To avail
pleasure, one must go through some pain – the elders meant this in a good way.
Though in India, this adage takes on a new meaning all together.
The pleasure
part was dreaming of a summer-style beach resort, full with
white walls, cool-crisp-clean white linen, blue waters, as I was off to Tanzania
and Zanzibar and Kenya and Mombasa. For the safari I imagined wearing Sketchers
and 3/4ths most of the time, but was imagining wearing my Zara sandals and swim
gear for the beach. Glorious sunshine and an even more glorious world of the
animal kingdom awaited me.
Pre-travel
planning was a bit of a challenge. The Indian authorities expect you to hold a
confirmed ticket to Africa + they expect you to have the yellow fever vaccine
taken 10 days prior to flying. Catch 22…well…isn't that how our systems work?
The arduous
challenge is in acquiring the yellow fever vaccine. First you have to find the
administering office which is tucked away under a flyover that is being
constructed near the Bombay international airport. Then by noon you must find
your way to an *informal* list which is circulated by some people for *queuing*
up (which is no guarantee you will be in the lucky 70 list of people to get
vaccinated). Then you must return by night to physically queue up, because that
gives you a *good chance* of being in the first 70 names the next morning! You
can proxy your night presence, but if thr are 5 members in your group
travelling together, you gotta proxy for 5 individual people. Sinister eh?
The next
morning the lucky 70 get the vaccine. Don’t ask me why only 70 not less not
more…If you are the 71st name, too bad, you don’t get the vaccine.
Ohhh
hang on…you can get that vaccine, if you are 71st or 201st in the
queue of the *unlucky lot*! Provided you are willing to shell out Rs 2500/- per
individual per vaccine instead of the *official* Rs 350/-
Why would
any State Dept *only* provide for 70 vaccines per day beats all logic, other
than, providing means of increasing corruption in the supply chain for all the
touts that are part it . Am sure this includes the docs as also the well fed
and well clothed touts! Artificial shortage of the vaccine is created to allow
a corrupt system to flourish. Where is the law? Yes my disdain is apparent. We
make a business out of people’s miseries in this country!
Trip to Africa was already getting dampened even before I had started to pack:(
11 comments:
Isn't this typical sub standard, lose morale-d Indian system behaviour!
Awww what a dampner! How low this country has sunk, medicines and doctors more so:((
Tat's such a pity. Pre planning and excitement around a new trip/holiday is such an essential part of the entire experience. Looking forward to your other posts- hope all other experiences were better than this.
You should have created a stink! The more we keep quite, the more we will suffer.
You rightly said "To avail pleasure, one must go through some pain."
I hope all this pain was worth it and upcoming posts will be full of adventure and fun...
Be waiting for them :))
Hey welcome back! Tats India for you! Sucks I know:((
Want to know quickly about Africa now:)))
No pain no gain?:)) India pain must be forgiven- hum log aise hi hai! Ab aap bataiye Africa kaisa tha?
Such corrupt people are best forgotten and shown the middle finger, if you can. Bring me back some wildlife, please. An elephant, giraffe...you know, whatever you fancy:DD
Good write up abt tour and Vaccines. Which Air line you are used?
AresXtra
Interestingly we didn't have to get yellow fever vaccination for Masai Mara (Kenya)
Meenakshi
@Mel::((
@Shweta: :((
@John: they were magical:))
@RS: true:((
@Rahul::)))
@Gits: yes yesss:))
@sanjiv: awesome it was:)))
@Mikey: read on:))))
@AresXtra: Kenya and Emirates
@Meenakshi: O? Its such a big deal now!
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