Arrival

Arrival If the Taiwan and Malaysian airports were state of the art (and the were), then the International airport of Bombay was in the 1950’s in every respect. From small hallways to 1960 vintage furniture to wheelchairs from the 1930 era. As we landed and taxied to the gate, I looked out the window (it was 9:00pm) and saw houses that were only 40 yards from the tarmac. Once the big Boeing 777 turned, the jet engines pointed straight at the homes. They were intertwined and I have no idea how they stood or how people could sleep with jumbo jets landing, taking off and taxing all night – every night. Customs was a breeze for me, Bud and Jerry, but Tony had some challenges. He had what must have been too much luggage for one man so they ‘inspected’ his luggage (oh yeah, in Taiwan, they looked at his personal bag and confiscated his insect repellant. Tony thought the guy ‘needed’ it). Tony had some gifts in his bag and so the inspection cost him $50.00 (US) to get through customs – that is a lot of money for an Indian. We met the EID India team and what a thrill it was to see faces that were happy to see us. The greeting really made a difference. As soon as we turned the corner to see our new friends a whole other world collided with mine. There were throngs of people waiting to greet their loved ones. It look like mad fans at the Oscar awards straining to get a glimpse of their favorite actor. Once past the crowd, The Indian team began to arrange for a taxi to take us to the retreat center that we would be staying. There must have been at least 100 taxis waiting to take people around the city. As we walked to one of the teams cars, I saw people and dirt and grime and trash everywhere. As we traveled to the retreat center there were lots and lots of cars. Not only do Indians drive on the opposite side of the street than we do, there are no lines to delineate traffic (not yellow or white lines). It was organized chaos. I am guessing that the first lesson in driving is to use your horn. You sijmple could not drive in India with your horn being in proper working condition. As we rode along we saw piles of trash, street vendors all over, store front stores that looked like a war zone and people every where. The cars literally came within 1 inch of each other most of the time. It is simply an amazing experience. Once to the retreat center we were shown how to use the electricity and the bathrooms. There was hot water but only about 2 quarts worth at any one time. If I was able to upload them, on the picture page you’ll see the bathroom with a blue bucket. The idea is to put the 2 quarts of hot water in the bucket and mix in some cool water so you don’t get scolded and then pour the water over your body to rinse. That is an Indian shower.