telegram "brevity"

well it's very late here, (2:45 am) so just a 'one-liner.'

eight day excursion to south totally aborted for me and peer katherine. on second day of trip came down with intense fever, and on third day the two of us were sent back to delhi. admitted to clinic back here in the city, where quickly diagnosed with mixed infection: bacterial intestinal infection and giardia--oh, boy! spent four very long days and nights in the clinic hooked up to an IV and learning all sorts of things about diarrhea (actually, a little too experiential for my taste...).

finally, 104 degree fever subsided and I became re-hydrated by end of second day in clinic. watched lots of american tv and bored out of my head in four white walls=claustrophobia. However, very comfortable set-up with a/c and appropriately bland food, and constant supervision by nurses who knew a few key words of english and otherwise talented at reading frantic pantomimes (another roll of toilet paper, please!) (harder to convey: "is this tingling sensation normal?" ... eventually just got a smile, so i decided, 'well, it's normal enough').

thankgod katherine was there with me, or I would have gone really nuts. as it was, i spent much of my time fantasizing about american food (i was only allowed to eat broth and toast, and even that only after two days of nothing but intravenous NaCl and dextrose) ...

[tangent: food like oreo ice-cream and zaftig's (or home-grilled) cheeseburgers (medium rare with lettuce, onions, tomato, mayo, and ketchup... would someone please eat one in my honor? oh, and a bagel with cream cheese, nova, lettuce, onions, tomatoes and capers.... but it has to be a good bagel, maybe from rosenfelds, not the crap they have at zaftigs: Bruegger's=shudder)]

... and also spent time comparing the food i was craving with what k was craving. Also, reading High Fidelity (very funny, even if you've already seen the movie like i had); watching plenty of american tv (turned out to be very comforting in between shitting my brains own (pardon the crudeness)); pacing my cubical for exercise; and trying to come up with clever titles for the epic blog entry i was composing in my head (i think this abbreviated version will drag on LESS than that epic would have). I wish i could remember some of the potential titles. actually, i wish i could remember any of them. what i do remember was that i was planning to write this clever thing (at least, i thought) about how my first time staying in a hospital was also happening in India. a dual delight.

Anyway, finally sprung from the clinic yesterday afternoon=not a moment too soon. Whisked away by Ravi (K's host dad and for all of us the homestay coordinator/advisor... a lovely man) to his country farm where i spent an extremely refreshing night and day, especially by contrast. Swam in his well-water pool, which was a definite high-lite.

Tonight, crashing at Ravi's (where k normally stays anyway) b/c it's easier than going back to sangeeta's and, to be honest, i think i would be lonely apart from K given that everyone else is still away on their fucking excursion (pardon the language, Granny. clearly still bitter about spending our epic week in my epic hospital room) and i've never stayed there without james.

i guess this is the post of parenthetic clauses; oh well, i'm too lazy to properly order this thing at this hour and after having written 5 emails already.

If i sound grumpy about the experience, it's half for effect (though i was quite pissed a couple days ago, in the midst of my clinic experience) because I'm feeling about 100 times better. nearly feel in full health at this point, although the stomach is still dodgy, i.e. needs bland, small portions (which i have stupidly refused to feed it in the past 24 hours out of pure greed for flavor and delicious fat).

well, so much for the one-liner. all for now.