The day trip to an Indian hospital

As I mentioned in yesterdays post, I spent my theoretically last day in India in the hospital. As a consequence of being in the hospital (and feeling so terrible) I wasn’t able to fly home on Thursday night as I had planned and I am still in India! I am feeling much better already, so I hope I can go home this weekend… trust me, I am ready to go now!

So, my first (and hopefully last) visit to an Indian hospital was interesting. I had been sick most of the week but on Wednesday I thought I was getting better. By Thursday morning I took a turn for the worse, I was severely dehydrated, my stomach was cramping and I was unable to hold any food/water in my digestive system. I thought I would go to the doctors to get some drugs for the flight, but the clinic I was recommended wasn’t open – so I went to the hospital instead. In hindsight this was a good decision.

So, around 9am I arrive at the hospital… they got me to register, then sent me down to the ER. The ER doctor referred me to a GP type doctor and I was sent me back to the information desk to wait. I think I looked pretty bad so someone came and took me to the GP type doctor. But he wasn’t there (doing rounds) so they told me to wait 10-15mins. The 10-15 mins was longer than an hour and when I started to cry the nurse was nice enough to let me lay down in his office. When the doctor came, he took one look at me and sent me back to the ER with a prescription for IV fluids, antibiotics and painkillers. The diagnosis, acute gastroenteritis – probably something in the water or something I ate.

I get to the ER and they tell me to go to the pharmacy to pick up the prescription myself. So in the pharmacy I had to wait in a line to fill the prescription, the pharmacy staff had absolutely no sense of urgency and took their time even though I was doubled over in pain. Hmm… I wonder how it works if someone arrives in the ER and physically can’t go to the pharmacy because they are bleeding all over the place?!
Anyway, after picking up my drugs and IV stuff I realised that it was highly unlikely I was going to be well enough to fly home that evening, so I thought I better call the travel insurance people to get them to change my flights. Holy crap, that was a debacle… no one understood what I wanted, they didn’t understand the concept of reverse charges/collect call and I was sent back to the information desk. The information desk said they couldn’t make international calls and tried to get me to go to a pay phone on the street! So, not only was I really sick, in pain and incredibly weak – I was now getting stressed out and started to cry again. I gave up and went back to the ER and got hooked up to my IV drip.

The public relations guy came to see me in the ER and after more confusion and a phone call to my yoga teacher he finally found a way to call NZ. The drugs started flowing and I relaxed a little bit. The doctor came to see me and suggested I be admitted overnight…. not something I was keen on so I said I would prefer to go and rest at ‘home’. I dozed while medication dripped directly into my body (thankfully bypassing my broken digestive system). A few people came to stare but I was out of it so they didn’t annoy me too much.

The next debacle was trying to get a medical report from the treating doctor. Around 2pm I was told to wait until 4pm and the doctor would come back and give me the report. I fell asleep and woke up at 6pm and when I asked where to doctor was I caused more confusion, luckily my friend Annie arrived at the hospital and she was able to help me out. We finally got the report, another prescription for takeaway drugs and then I was released.

I spent the next hour sorting stuff out for the travel insurance (so it would be ready for the start of the NZ working day)… everyone at my yoga shala was so helpful so I didn’t actually need to do much. I was in bed early and crashed, I woke up 13 hours later feeling much better – thank goodness for drugs and sleep! Most of Friday was spent in bed, I managed to eat a little bit and went to the internet cafe to sort out travel arrangements. The walk wore me out so I came home and slept some more. Woke up in the afternoon feeling human again… I think I’m going to bounce back from this fairly quickly.

The travel insurance people asked me today how much the medical expenses are to date, the good thing about getting sick in India – it is fairly cheap: Registration 75 rupees, doctors visit 150 rupees, ER medication incl IV fluids, drugs and needles 500 rupees, take away drugs 100 rupees – all up a whopping 825 rupees (xxxxsx NZsD)?s? – cheaper than visiting a GP in New Zealand.

So – that was my visit to the Indian hospital! I think overall it was a very good hospital, I thought the staff were pretty good and most of the problems I encountered were just caused by communication/cultural barriers. Regardless, it is one site in India I would prefer not to revisit. I would happily go to see the Taj Malahal again but will do my best to avoid Indian hospitals!

The last week of yoga

The yoga boot camp is officially over and I am pleased to advise that I survived. The progress I made this year was not as dramatic as last year but it was still very good, I am feeling a lot stronger, my flexibility has improved and my injured hip is a lot better. I am also feeling confident that I know Vinay’s PranaVashya primary series well enough to continue practicing it on my own at home.

