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.
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.
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