Our first taste of India wasn't what we were expecting at all. Arriving in Mumbai airport we went through passport control without a problem and weren't accosted at all on our exit, it was all very laid back. We changed some money and got a prepaid taxi to CTS or Victoria Terminus a huge Gothic train station built by the good old British, well it was designed by them at least. From there I had the directions to a couple of cheap hotels so of course we got very lost, Djalma took charge and we ended up going to a completely different part of town, Colaba, where there were loads of cheap guest-houses. We were lucky and got the last room at India Guest House (where Lin from Shantaram first stays when he arrives in Bombay). We spent the evening in the bar where all the travellers go to, Leopold's Café, and tucked into the most incredible mushroom tikka and vegetable tikka masala washed down with our first beer in weeks. We couldn't handle our own ambitions and despite Djalma's prior determination to get utterly drunk we couldn't handle more than a pitcher between us and went back to bed after we finished dinner.
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| From Mumbai, India |
The next day I, still in charge of directions, got very lost and frustrated trying to find our way to my eye appointment which was in a completely different part of town, cue mad dash for a taxi when I got the right address and a 45 minute cab ride north of town, nice one Sarah. It took a good hour and a half for my initial consultation, I had drops put in my eyes to dilate them and my “numbers” checked three times before I asked if I was suitable for LASIK surgery, it turns out that I only just okay, a thought which had never crossed my mind, feeling relieved and grateful I paid up in advance and confirmed my appointment for surgery the following day.
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| From Mumbai, India |
We got a taxi to Chowpatty beach and walked the rest of the way down to Colaba, it took us hours and we got very lost. The tide was out at the beach revealing swathes of rubbish and raw sewage, we saw the former and smelt the latter. The beach was fairly busy with families, couples, groups of friends and men having a wee wherever they felt the need take them. We watched the sun go down behind some high rise buildings and the lights go on round the bay – this spectacle is called the queens necklace – the street lights hugging the bay form a half circle and look a bit like a necklace. Walking through the maze of streets we stopped finally for some much needed dinner and had mutter masala (green peas in masala gravy) and spicy vegetable biryani. Fully recharged we managed to find our way back to the guest-house only because an old man took pity on us and let us follow him back to Colaba, what a dude.
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| From Mumbai, India |
Not knowing how I would feel after the surgery we made the most of the next day by doing some serious tourism, we walked all over town. Mumbai is full of some gorgeous colonial buildings and with all the massive trees it looks a bit like a tropical dirty London in a jungle, I loved it.
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| From Mumbai, India |
We sat in a small round garden, Horniman's Circle I think it was and watched friends talking, people reading newspapers and two ladies start shouting at this guy who shouted something unintelligible back and called them idiots. The possible highlight of my day was seeing a lizard, I really need to get a life.
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| From Mumbai, India |
We stopped at a church and prayed for people struggling back home, we stopped by the Oval and watched a bit of cricket and had loads of sugar cane juice with ginger and lime before heading back, shattered.
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| From Mumbai, India |
I didn't sleep much at all that night and I was quite tired, excited and a little bit afraid so I got up extra early and insisted that we left sooner rather than later for my eye appointment which was at 10.30am. We went by bus and arrived just after 8.30 so I had a nice long wait to hyperventilate and think about all the things that could go wrong, by the time it was my turn to be zapped I was in such a state the nurse had to calm me down while she taped cotton wool over my ears and put a cap on my head.
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| From Mumbai, India |
And before I knew I was in the same room as the laser machine, about to have the surgery that I'd been thinking about for months, and I was pooing my pants. I lay back on the table and they taped my eyelashes back and put some metal thing in my eye and then got to work, Doctor Anand Shroff, the doctor who does all the surgeries was friendly, professional and very kind but there were silences were I had to ask what was going on, in between my too deep breathing, that did make him giggle.
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| From Mumbai, India |
By the time my first eye was done, a matter of minutes I had worked myself up in such a state that the second hurt far worse – just for clarification you do have eye drops to anaesthetise the eye so it doesn't feel anything but the metal frame that gets put in can be felt and isn't the most comfortable of sensations. It was all over in less than fifteen minutes and I wobbled through to the small waiting room where I promptly burst into tears while trying not to squeeze my eyes. This was particularly embarrassing because it's where the all the patients wait prior to and after being immediately operated on, the other patients are held up as shining examples that everything is okay, we couldn't hear any screams of pain etc. etc. and there I was right in front of the next man waiting to go in and I was blubbing like a baby. I don't think it had happened before and they cheerily dismissed them as tears of happiness and promptly got me a masala tea (hot, sweet milky tea flavoured with cardamom) which sorted me out and calmed me down. After a few minutes the nurse showed Djalma how to put in my eye drops, they gave me a care package and told me to come back the next day. They were all very nice but I just wanted to be cuddled and soothed in private and taken care of by my man, which after a hot taxi ride, with the windows up to minimise dust, I was.
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| From Mumbai, India |
We got back before midday and spent the whole day in bed, Djalma gave me my two sets of eye drops every hour and went out to get some food – we ended up having the same thing for breakfast lunch and dinner that day. I napped a little bit with my sunglasses on and by the evening I could see. It was incredible, from the moment the Doctor put the flap back everything was clear but fuzzy and after eight hours my vision was clear. We went back the following day to check everything was okay and then I was happily discharged and on my way with my improved vision.
We spent the next week in bed with the shits feeling terrible, I threw up several times and couldn't keep my 'stop pooing' pills down or any liquid which left me feeling awful and completely without energy. It was the first time that Djalma and I had been ill together, our bodies usually managed it so that we took turns and one took care of the other but this time we had to take turns rolling out of bed, staggering down the stairs and hobbling to the shops for biscuits and water, luckily my amazing idea of stocking up on drugs lasted us for a couple of days before we had to go out and get more immodium and rehydration sachets.
We eventually checked out when we decided that we felt secure enough to leave the toilet behind for a few hours and after we had a couple of little walks under our belts, we packed up our things and left for the Buddhist Caves at Ajanta.
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