Wednesday, October 1, 2008

"Take half the clothes and twice the money..."

The title was sage parting advice from a friend. Is there any luggage really worth having in sweltering heat and a suffocating crush of humans?

Almost 10 years later and here I was...back in line at the pre-pay taxi stand...well 'line' is a bit of a stretch...more like 'wedge shaped crowd of pushy people'...it was only 5 am but already the rivulets of sweat were running down my back and I felt like a 4 day old bandaid. Tired and grimey.

Got to my hotel finally.
Cockroach in room count: 1.
1 is in the 'acceptable/to be expected' range.

I'd been up for >36h with no sleep. (If I can't sleep in a bed why would I ever be able to sleep on a plane??)

Hello Delhi. You haven't changed at all since I last saw you! You are still a pulsating mass of people, bony animals, thick dust, brownish smog, vivid sari's, sleeping beggars, road side barbers, and government officials standing on road sides. You are horns and incense. You still have ineffective ceiling fans, dank internet cafe's, rickety scaffolding, and Hindi music blaring out of tinny speakers.

It's good to be back. It's great to see you. What do you have in store for me this time???

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Glad to hear you made it. Careful out there. I've been following the news on India. Hope your a long way from the action. Cheers!

Kanook

Albinoblackbear said...

So far so good...though I did feel a bit sketched out today at the Taj on a national holiday...crazy packed...I was looking around for people with really big backpacks...

Rogue Medic said...

In America, a lot of people are worried about American jobs being sent to India, and other places. Clearly, you are just trying to undermine the American economy. As if we need any help with that. :-)

I wouldn't worry too much about the terrorism. People overestimate their odds of being directly affected by a terrorist attack. Good math is your friend. :-)

Enjoy your trip. Stay warm/cool, as necessary.

Bostonian in NY said...

You get to tromp around India and Nepal having the time of your life...I got to stand around for about 3 hours today waiting for my damned attending to show up/talk to me/acknowledge my existence...want to trade?

Rogue Medic said...

Bostonian in NY,

You are taking another step on the road to enlightenment. You two are on the same path. :-)

Dragonfly said...

1 cockroach? There must have been others there, hidden...

Rogue Medic said...

Dragonfly,

Shh! It's a coping mechanism. :-)

Albinoblackbear said...

DragonF--ummm..yeah! Coping! Trying to cope!! :)

I wear ear plugs at night so as to keep the roaches out...I know they are hiding.

There was a spider in the gyne 'room' the other day that was the size of my hand so I was able to justify not doing any more bimanuals for the rest of the day...*shudder*

Albinoblackbear said...

Oh and Rogue...last week in one of the villages the chief was trying to set up his printer so he asked two of the lads to help him out...the irony of the fact that two Americans were doing IT in India was lost on no one...hahahah