I think the most dramatic change for me this year was not with my yoga asanas but with my pranyayma. I’ve mentioned a few times that I really struggle with pranyama and at one stage during the intensive course I even told Vinay that I don’t like it! But, I stuck with it and am actually starting to enjoying it… I think I can feel the benefits of the practice which helps a lot. Even when I got sick (more about that later), I still wanted to go to the yoga shala for pranyama…. this in itself is a miracle. Don’t get me wrong, I still find pranyama a challenge… but I think there has been a shift in my mindset which makes the difficulty more bearable! The hard part will be trying to maintain the practice at home.

Week 4 of the course was pretty good, I don’t remember the details but I am pretty sure it was a good week. The extra week (week 5) was unfortunately a bit of a disaster. On Sunday night I started to get a sore tummy, on Monday it got worse, I went to classes but felt weak (ended up getting sent home from back bending because I wasn’t well). Tuesday and Wednesday I missed the morning classes, went to Pranyama and did very gentle back bending in the evening. I thought I was getting better on Wednesday but when I woke up on Thursday it was bad… so bad I ended up in hospital and missed my flight home!

The hospital hooked me up to an IV drip, gave me some fluids, antibiotics and pain medication… they let me stay in the ER for the day and offered to keep me overnight (I decided against it and went back to my little flat in Lakshimipurum instead). After a lot of sleep and plenty of good drugs I am now feeling A LOT better. I am still weak but I am able to eat a little bit I feeling better every day.

Thank goodness for travel insurance! They are helping me arrange my flights home, fingers crossed I will be able to leave this weekend… surprise surprise, I am more than ready to go now! I worked out today that I am not very good at being sick; it gets rather boring… especially when I am too sick to read!

So… that is where I am at. Hopefully tomorrow I will hear from the travel insurance people about my flights… in the meantime I am just resting and getting over this tummy bug (otherwise known as acute gastroenteritis).

A special moon-day!

Today was a moon-day which is special in its own right because it means we get a yoga free day… but today was extra special though because there was a solar eclipse. Around 1pm the sun was partially covered by the moon… here are some photos I took while working on my tan at the pool (my new favourite way to spend moon-days!):

10 things I won’t miss when I go home

Ok, to supplement yesterdays list… here are 10 things I will not miss when I go home

1. Worrying about being grabbed at when I walk home alone.

2. The excessive (and thoughtless) use of plastic bags esp in the new modern shops.

3. The pollution. The smell of burning rubbish (mostly plastic bags and packaging) is pretty bad, and it is sad to see city cows and dogs living off piles of rubbish.

4. The one big urinal that is India. Seriously, people happily pee anywhere (its kind of amusing, but smelly in places).

5. The beggars and the poverty. Only because you can’t help everyone, and giving to the poor encourages them to hassle foreigners. I seriously believe it is better for travellers to give to a charity than it is to give to the beggars (will save that speal for another day).

6. The bed at Jothyis place. Have I mentioned how terrible it is? 

7. Washing my clothes a’la bucket. The novelty wore off quickly because I go through so many yoga clothes. I can’t wait to use a washing machine again.

Um… the constant power cuts are inconvenient, but I kind of like them… so I don’t think they count! I can’t think of any more, so 7 will have to do!

I know, to top it up – the top 3 things I am looking forward to when I go home are:
1. Seeing friends and family.
2. Eating poached free range eggs and salmon on toast with Kaitaia fire or some other yummy sauce.
3. Sleeping in my nice big bed…. bliss.

Ok – I am now feeling much better about the fact I only have one more week to go before I fly home.

10 things I love about living in Lakshmipurum (Mysore)

I realise this blog is very yoga focused so I figured it is about time I wrote something about what it is like to live here in Lakshmipurum, Mysore. Today I will post, the top 10 tings about living in Lakshmipurum, tomorrow I will post about what I won’t miss!

10 things I love about living in Lakshmipurum (Mysore) – in no particular order

1. Waking up to the sound of the mosques and various temples. They start up around 5.30am, there is one mosque nearby that is very loud (usually with a good singer) and the rest are a bit quieter and less in tune. They are all going for gold and it is such a random mix of sounds – I love it.

2. The morning walk to class is lovely because it is quiet and often I see the same people doing the same thing. I see the man picking flowers for his puja, the woman drawing a motif on the temple doorstep, I say hello to the cows, smile at people and never cease to be amazed that there is so much wildlife that survives in the city.

