India 2009!

Michelle and I felt like we had landed in India as soon as we stepped into the Air India terminal this afternoon. While looking around the check-in line, we realized we were one of the few people not dressed in traditional Indian clothing, and were one out of maybe 5 other people who weren’t of an Indian background. I think our ballin fanny packs might have been another clue that this was our first visit to the country – but after a full day of traveling with it, we have actually decided to start a fanny-pack trend at home. They’re so much easier to use than purses!
My parents walked us through the check out line, and Mom kept trying to get us first-class seats, which didn’t work out so well, but she at least made sure we would have our own row. After we went through security, Michelle and I just sat down, speechless for a few seconds. We were waiting for it to sink in that we’d soon be sitting in the plane outside our window, our way to India. After seventeen million Gmail threads, hours of phone conversations, and a few all-nighters in Michelle’s office, it still felt like a dream.
The flight to Delhi went really well! We were both too excited to sleep – I kept trying (and failing) to teach myself Hindi, while Michelle read through our India travel book. There were also some pretty awesome Bollywood films we could have watched if we wanted. And we had our first taste of India trying the airline food – not bad! Oh, and everyone on the flight was wearing traditional clothing – even the flight attendants were wearing saris.
As soon as we stepped off the plane in Delhi we felt the heat and the humidity – and we haven’t stopped sweating since. We had three hours to find our connecting flight, which made us feel a lot better. Every single airport employee was wearing a surgical mask to protect against the transmission of swine flu. That did not make us feel better.
We first tried to go through Delhi customs. We had no idea what to do, and were not reassured by the fact that neither did any airport employees. Fist we had our swine flu papers stamped – a few survey questions asking if we had coughs or fevers – and we were waiting in the customs line when we heard a man behind us yelling “passengers to Kolkata? Passengers to Kolkata??” We both turned around. I could hear him saying another word that sounded like the Hindi I had been reading on the plane… “Spah-dah,” he was saying, “Spah-dah??” Just as I was about to whip out my book of handy Hindi phrases, Michelle goes “SPADA! That’s me!” It’s a good thing everyone in America gets her name wrong too, so she was able to recognize it.
The man took us all the way back through the airport, speaking to everyone else around him in rapid Hindi and scribbling on our boarding passes. He took us through a small transition area, where we skipped a line of people waiting at a desk, and then took us straight to the security lines. Thank goodness he found us and directed us to the right place. We then spent about an hour trying to figure out what gate our flight would be departing from. Our boarding passes literally read “???” where a number should have been – not exactly helpful. After checking, doublechecking, and triplechecking with our buddy the info desk man, we confirmed that our flight would be leaving from Gate 1.
After finding Gate 1 – quite the challenge, we decided to freshen up in the bathroom. Michelle didn’t realize there were American toilets available, and popped what was to be the first of many squats in one of the Indian-style toilets. I wet my toothbrush with the sink water and spent about 20 minutes trying to decontaminate it, terrified I was going to get sick before I even got to Kolkata. We then sat down out in the waiting area. There were SO MANY PEOPLE – I haven’t seen a place that crowded since DC on inauguration day. Exhausted and a little overwhelmed, we tried to listen to the announcements over the sound of the drills they were using in airport construction right next to our gate. Most of them were in Hindi anyway, so it didn’t matter. We were so relieved when they finally called our flight. I passed out as soon as I was safely buckled into my seat, and the next thing I remember clearly is walking out of the terminal and seeing Maya waiting outside with her brother-in-law, holding a big sign that said WELCOME MICHELLE AND KATIE!
We were amazed at how busy Kolkata was at 10:30 PM. The taxi ride was straight out of a movie – Indians drive on neither the left nor the right side of the road. It’s actually just one giant game of chicken, where the drivers have a honking contest until the other moves out of the way. I personally was very impressed with our driver’s skills and think that he could have a career in Nascar racing. Her Maya is absolutely incredible. She hugged us both as soon as we saw her and held onto our arms the whole taxi ride home. We both are so excited to spend the next week with her and are so grateful that she has opened her home to us.