Nearly forgot about this one.

Back in November/December last year, when the Swimming Cities Ocean of Blood crew were overseas in India on the Ganges – the holiest river in the world – there was a moment we all knew was going to happen. It was only a matter of when, what, and who. I was their link to the world while they were very much ‘off the grid’, save an infrequently operating cell phone. I got a frantic call from Porter late at night, which was just past sunrise in India. They were in Kanpur, in the state of Uttar Pradesh. They had passed through Kanpur days earlier – why had they gone backwards? Porter informed me that they suspected Charlie had developed kidney stones, and they were desperately searching for a hospital to take him to. Thanks to the Google I was able to pin down about a dozen hospitals within 5km of their approximate position. They were freaking out over the conditions of the hospital they were currently in, but their description sure sounded better than what I saw on my screen! A brief look at the website for New Leela Mani hospital showed a scrolling slideshow of their ‘leatest [sic] work’ – and that slideshow included a disturbing image. Not disturbing by hospital measure, but because I thought, “Wait, is that Jack in the Box?” Sure enough, right next to some heart ops and a child with a tube in their face is a screengrab from this commercial of Jack in the hospital (post-Super Bowl ad, when he got hit by a bus).

Needless to say, I did not send them to that hospital – and yes the slideshow is still on the Leela Mani hospital website – at the bottom.