The next day, I got up a much healthier happier person Prayers always work wonders with me!

I did not venture out with the rest though as we were flying back & the last thing I wanted to do was to get ill again. Instead I finished packing and the spent a very peaceful & quite morning all by myself enjoying the natural beauty of Goa; watching barges, police speed boats & birds go by.

The rest had in the meanwhile gotten Jess back from the hospital. She was going good, the day on the drip really revived her completely & she was even talking about going shopping when we returned back to Bombay! She also had her “fitness to fly certificate”, so we seemed A-ok.

We reached Dabolim well in time for our flight. My sis kept her word & bought me two Agatha Christies from the airport & I promptly tucked into one. The flight out was uneventful & we reached Bombay pretty much at the time we were supposed to.

As we left the plane, I took one last pic. The holiday (illness or not) had been great. We had eaten (like pigs), danced, shopped, laughed, sang, bonded. We have enought memories to look back at, for the rest of our lives, which will make us all say “that was a great holiday”. And it sure was.

Started off the day by having to go to the hospital for Jess. Unfortunately, now there was one more sick person on board (though not even half as bad as she was).

My aunt had gotten an appointment with a Dr. * at ‘Vintage Hospital’ in Panjim. On the doctor - he was very cute Trust two girls - both ill, one who couldn’t even walk - to notice a cute guy. Yes, he even had light grey eyes. And he was very very polished and sensible. Ahh.

The hospital itself was state of the art. We were very impressed with all the facilities. Best of all, it was UK affiliated, which made it a lot easier for Jess to file medical insurance claims. I later found out it has it’s own website.

The good doc immediately admitted Jess into one of the private rooms & put her on the drip. I was put on anti-biotics for the infection & other drugs to stop throwing up etc.

On the way out, I was most amused with this sign I saw (you can tell I was better already, that I could take pics!):

The others dropped me off home & after making sure I had a maid to take care of me proceeded to the Spice Farm (no sense them missing out on their holiday) in Ponda. I told them I might join them for dinner - which they had at ‘Calamari’, Candolim finally, but I was too weak to get out of bed even then.

I pretty much spent the whole day between sleeping & praying in bed. I hadn’t prayed on the 31st nor the 1st (barring Mass), so it was actually a very good thing for me & I actually enjoyed my time with the Lord, looking back on the whole year gone by, making lists little by little (I had lots of time!) and thanking Him for all the multitudes of blessings I’ve received this year.

(Leave your comments only at the end of this adventure!)

Firstly, though I’m writing this is retrospect, let me say…

It’s NEW YEAR 2006!!!!

How wonderful it is to keep a journal (on or offline), now I don’t know what lies in store for me this coming year - a year from now, I’ll (hopefully) be looking back & praising God for another full year!

One of the reasons I didn’t start my New Year in Church as I usually do, is that my sister would have to go alone for Mass in the morning. The bus driver who was a Catholic had invited me for Midnight Mass with his family & I could have done that & gone back to Cubana but then decided for Sim’s sake I’d just stick with the group.

The next morning with not more than a half hour of sleep, Sim & I got up, totally groggy & got ready for 8am Mass in Old Goa, in the famous & beautiful the Basilica of Bom Jésus which holds the casket of Saint Francis Xavier. Half of our group had come in about an hour earlier, while the rest got home as Sim & I were leaving.

Miraculously (thank you God), caught a bus right outside our house that took us straight to the church & we got the whole Mass (albiet in Konkani). The great thing about Catholic (which means universal) Mass is that wherever you go, you can follow most of the Mass. (I’ve also heard Catholic Mass in Hindi, Marathi, Tamil, Malayalam, Gujarati, Konkani & Chinese on various other trips.)

Incidentally, the phirangs among us had done the whole Old Goa tour on Day 3 in the morning, including the Churches & the Museums etc but I didn’t go as I’ve been to Goa a million times. I thouroughly recommend it if you haven’t seen, esp. the ‘Sound & Light’ show.

