For one reason or another "What to do?" seems to be a pretty popular phrase around the eMi office. It seems to be the one phrase that is only appropriate reaction to the unpredictability of living and working in non-profit India. The electricity is out for hours - "What to do?". A water pipe broke outside and then broke again after being fixed - "What to do?". You traveled down south on your vacation to take the GRE and see family and ended up getting a fever and diarrhea - "What to do?"
That's what happened to me. This week is actually my vacation week so I thought it would be a good time to come down south, see family, and squeeze in the GRE. As it turns out, the night before I was to leave, I developed a fever and was faced with the decision of either staying in Mussourie or continuing with my travels down south. It would be the first time I would be traveling alone in India and I would need to take a taxi, overnight train, rickshaw, and plane to get to family - so was it worth it? If my sickness got worse I would literally be stranded. But I had already paid for all these things - including the GRE - so maybe it was worth the risk. I decided to go for it. Already half way through the taxi ride I was completely regretting it, contemplating whether I should ask the driver to take me back. I arrived in Dehradun 20 minutes before my train was supposed to depart and there was no train. The train arrived an hour and a half late - at 1am. That gave me plenty of time to sit half asleep on a bench. Regardless, made it into Delhi by 7am and by now, things had become slightly worse. I had planned a couple of things to to in Delhi before going to airport (since my flight was only at noon), but now, having a hard time just sitting down, I wasn't sure what to do. I decided just to go straight to the airport. As it turns out, the Delhi airport has a section of nice, long, reclining chairs. I just laid there and slept for about 3 hours before my flight. That was great. I arrived in Hyderabad and since then my family has been taking care of me. I was forced to miss my GRE and because of the evil policies of the GRE testing center was forced to forfeit half of my registration fee. I'm getting better but still...India isn't a fun place to have diarrhea - not to say it's fun to have diarrhea anywhere.
Anyway...I should be fine by the wedding and will get to see my dad in the process. I'll have to reschedule the GRE and make another trip to Delhi during some weekend. But - "what to do?"
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