2012, What everyone has been waiting for

Bucket baths, I can take. Washing my arse with my hand, check. Body wrenching abdominal pain that leads to flushing of one's insides? Meh, I am over it. In light of the new year I will share one of the more comedic and embarrassing moments of the past month. I know this is what people really want to hear and since this event happened on the birth of the new year, it seems timely and somewhat appropriate to share.

I moved into my apartment this past week. My roommate was gone for the first few days but her cousin crashed here one of the nights she was gone (it turns out this is his crash pad most weekends). I woke up one morning to beautiful temple music and introduced myself. Turns out he is quite the conversationalist. He is super friendly and very outgoing. I left for work shortly thereafter but our conversation carried over into the next morning when I saw him again. He chatted me up and we decided to go to a late brunch together. I had some plans that afternoon and was meeting people later to celebrate the new years, so a good brunch could fit in nicely. We ended up leaving much later than I was expecting, decidedly Indian time, and he took me to a restaurant way across town, Sunny's. It looked clean, had a seemingly great menu and I felt pretty good about it.

Anyone who has travelled to India knows that you are constantly searching for signs of contamination whenever you eat. You develop an eagle eye for leftover water on plates and cups. You try to inconspicuously check out the water tank to see if it is filtered and notice the clientele of every establishment. Kids in the restaurant is a 4 star go-ahead for eating. I am usually so good at this, but I dropped my guard. I didn't see any water drops, there were kids in the restaurant, but I didn’t check the water! I assumed it was fine. I was lulled into safety and you know where that leaves you... in the shitter. Literally.

I felt so full after brunch. In fact, a few hours later, after meeting up with Kate and Ramsey I was still really full. This didn't bode well. I hadn't eaten that much, my stomach was swollen and these guys were hanging in my room talking about grabbing some booze and dinner for the evening. My bathroom is attached to my bedroom and I knew I had to do a number in there, but Kate and Ramsey were chilling on my bed. Can I tell you how embarrassing it is to talk about stomach sickness, even if the people you are telling are understanding, it's still hard to say those words, “My belly is on fire, can you give me a minute?” So, I chose the passive route. I put on some music and high-tailed it to comfort. I came out feeling good, so all is well, right?

This story is nowhere near done.

We decide to hit the markets for some booze and I could feel the battle in my belly starting up again. We walked out of my apartment and a few steps down, I knew this alien needed out. Now! I raced up the stairs, opened the door and barely made it to the bathroom. Sunny's is not so sunny on the way up. But it was quick and I felt aces afterwards. Not so bad, maybe my body is getting good at identifying the enemy and purging it in a timely manner? Once again Kate and Ramsey were very supportive, but I felt good. There was no need to alter plans for some bad bruschetta. We picked up some booze and came back to the apartment and started drinking before dinner.

All was well. We went up to the terrace on the roof of the building and caught up. It was lovely t-shirt weather and we were surrounded by trees. Not a bad new years eve. We stayed up there for a bit and then decided it was time to grab some food. I knew once we got to the restaurant that I was going to have trouble eating anything. Even though I felt much better, the smell of food was a little nauseating. I picked at my dinner and decided I would take it easy on the drinks as well. There was no need to prove anything. Giardia is a nasty and decisive judge.

Some of Anand's friends came over and an impromptu party began. We played some fun tunes, started a bit of a dance party, and just generally had a good time. There were plenty of drinks, some American style cheese chips, and we discovered our two new friends had Dire Straits tattoos on their arms. They were brothers from another mother, but both loved the Straits. Fascinating! The clock struck midnight and Bangalore lit up with fireworks. All around us were shows. A few were so close, it sounded like it came from out apartment building. The skies got smoky and the night felt so nice. It was a lot of fun.

Kate and Ramsey decided to crash in my bedroom, rather than taking a sketchy after-hours rickshaw back to their apartment. We settled in for the night and about an hour into sleep, I knew there was trouble brewing. My stomach had swollen and I could hear the battle starting. They say that the biggest victims aren't those fighting, but the bystanders on the sideline. Oh man, I was gonna get massacred. Kate and Ramsey were sleeping between my bed and the bathroom. They would hear everything! There was no hiding this fight, though. I had to make peace.

I swallowed my pride and paid homage to the gods. Again.

Oh man, the explosives could have given the fireworks a run for their money. So nasty. So incredibly embarrassing, but what are you gonna do? I could literally see my stomach getting smaller and it felt so good. The third time is a charm, apparently. The war was over and left only a few battle scars, my pride being the biggest. But I guess this is what I signed up for- adventure, challenge, and experimentation. Little did I know what price this would take on my humility. Ah well, it's good to start fresh in the new year.

I will have to tell you guys about the train ride from Mysore at some point. It involved a sleeper train, my seatmate, some cream and a blanket... maybe this is an in-person story? It'll give you all something to ask me about when I get home. Happy New Year! I wish everyone peace and prosperity in 2012.