Namaste from India! I’m a little bit behind on my blog posts but I have been keeping my tweets relatively up to date.
You can say “efficient” and “airport” in the same sentence
I arrived in Hyderabad around 11p.m. Friday night. This is my fifth trip here (which frankly, amazes me.) For years, I’ve been flying into the rickety and dingy Rajiv Ghandi International Airport, which has recently been replaced with the bright, shiny, brand-new Rajiv Ghandi International Airport nowhere near the former one. Transfers and transactions of any type usually take an indeterminate period of time in India, but I got through customs within five minutes, all the while marveling at the clean expanses of white walls, white and grey-flecked marble and recessed lighting. When I got to the baggage carousel, the luggage was already spilling onto the conveyor belt. That is a benchmark Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport can only dream of replicating.
It wasn’t anything like what I experienced when I happened to arrive at the same time as several planeloads of pilgrims returning from the Hajj. That was both a circus and cultural serendipity: the hordes of weary Muslims, jumbled cargo piling up everywhere (often boxes or burlap sacks secured with twine and duct tape) and the maw of family waiting outside to welcome them with flower garlands and gifts.
This time, the airport was all so clean, orderly and quiet, I was actually kind of let down.
Indulgences and diversions
First thing on Saturday morning, after enjoying a tasty masala omelette (onions, tomatoes and hot chillies – not for the faint of heart) I headed straight for the hotel spa and had some foot reflexology done. Our bodies are not meant to travel through space and across multiple time zones at 500 mph. I have learned that it is a necessity to do things that are beneficial to helping your body get settled once back on the ground. Lots of water, lots of daylight and lots of bodywork. (Chilies are optional.)
In the afternoon, I visited Golconda Fort with my co-workers. Golconda Fort is amazing, just breathtaking in its size and overall preservation. It also has terrific views of Hyderabad. The men who were vying to be our paid guides were indignant that I didn’t want to hire them. “Well, madam, how are you going to know where to go?” They were disappointed and somewhat suspicious when I said I’d been there before.
Check out my photostream on Flickr on this page – I’ve posted a bunch of photos from the fort, including a spectacular and rather fearsome-looking shot of the goddess Kali Ma (Mother Kali) painted on a large boulder at a shrine located near the top. Those things that are often terrifying in one way can also be seen as liberating in another.
For me, the best part about these excursions are the Indian families who ask you to be in their family pictures. They walk up, shyly, holding their camera and before you know it, you’re posing with a bunch of people you’ll never see again – but you’re in their family album for life. I have to wonder at this point how many families in Hyderabad and Delhi have my grinning face in their collection of “snaps.” It’s like being a very, very, very minor celebrity.
Ma Bell is not the ill communication…but Skype is
Somehow the international calling feature on my cell phone was never activated, and I’ve had difficulty getting hold of AT&T to get it switched on. Making a landline call in India is like putting a wastepaper basket in the middle of a dark room, standing in one corner of that dark room with your dominant hand tied behind our back and trying to toss a small rubber ball into said basket. That’s why everyone here has cell phones.
Apparently, AT&T customer service doesn’t answer emails either. (I know, I know. They’re a phone company.) But that’s OK. In another year or so, they’ll be known as something else with the same lousy customer service and life will go on. You can change your name, but that doesn’t mean you can just change what you are. I say this with the authority of someone who is on their fourth last name.
Anyway, thanks to my co-worker, I have discovered Skype. I used earlier this evening and was really pleased at the quality. I don’t have a webcam on my computer, so they couldn’t see me (jet lagged and haggard) but I got to see my daughter toddling around, laughing, babbling, getting into things, squirming on Daddy’s lap and blowing kisses to me. I also got to see my dog’s tail and ears bobbing as she skittered through the room (happy birthday, Jazz!) My husband and I have sent some emails back and forth for the past day, but it was so unsatisfying. He’s not chatty on email like I am. Skype gave me the next best thing to actually being at home – and we talked for an HOUR for free!
