Christmas With Judy and Ross

We are welcome to stay in the bungalow as long as we like, however we want to be more independent and to be more immersed in the daily life here in Mirzapur. Kusam took us around in a car, weaving between the many pedal rickshaws, to view various places. She introduced us to Amrit, owner of Giggles Enterprises, who has many connections. He suggested a few ground floor rooms. One place was too tacky, fake wood banisters, large manicured lawns and convention hall. It was relatively expensive, but it did have a toilet, not just Asian squatter style. In Amrit’s neighborhood, we checked out the Hotel Resort Deluxe. It was very clean but was up many stairs, and probably expensive. We eventually picked a marriage hall called the Rajas tan Bhowan. Since marriage season is over for a while, we had the whole place to our selves besides Pundit Ji (holy door man). The Rajistan Bhowan is owned by the Marwari’s, religious business people. On the way to our cell like room, there is a Hanuman temple . After a bit of cleaning and opening the shutters to the interior hall that is open to the sky, we felt quite happy with the place. The toilet was accessible and there is only one half step to access the street. From across the narrow street, more like a narrow back lane, we would have our meals delivered from a small family sweet shop. We were warned to only eat in our room as the monkeys would come into the open hall and steal our food. Apparently they can be quite vicious.
A short walk from the room is the Mukeri market. It was nice to finally be on our own , walking amongst all the open stalls selling fruit, cauliflower, tomatoes onions and sandals. I found a camera shop where I downloaded the camera. And an internet shop that I piggybacked Judy into.
On the third day there, a large cloth was laid out on the front hall beside the temple. A lot of men came for a meeting and there was a lot of heated discussion. I joked with Judy that they were probably talking about us. The next day Amrit called and said we had to move. I guess the meeting was about us ! There was a concern that because they were not set up as a hotel, foreigners could not stay there. Security was apparently a problem.
Amrit arranged for us to stay at the Hotel Resort Deluxe where he wrangled a huge discount for us.
That night Amrit came over with a neighbor hood buddy. Judy was happy staying in the upstairs room as she was starting to get the bad cold that I was just getting over. The three of us hopped on Amrit’s motorcycle and after a short ride we stopped at one of their friends home where we all piled in. This infidel shared a smoke with my 2 Hindu friends and their Muslim neighbors. After lots of joking around and laughter we moved to a large sleeping platform where we sat cross-legged around a meal of Kabab, left over from Eid.
The next morning I called a doctor as Judy had a fitful sleep because the cold had caused her trouble breathing. Sally had previously called a doctor for me because she was concerned of complications. I guess the smoke from the dung fires makes respiratory illness’s worse even though the air here is comparatively good because of the low number of 2 stroke and diesel tuk tuk trikes. After paying the bill of whole 200Rs (5$) for the house call, we went off in the car that Edward had sent for us. Edward was having his annual christmas lunch. There were about 120 guests scattered around carpets and tables set up on the lawn. Inside there were a couple long tables with vegetarian or meat dishes. I wasn’t hungry but I ate a little anyway. I felt so full; uncomfortably full. After the guests left, we stayed and Judy had a bath. I had a sleep and awoke with a very uncomfortable belly. (kababs from the previous night?). We continued with the plans went in 2 cars to Geoffrey and Kusam’s , in the village near Gopi Ganj. Kusam’s family was there for Christmas dinner. We shared presents and sat down for dinner. After only eating a bit of soup, Judy and I left as we were both feeling quite ill. Judy has decided to stay here again at the Bungalow until she recovers from this bad cold. When I got up, after most of the nausia went away, I found Judy on the 3000 square foot porch talking to Dr. Singh. He agreed with what the other Dr. had said about Judy’s treatment and told me to just drink lots of fluids to help with my diarrhea. Judy was served some grapefruit and porridge and I some tea and then we sat in the warm sun looking out over all the pretty flowers in the garden as a pair of mongooses ran by and a peacock wandered around under the grapefruit trees.