The Slough of Despond

Saturday March 8, 2008 6:15 p.m.
Jaipur, Rajasthan

How else to put it? Today was simply a bleak trough of chills and fever—just the sort of thing that reminds me what a wimp I am when it comes to being sick as the proverbial dog. It began with a largely restless night, though I thought I survived OK as the day dawned. Somewhere in the midday, however, I felt myself slipping down the slope of delerium. The aches became overwhelming, the fever debilitating, and my brain loosened its already tenuous grip on my surroundings. Not sure it was belly-related, still my belly hasn’t felt quite right in days, and now my whole world was beginning to spin out in a bad direction.

In any case, I went ahead and took the allopathic medicinal plunge, leaving behind the ginger tea and zinc throat spray and gobbling down some of the Cipro stash it is always wise to have handy on the road. Followed that up with some Indian-style ache-relief, paracetamol, and then piled under the covers to ride out the deepening fever and chills, praying for relief. Which, luckily, seems to have come a bit—I think the worst is over. Still feel like warmed over sludge, but with a human face. After the last couple days, I’ll take it!

And finally, there is good news on the budding road videos front—see the most recent post.