Coffee Overdose, Delhi Belly, or Food Poisoning?
I sit writing in the lobby of the Taj Land’s End in Bandra. There’s a pianist playing a grand piano, and strolling through the lobby are mainly young and trendy, well-dressed Indians in designer jeans. There are a few white people scattered about. It appears they’re mainly Western businessmen. There are restaurants and a bar in the Taj, and I’m guessing a lot of people are coming here for those.
I will not be drinking any coffee. Yes, I drank two delicious cups of coffee at Mocha, no milk, no sugar. I also ate a vegetarian panini that was pretty tasty but doused in oil (surprise surprise – everything in India is doused in oil it seems). And now my gastro-intestinal track, sensitized by India’s abuses and my own indiscretion in eating and drinking, is in disrepair. I’m hoping this isn’t a return of Delhi Belly, just an overdose of black coffee, something of which I have not drank in almost two months. I feel like crap, but my stomach isn’t pained like it was during bouts of Delhi Belly. My forehead feels hot, but I think I have a perpetual fever since being in India.
Now I’ll try to salvage my gastro-intestinal track’s sanity by drinking an Evian that will probably cost as much as it would to feed Amand’s family for three days.
Update on the rest of my day
I’m really keeping readers updated by the minute today. It’s 11:50 PM now, and I’m at my swinging bachelor pad (apartment). My 8oz Evian cost $5 at the overly-opulent Taj. I started hallucinating while drinking it and went to the bathroom and tried to throw up. I wasn’t able to. So I sat around at the Taj some more, staring at the lobby, and then I went outside and stared at the Arabian Sea, still hallucinating and wanting to throw up. I had a fever but felt very cold. I made it home, fell asleep on the couch, woke up and threw up in some pots. I made a big mess and then did laundry in a bucket. I’m still sick, but throwing up made me feel much better.
So this wasn’t a case of Delhi Belly. This was a case of food poisoning. So who was the culprit? I started feeling sick before the Mocha panini, and last night I went to a luxury Chinese restaurant in a hotel with my Singapore friends, treated by a Singapore friend’s uncle. For breakfast today and yesterday I had toast. I ate at a Rajasthani restaurant in Solapur before getting on my train to come back to Mumbai on Friday night.
I read a mildly entertaining book one time about a guy who drove around the world with his wife (link). He and his wife got food poisoning 5 times, and all 5 times were in five-star restaurants even though they ate their way across villages in Russia, Africa, India, and China. Blaming the Chinese food from the fancy restaurant is one option, but the more likely culprit is probably that panini, and the sickness before the panini was caused by coffee.
I will not be drinking any coffee. Yes, I drank two delicious cups of coffee at Mocha, no milk, no sugar. I also ate a vegetarian panini that was pretty tasty but doused in oil (surprise surprise – everything in India is doused in oil it seems). And now my gastro-intestinal track, sensitized by India’s abuses and my own indiscretion in eating and drinking, is in disrepair. I’m hoping this isn’t a return of Delhi Belly, just an overdose of black coffee, something of which I have not drank in almost two months. I feel like crap, but my stomach isn’t pained like it was during bouts of Delhi Belly. My forehead feels hot, but I think I have a perpetual fever since being in India.
Now I’ll try to salvage my gastro-intestinal track’s sanity by drinking an Evian that will probably cost as much as it would to feed Amand’s family for three days.
Update on the rest of my day
I’m really keeping readers updated by the minute today. It’s 11:50 PM now, and I’m at my swinging bachelor pad (apartment). My 8oz Evian cost $5 at the overly-opulent Taj. I started hallucinating while drinking it and went to the bathroom and tried to throw up. I wasn’t able to. So I sat around at the Taj some more, staring at the lobby, and then I went outside and stared at the Arabian Sea, still hallucinating and wanting to throw up. I had a fever but felt very cold. I made it home, fell asleep on the couch, woke up and threw up in some pots. I made a big mess and then did laundry in a bucket. I’m still sick, but throwing up made me feel much better.
So this wasn’t a case of Delhi Belly. This was a case of food poisoning. So who was the culprit? I started feeling sick before the Mocha panini, and last night I went to a luxury Chinese restaurant in a hotel with my Singapore friends, treated by a Singapore friend’s uncle. For breakfast today and yesterday I had toast. I ate at a Rajasthani restaurant in Solapur before getting on my train to come back to Mumbai on Friday night.
I read a mildly entertaining book one time about a guy who drove around the world with his wife (link). He and his wife got food poisoning 5 times, and all 5 times were in five-star restaurants even though they ate their way across villages in Russia, Africa, India, and China. Blaming the Chinese food from the fancy restaurant is one option, but the more likely culprit is probably that panini, and the sickness before the panini was caused by coffee.
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