10.4.2008

I have the s***s

No journey to India can be complete without stomach cramps, regular runs to the toilet and sore arse, so in my last 10days this must be a blessing to send me off well to developed countries. Purification from all the toxins I may have accumulated. It all started a week ago but with my poor management i.e. weak control over food, it got worse rather than better. So tomorrow I'm on water only to flush this crazy think out.

Anyhow, if you are well equipped it can be a good experience. You just need a nice room with a great toilet, books to read by your side, lots of water to drink and plenty of toilet paper. So in Pushkar, staying at a beautiful Haveli, Inn Seventh Heaven (I must remember to ask them why they name it that) I couldn't ask for more. It's good to time to write a few things that I've always wanted to write on my blog entry as well. But I will make that a separate title "Indian Men"…

Last few days on the other hand were great. There is something comforting for me to return to places where I have made friends. Jaisalmer was one of those. I saw the desert boy Dilip again, whom I kept in contact with as we left the city in the first place. He would always check to see Judith and I were ok, especially when Judith left Varanasi and I stayed for extra few days he rang me all the time to check I was safe.

So Dilip and mum got on like house on fire, he would cuddle her, give her gifts, feed her, show her around town…He even came on the camel safari with us last night with a litre of desert wine mainly consumed by himself. He kept joking with mum saying that the night on the safari was my marriage to him (even though he's already married). I loved the way he spoke in broken English to mum "Mama I want to make marriage with her". Mum took it very lightly and smiled at him in his drunken ways.

Rahman was another big surprise to me when the sun set and he began to notice all the flies and beetles around us. He refused to sit on the sand, instead stood over our head with a torch reporting on every creature he spotted. As we slept under the stars he was tightly tucked into my mum with my shawl wrapped around his head covering his entire face, and buried under the duvet. I found it hilarious, never thought of him as such a city boy, given that he used to dig up insects in the back garden as a child. It was also interesting to see how he snuggled up to mum; normally he wouldn't let her anywhere near him. Maybe this holiday will be good for the pair of them in many ways.

Saying goodbye to Dilip was harder this time, knowing that I will not be returning to Jaisalmer for some time, who knows maybe never. He was a sweet desert boy, had his own life philosophy, sad and happy at the same time, believes highly in karma and does a lot of good to people around him, a golden heart.