MAY 13, 15 .. SAFE AND SOUND IN NEW DELHI ..
One word Captain .. Just one word .. What are you feeling?
OVERWHELMED .. I guess that would be my one word.
STUNNED .. Can I slip in another ‘one word’ ..
EXHAUSTED ..
Captain! .. We .. ‘The Committee Inside Your Head‘ said ONE WORD! ..
I am OVERWHELMED with emotion at being back in India ..
I am STUNNED! It has been TWO YEARS since I was last in India! ..
EXHAUSTED speaks for itself! .. A little 2-1/2 Hour Jet Lag and a whopping heat adjustment plus the stress of packing and flying 5-3/4 Hours and all that goes with that in the International scene. Security Customs Immigration!
I would not give-in to the security staff in Terminal One departing Hong Kong who took-issue with my tiny little tweezers.
So they the security staff said to me .. “Sir! You may simply exit security. Go to Jet Airways. Have Jet Airways check as checked-baggage your tweezers. And then come all the way back through the process Sir. Sir we will see you on the flip-flop Sir!” ..
Jet Airways said .. “WHAT!? You actually want us to check as checked-baggage this pair of two inch tweezers?” .. I said to Jet Airways .. “How is this. See I have put the two inch tweezers into my dental night guard plastic box. I have put the plastic box into the down-jacket pocket. I have the down jacket in its blue stuff-sack. Will you check the blue stuff-sack with all of the above in it?” ..
“No problem Sir. Great Solution Sir!”
The tweezers have probably carefully and lovingly put about three thousand stamps and air mail stickers on post cards and letters from abroad over the many years of my travel and YES! As I wrestled with the issue .. “Are these tweezers worth the effort in front of me? ” .. I finally decided that ..” YES .. Truly they are worth fighting for their lives!” I am happy I saved their little lives.
Did I tell you this all started in Terminal ONE? Jet Airways counter is in Terminal TWO. And YES I had to walk and wait for other passengers to get their boarding passes. Then when I got back through security and customs and immigration I went to Gate 42 as the departure board indicated. At Gate 42 I was told to go to Gate 33. Gate 42 in Hong Kong is a long way from Gate 33 in Hong Kong.
THAT is how the flight began.
So I got safely to New Delhi on one of the BEST FLIGHTS I HAVE EVER BEEN ON!
I was in (Orbitz) ECONOMY SEATING!
I had a front row bulkhead seat with so much leg room I could NOT touch the bulkhead with my feet.
I had NO SEAT MATE! So I could just spread out to my hearts content .. and I did .. spread out!
The Jet Airways meal was as good as any meal I have ever eaten anywhere .. in the air or elsewhere .. and the desert was so good that I scarfed up those of my neighbors! One didn’t even know that I ‘pinched’ his not eaten dessert.
Then came the 25-Minute DRAMA OF THE DELHI AIRPORT ATM MACHINE(s)!
All of the three ATMs at the arrival area would not cooperate with me. Finally one decided for itself .. “Captain is not giving up! He has been back to me four times! So I guess I will give him the money he thinks he needs.” See taxi drivers in New Delhi want Indian Rupees NOT Hong Kong Dollars and I hate .. I mean I HATE to give to Thomas Cook and the other money-exchangers that abound at airports over here any of my considerable stash of United States $ GREENBACKS $ ! in exchange for any foreign money.
The taxi ride into New Delhi from the airport was stressful (it is not a matter of fearing death .. it is a matter of not dying and being maimed and paralyzed) but I survived it. Taxi rides in some countries never change and India taxis are a challenge.
So I will rest WITH the above three words ..OVERWHELMED .. STUNNED .. EXHAUSTED ..
Where am I? I am in the North of India in New Delhi West of Hong Kong.
North Dad? Did you say you are in the North of India Dad?
/Sign Me/ .. Leh Ladakh in the NORTH of India Dad .. A place you spent time back in 2008 .. LEH IS North Dad ..
There is no question about that LEH! But New Delhi is in the North of Continental India. You up in Ladakh are really ‘way up there’! And proud of it Dad /signed/ LEH ..
I am planning to go South of New Delhi to Agra on Friday.
FRUSTRATED ! .. Can I add a fourth word for what I am feeling? See Gullible YOU can .. in the final analysis .. wait until you get home. Since I am not going home in the near and maybe in the distant future .. I have got to work things out here. And I just am striking-out (Hi Tom Baseball Tiger!) with doing all I want to do NOW here on the computer(s) in New Delhi.
Then believe me .. Have I ever lied to you? .. I can not recall any computer ever being slower than this one is at this sitting. It is agonizingly slow.
Today I got out and got-at-it. I think I have a cell phone up and running but it is not up and running so far. We two (me and Simon’s former Nokia Smart Phone) just think that it will be up soon. I booked my train to Agra (you do not merely go to the New Delhi Railway Station and book a train .. there is quite a process!) and back to New Delhi wrapped up. I visited with my best friend here in New Delhi Shivam!
I got Electral ORAL REHYDRATION SALTS .. and water purification tablets
at Nath Pharmacy. I got four litres of bottled water. And I did it all walking. I weathered a severe dust storm and then some rain as well. Two of the most bothersome ‘railway touts’ I have ever run across really accosted me at the railway station to the point one of them actually grabbed and physically prevented me from going forward. I kept my cool and just let the potentially ugly scene just dissolve. It was bad and I KNOW what a bad scene is believe me!
I DID A LOT TODAY! MAYBE I DID FAR TOO MUCH FOR MY OWN GOOD TODAY!
THANK YOU SO MUCH SHIVAM FOR SUPPORTING SEVERAL TELEPHONE CALLS TO PATTI ON YOUR CELL PHONE! AND FOR ENABLING ME TO CHARGE TWO CELL PHONES USING YOUR EXPERTISE TO DO SO!
No matter how-down hill this Post is going .. Patti KNOWS that basically I am just fine ..
I limped back here to the New Delhi YMCA and crashed and burned for a 1-1/2 hour nap.
So I am going to publish this puppy. Some day I will look back on it .. as I do with some of my Posts .. and think solemnly to myself .. “Captain. Before you published this mess or that mess you should have pressed ‘trash’ and let it go at that!” On my dashboard .. On the far right is the word PUBLISH. Directly across from it in red letters on the left side of the page are the words MOVE TO TRASH ..
EXHAUSTED IS MY ONE WORD!
SMILES .. said weakly .. Cap ..
I am glad I am going to publish this because just maybe (as did a recent Gullible Post) it will enable some of you to get-through-your-day knowing that I do not have a free-ride and endless get-out-of-jail tickets for the Monopoly Game of Life.