist, Carol and Mike hop on, and all go a few blocks.  At the lab, Mike receives a chest X-ray and a complete blood workup, including testing for possible malaria.  (total lab fees 750 R).
It is now 1500.  Back to Dr. Anil on the motorcycle, X-rays in hand.  The doctor sees Mike about 1520. He shows us the X-rays and declares that Mike has pneumonitis. Something deeper than bronchitis (specialized tests would have been necessary to make a diagnosis of pneumonia). Mike needs drugs and some bed rest. But we have train tickets in 36 hours.
After a pause, Dr. Anil prescribes an antibiotic administration that involves four infusions, along with a complementary five day regimen of 5 different oral medications (other antibiotics and an expectorant) for reducing inflammation.  While Carol waits, the doctor's assistant and Mike walk up the street to a drugstore where the prescriptions are filled. 
For 770 R, Mike is handed a large green cloth bag that contained
A sterile cannula
4 sterile injection syringes
4 ampules of Gramocef and sterile water
Ventryl (1 bottle)
Montair LC (5 tablets)
Microcef  (10 tablets)
Nexpro (5 tablets)
Cefpodoxin (5 tablet
Dolcowin (10 tablets)
Back to the office with the assistant, who   The cannula is inserted into a vein.  A syringe is inserted into some sterile water, then inserted into the Gramocef,  and both are pulled into the syringe. This mixture is injected into the cannula in the vein (50 R). Mike gets instructions on how to repeat this procedure at 11pm today and 7 am tomorrow morning. Then he is to return for the final injection at noon.
Total so far: 1670 R ($28).  This would be apx $1500 in the US. Exercise for the reader?  Why the disparity in pricing?  Even if you multiply the Indian price by 4 to take into account the difference in the standard of living, it is still $110 vs. $1500.
Rickshaw back to the hotel.  In the lobby is a gregarious American woman. We swap travel tales. She is a world traveler who runs a tour service that organizes "find-your-roots" trips to Eastern Europe and good-times party excursions to many destinations. She and a friend have come to India to attend the wedding of a child of a Maharajah she met a year ago. A modern day Auntie Mame.
We get in some internet time.  Then back to Shivam, this time for a dinner - veg plate, lassi, and ginger lemon honey tea. They are glad to see Mike again.
At 8 pm we take a chance that our laundry will be ready.  It is sparklingly clean and well bundled.
To bed.  At 1130 pm, Mike wakes up and tries to administer an injection.  He only gets about half or less in.

Wed 3 Dec Bundi

Wed 3 Dec Bundi
Mike slept hardly at all.  Buffet breakfast includes poha, idli with sambar, a bean dish, and fruit nectar.  Carol eats a full breakfast.  Mike only has some tea and some water. He's clearly not well.
Since waiting until the afternoon for a train is not in our plans, we're off to the bus stand for a bus to Bundi.  The guidebook says there are some direct buses.  Everyone else says go through the station in Kota. Although there is a town before Kota where we could transfer, a transfer holds no appeal, with our bags and all.  The tickets to Kota are 157 R.
We have good seats toward the front, but the bus bounces along.  Plenty of "diversions" (lane closures for roadwork) and some local road travel. Mike sleeps, Carol reads when the road allows and looks out the window. Finally, we come into Kota, where we are told that the same bus will continue to Bundi in 5 min.  Good news! It is 1345.  The new fare for the rest of the trip is 57 R for two tickets.  Just stay aboard.
We get in to Bundi a little after 1500, take a 50 R rickshaw uphill to Bundi Haveli, and negotiate for a 2000 R room with breakfast.  Our room is internal, with no outside window.  It is attractive and clean, but not made for our needs.  Mike, who is feeling much under the weather, stays in and tries to sleep.
Carol heads out downhill into town for about 2 1/2 hours, walking around and spending time in an internet café for quite a while.  On the way back she watches an impromptu circus act on the main street.  A simple tightrope about 8-10' high has been set up. A loudspeaker blares music. A girl who looks to be around 10 traverses this 20-30' distance holding a long pole for balance.  First she is barefoot.  Then she wears rubber sandals.  Then one sandal comes off and she puts a metal dish under that foot before walking.  For the grand finale, she travels the tightrope on an 18" metal wheel.  She is very good, doing each part of the act forward and backward.  The basket under the tight rope fills with coins and bills.  Even the local kids contribute.
Finally, about 1830, Mike and Carol go downstairs for a single plate at the Bundi Haveli restaurant.  Carol eats.  Mike takes a few bites.
After dinner, we walk down the street to Haveli Braj Bhushanjee where we look at a much nicer room for 1800 R (no breakfast, though).  We promise to take the room tomorrow if it remains unrented.
Back to bed.  Mike is hacking away with a bad cough.