YetiBlog® - Feb 1999 continued It's dark.
We're walking along the desert sand by the light of the moon, interspersed by beams from my maglite. Dom & Faye are from Nottinghamshire, the home of Robin of the Hood. The Israeli man is full of stories of his travels around the world.
The 2 Spanish girls are from a small island near Ibiza.
The world has collected at the Great Thar tonight.
Our modest bedding is actually just a layer of cotton mattress that is thrown roughly over the camel before we sit. It has been arranged all in a row.
We decide to finally do what we all came here for.
Lie down in the desert and count the stars.
Owing to the fact that there is no settlement as far as the eyes can see, there is no light to disturb the serene sky. Pollution does not exist and the stars can be seen in multitudes of layers that have never been seen before. The light of the moon gives everything an ethereal glow and it is possible to identify face and expression by this light alone.
As we approach the bedding, it turns out mine is first. (They are all brightly coloured, as is everything in Rajasthan and easy to identify.) Instinctively I take my sandals off before I walk onto the bedding.
I feel something hard move under my left ankle quickly. I react instinctively but in less than half a second I feel 3 sharp stings on the inner soft skin on the side of my foot (above the arch) Something bit me!
Silence.
Everyone stares at me.
The Israeli guy breaks out first. Ha ha ha ha ha, you got us there man, you joker. Everyone joins in, nervously laughing.
I shine my Maglite on the bedding, still standing in shock.
There's a scorpion on the bedding, a little smaller than my palm. It is in full attack mode, with it's tail up and swaying a little. It is a stunning looking specimen and straight out of National Geographic.
Instinctively and out of great anger and immaturity, I use the maglite to strike at it. I miss and it runs away into the sand somewhere.
Everyone has stopped laughing.
Dom has gone running to fetch the Rajasthani boys. Everyone else is just staring at me. Soon I can see the sky turn. I realise I am falling on my back. I brace for the thud, encountering the soft sand instead.
I am not sure why I have fallen. I suspect it is partly due to the shock of realising that I've been stung by the tail of a desert scorpion. Thrice.
I'm lying down, looking at the shock on everyone's face.
The Israeli guys wordlessly lights a cigarette and shoves it into my mouth. I think he triggers a reaction from the motley crue.
Suddenly there is pandemonium. Reti Daalo!! I can see the Rajasthani boys rubbing sand on my foot. What the heck are they doing??
I then see Dom throwing whiskey on my foot. Somewhere I can hear someone shouting for cactus juice.
Has the scorpion bit rendered them all senseless?
Then it occurs to me that what has occurred is a grave thing. Pun intended. I can feel a numbness creeping up my toes and travelling up to my knees. I realise I am not hallucinating, but there is a genuine numbness creeping in. I have been injected thrice with some of the strongest neurotoxins in nature.
I then realise someone had tied a tourniquet above my knee. Good idea.
I wonder if I'm going to die.
Suddenly I am aware that the pretty Spanish girl has moved everyone to the side and is standing close to me, towering over my horizontal form. She's quite hot looking from my angle. What was her name? Beatrice I think. Sam?
Sam??
SAM?!
MMhhh?? Beatrice is calling out to me.
Is OK I suck you?
Huh wha? I am staring at her in blank confusion.
I suck you now OK?
So this is it. I am going to die and these wonderful people are doing their best to make my last few minutes as pleasurable as possible. But here, in front of everyone? My girlfriend is also here...
lol who cares what anyone thinks? I am dying. I'd best enjoy this cigarette (pufff, I wonder what brand it is?) and take my well deserved desserts.
So! I think. Here? In front of everyone? Well if I can die here in front of everyone... Dying is a pretty intimate act too, if you ask me.
I look at her and nod slightly.
She throws herself down onto my foot.
Realisation dawns on me. I want to slap myself on the head, but am not in the mood to raise my hands. I have seen this in many bollywood movies.
Then she bites.
Pain. Intense, indescibable and severe pain. I raise my head and roar into the desert. She has cut through my skin and created a gash where the scorpion bite is. She proceeds to suck mouthfuls of blood and spits them onto the sand, making dark stains on the silver sea.
She is trying to save my life. Someone I was introduced to a few hours ago. I am speechless.
Also it is hard to offer her a speech in between all the yelps that are coming out from my mouth.
Dom yells at the Rajasthani camel boys. Hospital!! Hospital!?!?
Soon a camel appears. I cannot stand up. Dom and the israeli man help me up along with the Rajasthani boys and get me onto the camel. The camel is still sitting. Faye and I will come with you two.
No Dom, you stay. Don't spoil your holiday for us, we will be fine, you guys stay.
Faye would never spend the night here after what happened to you anyways. They are truly wonderful these people.
The camel stands. it is the most horrible moment of my life. I cannot understand why. Later I am given to understand that my equilibrium has also been affected by the neurotoxin. I lose my balance and fall over the neck of the camel.
I hold on tight only to open my eyes only to realise that somehow I am hugging the neck of a standing camel.
I can hear a Rajasthani boy laughing reflexively. He receives sharp rap on the head from a slightly older boy.
I am peeled off the camel and with great difficulty I am somehow half sitting, half lying down in a rather pathetic manner on a moving camel. The world is spinning and I need to vomit.
I realise that now we are 2 Rajasthanis, my girlfriend, Dom and Faye and I. Obviously we've left the 2 spanish girls and the son of Israel in the desert.
I gather that the idea is to get to the place one hour away where the Jeep is parked. We're trying to get there as soon as we can. I'm slipping in and out. This is not looking good, frankly.
To be continued.
Last edited by Sam Kapasi : 2nd May 2008 at 21:29.
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