We awoke – Ok, the last of several times we awoke – at about 5:00am as the sun beamed through our ginormous, uncurtained bedroom window. The harsh reality of our choice to move to India began to settle in: a very dusty apartment, rented mismatched furniture and no food or a means to cook it if we had it. Welcome to our own personal hell.
The first thing we did was clean some closet space and begin the unpacking. Only the most critical spaces were cleared and only the most essential items unpacked. This was an incredibly slow process as we were both tired and to be honest, not really motivated. We unpacked some items, watched some Hindu soaps, and unpacked some more. Not what you would call – focused.
About 11:00, Munna arrived and we went to the mall to get some food and do some shopping. It had been about 14 hours since our last meal and we were getting a little grumpy. The mall is roughly 2 miles from our flat, but in Delhi mid-day traffic, it was a 45 minute drive. We were dropped off and made our way to the Punjabi Grill for Olga’s first meal in India. It was Punjabi Cuisine (duh), which meant it was moderately spicy, but fairly simple. The meal hit the spot, moods improved and we were off to go shopping.
Besides lunch, we came to the mall to buy food. You can buy most anything in our neighborhood market, but the grocery store in the mall carries all the foreign (read recognizable) brands. As it was our first day, we decided to play it safe and go with what we know. Naturally, we would pay dearly for the privilege. We bought some basic items to tide us over, decided we had had enough of the Indian Mall culture and called the driver to take us home.
Once home, I realized that if we were going to survive the first few days, I needed to take care of the TV situation. As interesting as Hindu soaps are at 3:00am, we needed some English channels. I was able to log on to the satellite TV web site through my phone and get this minor, albeit complicated process done. In the end, we opted for the “Annual Mega Package” which gets you 245 channels. The rub is that you pay your entire yearly cable bill up front. When all was said and done, though, the total bill was $119. Literally, 4 seconds later there was a blip on the TV and we had access to a cornucopia of entertainment delights. Cheap and quick. There may be hope yet.
At 4:00, Amrita, the relocation consultant, arrived to take us shopping for more serious items. First, we went to the fabric market to find fabric for our drapes. They do not really have ready-made curtains in India, so you must hire a tailor and buy the fabric. After much discussion, we decided on the fabric for the two large windows in the drawing room and master bedroom (the rest would wait). We asked for the requisite amount and an army of ninja-like fabric-wallahs descended on the area to measure and cut. 42 meters was dispatched, folded and packed in a matter of minutes.
The second task of the day was to finally buy an oven – the last of the big-ticket items for the kitchen. There are several options available in India, but we decided to buy the hybrid model. It is smaller than the conventional oven, but larger than a microwave. It has the ability to cook like a standard convection oven (temperature control, etc), microwave, and can do a combination of both. In addition, it has the ability to steam and make yogurt (when I figure out how, I will tell you). True to buying anything in India, it was delivered later that evening.
The last stop was to find a cell phone for Olga. This is seriously complicated process compared with the US. In India, you must first buy a cell phone from one of the many cell phone stores in Delhi. These are independent shops and have no connection with the service providers. They simply sell you the phone. You must then choose a service provider and have said provider sell to you and activate for you a SIM card. Usually, you have to trek down to one of the providers and get this done, but the relocation company arranged for the provider to come to us, since they would also be hooking up our Internet. Hopefully, they will be here Saturday as promised. We settled on a sleek little Nokia, paid the man and set off for home.
Once home, we settled our tired selves down in front of our new English-channel-gett’n TV, ate some ham sandwiches and went to bed.
Thus ending Day 1 of Captivity.
Ok.....now you have food, an oven, curtains for the wondows, a phone for Olga and the best.....English TV!! In fact, you accomplished a lot that day. The TV thing would have taken a week in The US plus multiple phone calls!!
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