(8) Indian baptism finally arrived. I came down with severe vomiting and diarrhea. So much for the trip...

(8) Indian baptism finally arrived. I came down with severe vomiting and diarrhea. So much for the trip...

It was probably past 10:00 p.m. when I fell asleep due to fatigue and headache. I had hoped that I would recover a little after a good night's sleep, but India would not allow such a thing. I was going to be in a state of agony from now on.

I think it was around 1:30 AM when I woke up. I woke up with nausea and heartburn.

But he did not get up carelessly. He was afraid to move. Stimulation might make him sicker. I know that from experience.

I remained still, staring heavenward. And I kept praying. I prayed, "May this be only for a moment.

But the nausea shows no sign of abating. No, in fact, the situation is clearly getting worse. This is bad...this is bad!

I don't want to... I don't want to throw up... please get better somehow..!

However, my hopes were vain, and the situation was finally becoming urgent. The war situation had begun to change.

This one has to throw up."

I made that decision. Fighting nausea any longer was not going to win. In times like this, it is better to let it out with all my might. I had to be patient when vomiting. This is also a decision that only a veteran can make.

Stumbling, I headed for the restroom. Ah, finally the time had come in India.... I should have been careful....

Then I collapsed in front of the toilet bowl. I was hotter than I had expected to be.

It was a tremendous rush. It was a deep vomit that seemed to be surging up from the depths of my abdomen. I was exhausted. I found that my whole body was wet with a tremendous amount of sweat.

I literally fall down on the toilet. I can't get up. All this after just one fight...

In my experience, many of these people attack in waves. They will not let you go so easily.

I managed to crawl back into bed, but the nausea showed no sign of abating. My vision began to spin. The headache would not stop.

This is bad. This is really bad. I'm completely in India's clutches. This may be my undoing...

I then repeatedly went to the bathroom, turning blue and coming back to bed each time. Nothing came out. I am sure many people in the world can relate to the pain of having nothing but gastric juices coming out. But the nausea still persisted, and finally morning came without sleep.

Then, around 7:00, this time my stomach suddenly began to ache. This was unusual! I usually have a stomach ache when I have a stomach ache, but I had never imagined that I would have a stomach ache at the same time! I had never imagined that it would be up and down at the same time! The fact that diarrhea had not been observed in India so far made my surprise even greater.

At first I thought it was just going to be like water, like in Armenia, but India was amazing. The amount and force of the water was so great that I was sweating all over and felt like I was going to lose consciousness. What is India? Moreover, the nausea did not stop even during the diarrhea that made me feel like I was going to lose consciousness! Please, give me a break! I was about to cry in India all alone.

I managed to get out of my predicament and crawled back to bed. I was on my back, on my back, and finally couldn't move. I had reached my limit.

It is already past eight in the morning. It was already before noon in Japan. When I called my parents' house, my mother told me to come home, but there was no way I could go back to my parents' house deep in the mountains. Moreover, I was in no condition to move from my bed.

Next, I called my guide. After the first day in Rishikesh, I broke up with my guide and asked him to go back to Delhi first. So I had no choice but to contact him by phone. He had said, "Please call me anytime if you are in trouble. I was sure he would get through.

..."

No answer. No connection. Then next.

I then called Ashoka Tours, the travel agency I had asked to arrange this trip. They immediately understood the situation and agreed to arrange a doctor for me. That's Ashoka Tours. They are really reliable.

When I was relieved to hear that the doctor would be coming, I received a phone call from the guide.

Ueda-san, what's wrong?"

Yes, it's a bit of a stretch, but..."

I'm sorry to hear that. That was tough."

And here he said something incredible.

But it's okay! I'll be cured in half an hour with an injection!" He was beaming.

I was also amused by this. How could it be cured so easily? Well, there are many travelers in India who get stomachaches like me. The guide must be used to it. Maybe he was trying to cheer me up.

Around 10:00 the doctor came to my room. It was an elderly man and a nurse? The woman looked like an old lady. The woman looked like an old lady and she was very kind.