3. The afternoon walk to class is fun too because often I see crazy things. For instance, today I said hello to my favourite local cows, waved to two men in a giant truck (both of whom were very excited to see me), said hello to a group of small children, saw a family of four on a motorcycle, saw a woman on the back of a motorcycle holding two plastic chairs, said hello to the guards at the school near my yoga shala (they say hello to me every day) and smiled at umpteen other people who were staring at me as I walked past.

4. Living in a place that isn’t overly touristy (yet). This means we don’t get hassled too much and the shops I shop at are local shops, the prices I pay are local prices. When you get into touristy areas in India you get pay at least triple and you get hassled at least five times as much.

5. The fact that my rent for 1 month in India is less than my rent in NZ for 1 week. Seriously, if I was more careful I could save money by coming here to use up my paid annual leave!

6. The Mahesh Prasaad is the yummiest and cheapest Indian restaurant I have ever been to. Dinner costs me $2 nzd (fresh lime juice, rice and a curry). Breakfast is usually less than $1 nzd.

7. The yoga classes are amazing (especially Vinnay’s at PranaVashya Yoga) and there are plenty of other courses you can do here in Mysore if yoga isn’t enough. People learn the yoga sutras, anatomy, do teachers training, learn instruments…etc.. its great to focus on developing yourself and trying new things.

8. It is always warm. And if it isn’t warm it is hot. I have only stayed here in winter which is a lot warmer, sunnier and less windy than Wellington’s summer (Id say the temperature is between 27 – 30 degrees during the day and it is cooler in the evenings). I hear in April/May it gets stinking hot… but at least it is never cold.

9. The people are lovely. A lot of the people I see (esp the old ladies and small children) stare blankly at me without smiling but I just smile right back at them… sometimes if I am lucky I will get a return smile. The stares intrigue me; I often wonder what these people are thinking. Other people ignore me (which is nice as well), and some of the people smile, wave and say hello when I walk past. Nearly everyone is friendly… sometimes I even feel like a super star! It’s a bit crazy.

10. The coconuts… I love my daily coconut from my local coconut man. It costs me 10 rupees (30 cents) and it is full of yummy coconut water which rehydrates me after a hot sweaty yoga class and is perfect as a pre-breakfast aperitif.

An update on the Neti

Sutra Neti - photo stolen from another website (Yoga Therapy)

Ok, so today I tried Sutra Neti. This is where you put a rubber tube near the tip of your nose and then as you inhale you move it into your nasal cavity (see the lovely photo of the Indian man demonstrating).

Believe it or not, it is not as horrific as it sounds (or looks). I was really dreading trying it, but I am glad I gave it a go.

My left nostril was ok and I managed to get the tube to go right to the back of my throat, but then it hit a block and we just left it there (apparently we will try and get it all the way through next week).

My right nostril wasn’t having a bar of Neti sutras and I couldn’t get the tube very far in my nose at all without it hurting. This nostril is always blocked and I am pretty sure it it is a mutant nostril (I think its a deviated something-aratha). So we didn’t push the right nostril at all.

So, Sutra Neti – not as bad as it seems. But don’t try it without a proper teacher guiding you!

* * * Ooops… Ive just realised the photo of the lovely man isnt what I tried at all… I had the tube going up my nostril and into my throat. He is doing something else! but the photo is cool, so it can stay… you will have to use your imaginations. * * *

The attempted boob grab

Well I suppose it was only a matter of time… this evening while I was walking home a man rode his motorbike very slowly towards me, he stopped and said ‘excuse me…’, so I stopped walking to see what he wanted. While I turned around he reached out and tried (very feebly) to grab my boob! Luckily I quickly cottoned on to what was happening and quickly moved away, I was also well covered so it was difficult for him to grab me.

Some of you may remember a similar incident happened last year with a teenage boy on a bicycle. This time however I was more frightened than angry. But the man seemed harmless so I think I got a fright mostly because of other experiences that have happened to me in the past (a drugging/mugging in Belgium and a few boob grabs in India).

While this ‘attempted boob grab’ shook me up a little bit I decided to put it into it into perspective… I have seen thousands of Indian men while I’ve been in this country, hundreds of them stare, a lot of them leer, but only a handful attempt to do anything that makes me feel threatened. So really, it is not so bad. And in a way, I feel sorry for these men (and teenage boys) – they really do not know how to relate to women (especially western women). It is kind of sad.