We don't know what happened to our human companions! They haven't come home and they haven't told us much but we are not happy about all of this turmoil! They can tell you what has been going on.
The flight to Frankfurt on Lufthansa was quite satisfactory and Janet's arm was not bothering her too much. There was a short layover in Germany before the flight to Bangalore. The second flight was less comfortable for both of us- with Janet's arm bothering her more. She put ice on it as much as possible. We arrived safely in Bangalore about 1:30AM and cleared through immigration and customs with no problems. We were met by a representative of the the Taj Hotels and we told him of Janet's problem, so he called the hotel and they said they would have a doctor meet us at the hotel. The ride to the hotel was tame at this hour of the night and we could see they had made some progress in the repairs of the airport road in the past 6 weeks. We arrived at the hotel and were greeted by lots of staff who took Janet to our room while Jim signed in. The Doctor did not think the injury would require surgery and mainly needed rest. We went to sleep around 4AM after trying to get a feeling for how the US elections were going, but it was really too early as the polls were just closing in some places. Later, we awoke to a phone call asking when we would be ready to do our Police Registration We said Thursday morning.
We got up slowly and had lunch and then went to HOSMAT- a hospital in Bangalore that has a large Orthopedic group, so it was recommended and close by. The hotel driver took us there along with a staff member who helped guide us through the system. We went to the emergency room and while Janet was there, Jim went to register. There was a fee to register. They then did x-rays and put a sling on Janet's arm. The doctor told us that they see no breaks in the bones and she should just rest the arm and shoulder. The sling itself was a help. The hospital bill came to about $30. We commented that the sling by itself would cost $30 at home.
We went back to the hotel and went out for a walk to look for furniture stores. We didn't find one, but found some nice crafts. On our way back to the hotel we passed the Oberoi Hotel and decided to go in and have a look around. It looks very nice and we will try their Thai Restaurant sometime. The Taj Residency staff have been extremely helpful.
We looked at Janet's xrays and could see cracks in ribs near the shoulder and wondered if the other people saw that. They might have been old injuries from here horseback riding days. We mentioned this to the hotel staff and one of the people knew a good orthopedist at Manipal Hospital, so we made an appointment to go out there for late afternoon because we had to deal with "FRRO" first. The Experience of going through this process is too painful to suggest that it be left to amateurs! We used a professional service who lead us through a procedure that we could not begin to understand. We saw some young chinese going through it and it was clear that they were baffled. We went outside and admired the birds in the trees when a man came over and explained that one of the birds was a "cuckoo". He pointed out HUGE bats and eagles too. Eventually, our professional guide told use to move to another place and then to sign in this place and then that place and in the end he handed in a stack of papers about 1cm thick. Then he said he would come back in about 36 hours to pick up our registration papers. We said ok, but we needed our passport to get our furniture from customs. This turned out to be a bit of an error because we also needed the FRRO completed!
At the end of the day we made the trip to Manipal Hospital and saw the Orthopedist there. The registration plus consultation cost about $8. The guy was very comforting and he explained the injury and treatment reasonably well. We went back to the hotel feeling that the injury will work itself out over the coming weeks. So, we then went to look at furniture.... what will look good with white cat fur on it?
Back to Ziggy and Zoe.
Something is NOT right here. We are not sure what it is, but something is brewing. They sound like they may not be coming back soon afterall!
1 comment:
The foreigner registration process is indeed confusing. We are still in the process of extending our visas for a second year and that involves the same officials + your local policy + some office in Delhi and that is even more opaque and drawn out.
Be sure you have those registration papers with you each time you travel outside of India. We tried to leave the country without them and it was quite a hassle. Of course you can only fly out of India between the hours of midnight and 6am so it's hard to do anything except plead with the officials.
Post a Comment