Delhi 28th March 06

Back in Delhi to get my motorbike serviced. The swelling in my hand had gone down enough by Monday 27th, so I rode back to Delhi then. Journey was uneventful but good, spotted about six camels pulling carts along and the usual assortment of cows, dogs, horses and ponies.

I spent the last couple of days in Agra hanging out with the Doc and practically moved into his house! On Sunday I took my bike out for a spin to see if I was able to ride it ok now that the swelling was going down and I could nearly make a fist out of my hand. I picked the Doc up from his Agra clinic and drove him to his other clinic and hung out there for a couple of hours. On the way back to Agra we stopped at a venue that was having a presentation of some new rabies vaccine and we got some snacks and “Thumbs Up’ (Indian coke copy drink). He introduced me as Dr. Aidan from Ireland and I ended up getting my photo taken being handed some drugs by the company reps, and it’s going to be used in their in house magazine.

When I got back to Delhi I gave my two friends a ring as it was their last night in India and they were flying from Delhi later that evening. We met up in Connaught Place and had a couple of drinks before returning to their hotel for something to eat. When they got their cab I walked back to the general direction of my guesthouse, which took just over half an hour. I decided to grab a beer and went into a hotel around the corner from where I’m staying. When I walked in there , there was some guy sitting there that I know from London! He works for the same company as I do but in a different office. I had heard that he had handed in his notice shortly after I started my trip and that he was going to follow the England cricket team on their tour of India, I had meant to email him before he left and arrange to meet up, but I never got around to it. Needless to say, many drinks were knocked back and I didn’t get back to my guesthouse until gone 04:00. He was up for 06:00 to make his way to the stadium to get a decent seat – hope he made it. It’s amazing that in a country with a population of over one billion people that you can bump into someone that you know.