The Adventure Begins

(The Adventure actually began last Thursday night, but I do not have internet, so sorry for the delay)

Last night, we arrived in India. This is a monumental milestone as it means that we are officially no longer US residents. This means no US address, no US phone number and no US Internet IP address. It is amazing what you can’t get without these things. Even in this new borderless world of the Internet, you cannot get reruns from HULA or listen to Pandora with a foreign IP address and forget about getting your favorite magazines - good-bye “Departures,” “Real Simple” and “Automobile.”

Anyway, we arrived at 8:21pm last night into the new New Delhi Airport. It apparently opened sometime between the time I left two weeks ago and the time we arrived. No one told us we were arriving in the new airport and it actually took us about 15 minutes to realize we had landed there. When you deplane, you are met with very confusing signals. All the carpets smell new, but are vintage 1970s orange and brown patterns. The signs are also vintage third world with black backgrounds and yellow lettering. There are still a ton of workers standing around doing nothing, but they are now in clean new uniforms that say creative things like “Team Housekeeping” and “Team Carpet Cleaner.” By the time we got to passport control, though, it was clear we were in the new airport. The usual dank and dark government cattle stalls were replaced by glass and metal in a huge and airy atrium. There was even a special VIP line for Business Class passengers. The baggage area was also bright and easy to navigate with the added bonus of priority bags pulled off by the attendants and handed to you. A very nice touch, indeed.

Our arrival went very smoothly. Our visas worked without incident, all our bags arrived and nothing was confiscated. For anyone that has ever lived abroad, you know the fear of arriving for the first time with your bags full of household items that may require a lengthy explanation. As well, anyone who has traveled to any developing nation knows, once you have gained the attention of the foreign bureaucratic, you are in it for very, very long, and potentially expensive, night.

We passed through baggage control without incident and met Munna (my driver) waiting patiently for us in the first row of the crowd. He took the overloaded cart and escorted us to the car. After a few minutes, we were on the road and on our way home. As Delhi began to envelope us with its oppressive traffic and over-populated streets, my wife’s expression began to turn from conservative optimism to one of, well …. disbelief. After 11 years of marriage, I know the well-hidden expression of “are you f’ing kidding me” disguised as a weak smile. As we got deeper into the city, the aforementioned expression began to digress into severe nervousness and uncertainty. I may have oversold the India “experience.”


Tired, we finally arrived at the flat only to find it had not been cleaned. Not cleaned in Delhi means that everything has a nice covering of “city” over it - the floors, the countertops and even the drawers in the closets have the funk. This does not please said, anal-retentive wife and I get the look that the US soldiers must have given their Japanese captures during the Bataan Death March – hopelessness, combined with a tad of resentment. Luckily, the rental furniture did arrive and we had a bed. After 21 hours of travel, this is a major, albeit small victory.


We settled in, made our bed and went to sleep. Well, I went to sleep. I have learned over the ages not to get too much sleep on the plane if you arriving in the evening. My wife, on the other hand, slept like a baby for half of the 15 hour flight. After a few hours of coma sleep, I was awakened by the nagging feeling of “you ought to get up and entertain the woman you dragged half way around the globe.” So like a good husband, I got up and we watch Bollywood soaps from 2:00am to 5:00am. All in Hindu (I had apparently forgotten to upgrade the satellite package to include any English channels). At 5:00am, we sauntered back to bed just as the Delhi sun was rising and beaming itself through our huge floor to ceiling, curtainless, windowed bedroom.


We were up for the day – our first day in India.