My 2 Paranoias

Paranoia No 1 : Malaria

I have limited number of malaria pills. Thanks to my doctor back in Belgium, she could only prescribe 3 boxes which would be sufficient only for 1/4^th of my trip. So I have to be stingy using them and I have not yet started using them considering some of my next destinations (Laos, North Thailand or Vietnam) carry a much bigger malaria risk.

In Hampi, on my first night I woke up in the middle of the night my arm itching dreadfully. I saw that I was bitten by a mosquito and there was a big red spot on my left arm. It was around 4 am in the morning, I went online and checked the possible malaria risk in Hampi. And YES it was there! There were cases of malaria in the past years (maybe 10 years ago) and surrounded by a river and a vast area of banana plantations, Hampi was considered to be one of the high malaria risk places in India.

Surrounded by Thungabhandra River & many mosquitoes i would expect Hampi to carry a high risk of Malaria 

Next morning though, I checked thoroughly. I checked online, asked local people, rickshaw drivers, tourists that have been there before and they haven’t seen any single case at least in the last 10 years, the websites I checked were not updated at all. Nevertheless to be on the safe side, I was planning to go a doctor in Bangalore. (didn’t go- asked my friends there as well, no one has seen or heard of a malaria case from Hampi so I was convinced enough not to be bothered.)

Paranoia No.2 : A Local

My second paranoia was a lot scarier (at least for me) In the morning of Holi, I was interviewed by a local newspaper and there was one local guy being the interpreter of me & the journalist. He took my email address to send the pictures and the newspaper column the next day. However next day, he sent me an email to meet up and discuss about work as he was in the steel business which could be linked to what I have been doing in Electrolux. 

My Photos taken for the local newspaper - never published though 

I was positive in the beginning, however after he sent me more than 10 emails in 1 hour with some nasty words even, I hesitated. I thought maybe he misunderstood me or I misunderstood him, but there was a big misunderstanding in between and I wouldn’t be comfortable at all to meet with him. Then I told him it is not possible to meet as I didn’t have time, he got more insisting afterwards sending me another 20 emails trying to convince with some words.

I didn’t answer any of these emails until the next day, until he told me he would come to the train station to say proper Bye to me and if possible, he could come along with me to Bangalore. I had to lie to him at the end. I told him, I am engaged, getting married this year and if my fiancé found it out he would go crazy etc. I created a fake email address with a name “MAHMUT” pretending my boyfriend’s and sent him a couple of emails threating him not to send me an email anymore otherwise I would get in contact with the local police.

He stopped sending emails, however that day I had my train to Bangalore and I would be alone in the train station. I told everyone in the guesthouse about the trouble, they were indeed suggesting not to take any risk and the owner of the guesthouse Aunty Padma arranged some rickshaw drivers to come with me to the train station and wait with me until the train departed.

My ANA (Big Brother in Kannada) Aleelu and my rickshaw "bodyguards" :)

My favourite rickshaw driver, Aleelu and 2 friends were with me all the time. They waited until the train departed, they were checking the people out all the time and ready to take action if something happened.

At the end, nothing happened. As I was rushing to the train with my 3 bodyguards :) I didn’t see him on the platform neither on the train. Most probably he misunderstood my actions or I misunderstood his, and YES call it different cultures, language barrier or whatever else, there was a big misunderstanding, I had to follow that thing called the gut feeling and didn’t want to take the risk as I was travelling alone. I still think I did the right thing and I was on the right side of the line between being cautious and being paranoid.