Arrived in Delhi Sunday after a "routine" 24 hour journey. My flights were eventless on on time (the best kind) and I even managed to do a little shopping in the Amsterdam airport.
On the second leg of the journey, I found my seat on the aircraft and met with classic good news- bad news scenario. The good news: I had been assigned a seat in the "economy comfort" section - you know, the one where theys give you three whole extra inches of leg room (insert woo hoo). Bad news - middle seat. Ish -being somewhat broad shouldered this was not great. Seatmate to my right - young woman who looked like she was in college. She said not above five words the whole 7 1/2 hour trip. To the left, a large Dutch man who was traveling in business. After we finished our meals (and he was on his 3rd of 5 glasses of red wine) we started the chat - or should I say, he held forth and I listened and nodded my head. He was a nice enough guy. Though once we finished discussing the ups and downs of doing business in various parts of the world, he then dove headlong into her personal life. He went on and on...for so long that after a while I felt like I was in a conversational headlock from which release would come only upon landing in New Delhi five hours hence. Ish...
When he stopped for air I picked up my headphones and said "I think I will finish my movie." I then proceded to watch two more movies after that as a defense to hearing one more word about the Dutch guy's (much younger) Chinese girlfriend. Practically ran off the airplane to avoid ending up standing in line next to him in passport controls.
My nephew and his wife met me at the airport -- it is so nice to see a familiar face after a long time like this. By way of explanation - he is not, by a Western tradition, actually a nephew. He is my first cousin's son. In most languages of the Indian subcontinent, there is no word for cousin - they are siblings and referred to as brothers and sisters. Hence their children are your neices and nephews. I think it's a manifestation of the tradition Indian joint family, where all of the brothers remain in the family home with their wives and children. The living arrangement is becoming less common in some parts of India - especially in the larger urban areas among the middle class. To my mind, that means that there is a growing generation of young Indian women who are educated, hold jobs, and do not live under th tyranny of the mother-in-law.
But I digress. Checked into my hotel and the next morning my cousin and I took our first (for this trip) power shopping expedition to one of my favorite places to buy textiles in India. I got outfits for the whole family including matching outfits for Junior and Rain - can't wait to see them wearing them!
So far everything was going smoothly - I called my agency's in-country coordinator to get final details for Tuesday and the rest of the trip. At that point she told me that we still don't have confirmation of a visa appointment at the Embassy. So when I got back to my hotel I called my agency and spoke to the India program coordinator. She told me that in response to her request for the visa appointment, she got a question asking what kind of visa was being requested (which was very concerning, since Embassy personnel have all of the documentation and should know). As of right now I still don't have confirmation and that is very worrying. Let's chalk this one up as Drama #1.
Got up a 3:30 am to get ready for a 6:30am flight. This became Drama #2. My cousin was to pick me up at 4:45 am to head to the airport, but instead called me and told me that she had been contacted by the airline and told that our flight had been delayed by three hours. Ah well, sleep is overrated anyway. As I had already checked out of my room, I went into the 24-hour cafe and had breakfast and soon after that the night manager come to my table and gave me my room key back (the staff at my hotel are really fabulous). Finished breakfast and went back up to my room - after two cappucinos there was no going back to sleep. Finally my cousin called me to tell me that she was coming to get me and we'd stop at a park and feed the birds on the way. So we did.
Once we got to the airport and tried to check in we learned that there had been a SECOND message from the airline that said "Never mind." Rather that a 3-hour delay, the flight was only delayed 45 minutes. At this point it was 6:55, and the flight was leaving at 7:15.
One thing about my beloved birth land - nothing ever works fast until it HAS to work fast. The airline rushed my suitcase, we rushed through Indian airport security (ok - maybe that part was not that fast - but at least the line was short) and then ran to the gate - they were holding the gate open for us and we barely made the flight. It's an open question whether my suitcase made it - but the flight didn't end up closing its doors until 7:30 so we're thinking it did. Hope so - I REALLY need everything in that suitcase...
So right now I am on the flight, which should land in another 90 minutes or so...we check into our hotel, have a little lunch and then head for the orphanage....I am so excited I can hardly stand it...
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