Medical/Tourism

i am headed out of town again tomorrow -- the 5th time i've packed and left bombay in 2007. i'm super excited, especially about dharamshala and the solitude.

after my last ridiculous 6-cities-in-15-days tour, though, my back isn't in the best of shape (sciatica, schmiatica), so i went to get x-rayed this evening, and will have pictures of my lumbar-sacral region in my possession in a few hours so i can figure out whether i'm ok to travel or not. that is indeed cutting it close, but i don't seem to have enough time for anything these days.

more impressively, though: where else in my known world could i have gotten 3 x-rays for the princely sum of ~$15 (which included an ugly purple kaftan to wear during, and a sweet maharashtrian girl to gently adjust me on the x-ray table)? nowhere. compare this to having to pay over $100 to see a doctor in manhattan for all of 11 minutes.

no wonder the government asks on landing cards whether you are coming in on a medical visa. this is incredible india's least-yammered-about big draw. who wants the beaches of goa and the dunes of rajasthan and the rhinos of kaziranga when you can have the smell of antiseptic for this cheap!? :P

(yes, i'm being facetious. i'll take the stupas of mcleodganj for the weekend, please.)