en route

i left my apartment at 5:45am on wednesday, checked into my flight and was flying across the atlantic ocean shortly after 8:00am. after a short layover in london, in the most gorgeous airport lounge i have seen (the virgin atlantic lounge) i hopped on a plane to delhi.

somewhere between watching 'stomp the yard' and eating spicy cashews, i fell asleep and awoke to find that we were just about to land. the journey was so long, that i had almost forgotten we were about to land in india, and that this was no short vacation. (of course it wasn't - i was arriving in the dead of summer!) I was hit with reality by way of a gust of hot air as I stepped onto the jetway and walked into the terminal. The heat was overwhelming; I was in India.

I moved quickly through customs and managed to finagle my way into the A/C lounge where I found the only other American in the airport. He was a businessman from Texas. He had a thick drawl and was visibly uncomfortable due to heat and whatever else. Dressed in a polo shirt, jeans and dress socks with penny loafers, he didn't exactly look prepared for the terrain. we rode the shuttle to the domestic terminals together and that was the last i saw of him. i think he was en route to bangalore.

in any case, i was minding my business on the airport bus (after the texan got off, i was the only one left) when the security guard who had been riding up front came to the passenger part of the bus and sat across the aisle from me. He immediately began to ask me questions, which got increasingly personal. "Where are you from?" "What are you doing in India?" "Are you married?" These questions, that were spoken in broken English were then followed by some highly inappropriate comments. "You are so beautiful and intelligent." " I am so glad to have met such a beautiful girl." Luckily, my stop came before the conversation could take any more awkward turns. Needless to say, this man, who was probably older than my father, did not have any sense of propriety.

I finally got to the ticket counter at Jet Airways to do an early check-in only to be laughed at by the counter staff because I had arrived 4 hours early. Of course, they did not know I had just stepped off a plane from New York. However, the little stub of a ticket I did have did allow me entrance into the Delhi terminal. Translation: A/C. I lugged my 50+ pound bag, my laptop bag and my northface backpack around the airport until I finally came upon a spot directly opposite to the revolving fan. I leaned my samsonite up against the pillar and plopped on top of it and took out a newsweek. Occasionally when my glance went above the top of the magazine, i would catch the unsubtle stares in my direction. at one point, an entire family, gestured at me and spoke softly in hindi. this type of exchange went on for 3 hours, as i quietly sat atop my suitcase and tried to read a book.

i eventually got to enter the boarding area and managed to find a real seat next to this woman who happened to be a professor at rider university. we chatted and she commented on the mass chaos in the airport. Then only did I realize that every flight being announce was backed up and there was no boarding procedure just droves of people fighting for a spot in line. my flight was of course delayed. by this point, i was exhausted, sweating because the large outside doors were allowing hot air... I couldn't understand why everything was so slow, so disorganized, especially compared to my last visit. (I suspect that summer time traffic had a lot to do with it.) Eventually however, my flight was announced, and I pushed past several people and boarded the bus that took us to Jet Airways. I was finally on my way to Chennai.