I awoke in the middle of the night when my flight to Delhi touched
down. Confused about the time zones, it seemed like we were a bit
early, but my last flight had been 20 minutes early too. "Welcome to
Kolkata", the pilot said. Pardon me?
My seat-mate, a Buddhist Burmese surgeon from Kansas (fascinating
guy), confirmed what was going on. Somebody on board had a heart
attack: "A chubby Chinese man from Singapore". The pilot came on the
speaker soonafter and in his thick Indian accent said, "Sorry we
didn't explain the situation with the heart attack passenger early,
but we didn't want to 'psyche him out'". I've never heard a pilot say
"psyche him out" before.
Knowing only Dan's hotel's name, I looked forward to the mission of
finding it when I would eventually land, 3 hours late, in Delhi. It
didn't prove as fun or difficult as I hoped, because I just kept
asking strangers until I found myself in front of the place. That's
the beauty of traveling here -- so many people speak english! Though
it's a big plus, along with extensive rail networks, travel here poses
many challenges. Filth and poverty, how easily you can fall ill,
endless touts and beggars accosting you, and oppressive tropical heat
and humidity.
On the lovely topic of filth, one of the funniest juxtapositions is
seen when riding the 2nd class trains. Very clean, smartly dressed
local men in pressed pants and shirts and polished leather shoes step
into the train bathrooms, greeted by an aromatic combination of
excreta sloshing around the floor. I just can't get over the hilarity
of that contrast.
Today a man in the market selling an air rifle I inquired about
proceeded to cock it and level it at my face. I quickly pushed the
barrel down and away from me and yelled at him. He just laughed and
said "it's just an air rifle, hahaha it can't hurt you!" I told him
it'd do some damage getting shot in the eye. Fool.
Many more stories to tell, but it's late. There's some nice photos
and short stories on my website. Just click the thumbnail image above.
Namaste,
-Mike