Time is on our side

May 02, 2015

Time is on our side

A lot has happened in the last two weeks and at the same time not much.

The original plan was to drop by Delhi quickly to get Manjeev’s South African visa and fly off again. The first issue - and knowing what I know of India it really should not have come as a surprise - was getting the visa. We went to the visa office with our 100 or so documents, from bank statements to vaccination certificates along with the usual invitation letter etc. I knew - and I should really never have forgotten - that you never EVER only go once to an Indian office, whatever that office may be. Whether you need a gas connection or a bank account (things usually pretty easy to get) or even an internet connection you always have to go back a few times because you will invariably miss one or more documents. You can see where this is going, cant you?

When we handed over our file and the officer carefully went through it he pointed out that the passport copy of our South African host hadn't been notarised by the Ministry of Oaths. Whereas I am well familiar with the Indian obsession with notarising things I didn’t know they went as far as asking people in their own countries to do it too. Anyways… Our poor host lives in the country side and it’s not the easiest thing to get done. If I had to do this myself I would have no idea where to start, luckily he had a ‘vague idea’ as to what was requested. It was bound to take some time. The question was how much time?

After a few days waiting around in Delhi we figured we might as well do some health check ups.

Manjeev’s shoulder was hurting badly while we were in New Zealand. We never really figured out how it happened but since the pain suddenly kicked one night we didn’t think too much of it. Except it was really hurting him and after one week of popping pain killers we finally went to the doctor. The doctor diagnosed a tendinitis and gave him an injection of cortisone right into the shoulder. After a few days the pain disappeared so we thought the problem was solved.

We eventually went to get an MRI. Just to make sure. And sure enough it showed a fracture. The Indian doctor cursed the Kiwi one for that cortisone injection that killed the pain and hid the broken bone and grounded Manjeev for four weeks. He has to wear a sling and is strictly not allowed to move his shoulder even if it doesn’t hurt at the moment because the pain is bound to come back once the cortisone wears off. Needless to say, playing polo in South Africa was crossed off the list immediately.

Now as sad as this might seem, it couldn’t have come at a better time. First, because we couldn’t leave again we got to go to Chandigarh for the birth of Manjeev’s sister’s first child. That makes me an aunt for the first time and I got to see my nephew a few hours after he was born. Priceless.

Secondly, this also means I get to go to Singapore and welcome my brother Oliver after his year long bicycling journey across Asia. I was very sad and felt terribly guilty not being there when he arrived (after all he did say he was doing the trip to go and see me in Singapore!) but now I will be there.

We are now staying with Manjeev’s parents in Dharamshala, blissfully escaping the Delhi summer heat. The weather is great, the mountains are as beautiful as ever and they have a six months old puppy at home. I couldn’t ask for much more.