Back to us! After Mass, was very refreshed (the singing was great, in voices & harmony) & Sim & I decided that everyone would probably get up by lunch so we might as well get some breakfast. Found a nice place just next to the Church & while Sim got so South Indian stuff, I decided I would start the year with a good Goan Sausage Pau

Miraculously again, we caught a bus - which turned out to be the SAME bus on the way back - immediately after breakfast & they again dropped us right off to our door. Could get used to this service

Couldn’t really sleep & just got ready for the day. The rest of the group that arrived by train were all off & we sadly said goodbyes, first to Eric, who was flying directly back to Bangalore & then to the rest. Took some pics at home before dropping the rest off to the airport.

Went to Panjim for lunch. Went to ‘The Ritz Classic’ for a quick lunch before we left. Jess was not very upto eating & just ate some french fries. The rest of us ordered common dishes & all joined in together (I mention this for later reference).

From there did a quick round of shopping in Panjim before heading off to Dabolim airport. ‘Parting is such sweet sorrow’ - apparently it is bitter sorrow as well. Was witness to some very weird partings of another family at the airport - worse than many funerals I’ve been to!!!

Having dropped off the lot at the airport returned home for a much needed nap. Our original plan was to go to Candolim (to a restaurant owned by a friend, called ‘Calamari’) in the late evening for dinner.

Unfortunately sometimes things don’t go exactly the way we plan them. Turned out to be quite the negative adventure after that.

Firstly Jess became violently sick, throwing up continously. We didn’t even realise it at first as we were all in individual rooms happily sleeping.

Next, the bus driver just didn’t show up. Worse still neither he nor the guy we had booked him through were picking up their cell phones.

By the time we realised Jess was really sick and needed medication (& possible ER help) it was already around 10.30pm. We had no transport & no way of getting into Panjim. Public buses do not run late in the night & there were no ricks or other public transport we could hire.

Add all this to the fact we had not eaten any dinner & probably wouldn’t get any since it was so late. We were also pretty unsure if there would be any chemists open in Goa at the hour.

Finally two of us walked to a hotel nearby to ask if they had any ER medication. They didn’t. But mercifully they did allow us to rent a vehicle from them to go to a chemist in Panjim - they themselves made several calls to find out which pharmacy would be open at this late an hour. Found out we should go to ‘Hindu Pharma’. And we also went to their restaurant and ordered food which we decided to pick up on the way home.

Off to Panjim then. Took a long time to find the pharmacy which turned out be next to ‘Hotel Aroma’ on Church Square. (I much later found out online that it is “Panjim’s best pharmacy” and stocks Ayurvedic, Homeopathic and Allopathic medicines).

I tried to get the names of doctors etc from the chemist & got a name of a clinic instead. Found that clinic after a little more searching. But it turned out to be a Maternity clinic. oh well.

On the way home, realised many roads had been closed due to some carnivalish celebration happening on the roads for the New Year. Traffic was diverted to Ponda & took a really long time to get back.

I was really feeling very weak on the way back & thought it was due to the fact that I hadn’t eaten yet. It was already midnight by the time we reached the hotel. Picked up our food & headed home.

In the meanwhile, thanks to the advice of a friend I’d called in Bombay, realised that I should call some relatives of mine in Goa and update them on the situation. They immediately called a doctor who made an appointment for the first thing in the morning (8am) and told us what medication Jess should take (pretty much the same we had just bought).

After giving Jess her meds, the rest of us had dinner & retired for the night. Nick spent the night with Jess, who mercifully (after meds) finally stopped throwing up but was unable to even move by that stage.

I wish that was the end of the horrid adventure, but back in my room, shortly after I had drifted off to sleep, I got up & started being sick myself. Pretty much spent the night in the bathroom and sleepless in my bed.

(Leave your comments only at the end of this adventure!)