And here is where I was surprised. After the examination, the doctor started to take something out of my bag.

I could not believe my eyes. The doctor was holding a syringe about as thick as his thumb. It was too bulky to be an intravenous drip.

What? You're going to type this?"

The doctor nods smilingly. Then he tells me to lie on my back.

What? Not an arm? Huh? Buttocks!"

He said he would hit it there, between the buttocks and the waist to be exact. Oh, no! He was going to hit such a big one right there?

But there is nothing we can do. I have no choice but to do it. Even while I was examining him like this, he was so sick that he couldn't even sit up. As I kept feeling sick and moaning, I was clutching at straws.

Then the time came. I was prepared for a certain amount of pain, but it still hurt! It was a numbing, chattering pain. I wondered if it was possible to get numbness from an injection, and I was worried that it might have hit a nerve, but there was nothing I could do about it. I wonder if there are a lot of medicines or it takes a long time to inject. The old lady who was taking care of me patted me on the head when she saw me clutching the sheets in such pain. She must have felt sorry for me. At that time, I felt as if she were Mother Teresa.

Finally, the injection was over. As I was relieved that I had managed to endure it, the doctor suddenly began to prepare another injection. What? Another shot in the other side this time? No way....

I decided to endure the situation as an adult.

Strangely enough, however, the second shot did not cause that much pain. After all, the first shot must have hit in a strange place. Because it still hurt. In fact, the pain lasted until the evening of that day.

With Mother Teresa's encouragement I managed to tolerate the injection and then some pills and oral rehydration solution. You'll be fine now. You will feel better soon," the doctor said. Well, I really hope I feel better soon.... But that was a relief. I would be able to move around a little in a few days. Now I can escape from India and go home.

I thanked the doctor and continued to lie in my room alone again like a sick person. (Actually, I really am a sick person.)

But here is where the unexpected happened. About an hour after the doctor left, I began to feel a change in my body.

Obviously the nausea and general discomfort began to subside! What's going on? It really did go away in an hour! Not quite 30 minutes, as that guide had said, but it really was a spur-of-the-moment injection that made me feel better! Of course, the body itself is debilitated and unable to move, but just the absence of nausea, discomfort, and pain makes a world of difference. This is good!

However, it is not without a sense of dread that a single injection could cure so many physical ailments in an instant. I wonder what was in that injection.

Well, if I was cured, so be it. I was thus on the road to recovery, and after two days of recuperation in Rishikesh, I was able to walk out of the house.

Looking back on it now, the vomiting and diarrhea were traumatic. The mysterious injection is also unforgettable. I can say that my image of India was determined by this baptism.

Early in the morning on my last day in Rishikesh, I decided to see the Ganges on foot.

It was just sunrise and we were walking through a truly beautiful landscape.

The riverside is like a promenade and very pleasant. It is not chaotic like the riverside in Haridwar. I was able to enjoy such a peaceful atmosphere because my lodgings were located a little far from the center of Rishikesh.

How happy I was to take this walk after almost two days of not even being able to walk!

The sun rising over the mountains on the other side of the river is truly divine. The light mist covering the surface of the mountains is also truly divine. It is easy to understand why Rishikesh is a holy place. I naturally felt that "God exists here. The sound of the Ganges is also pleasant. This is it, this is what I was looking for. This is the kind of India I wanted to see. Haridwar was too deep.

Enjoy the sound of the river while watching the sun rise. The morning breeze is pleasant. Being here, I naturally feel meditative.

The more physically weak I was, the more this beautiful Ganges seeped into my heart. I even began to think that I had fallen ill for this one moment. It may sound like a congratulatory thought, but I was purified by the Ganges in this way.

The Haridwar and Rishikesh itinerary, which had been so intense for better or worse, was finally coming to an end. When I walked around the Ganges again before departure, I found a different atmosphere from that of the sunrise. The sunrise must have been very special. The Ganges in the daytime was also refreshing, but that sacred atmosphere was not so easy to see.

Let's get going. Let's go back to Delhi. And in a little while, we can go back to Japan...

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