Indian Luggage Carousels

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After a few nights of drunken ness, I finally left Japan. I was a little nervous because I booked my ticket through a Japanese tourist agent who didn't have the best English skills, and I couldn't pick up the ticket until I got to the airport the day of the flight. So I wasn't completely sure that I was even going to make it out of Japan. But it turned out just fine. I had a layover in the Korean airport (I thought of you Micah, especially because they had a KFC grandfather statue there).

I arrived in Delhi around 11:30 PM, which also made me a little nervous because I didn't know what I was going to do if I was unable to meet up with the people from RUCHI, the volunteer program I will be participating in here. But there they were at the gate (with about a million other people), holding up a little sign for me, it was very nice.

Before I actually made it through the gate though, I had already had my first fabulous Indian experience. As I was waiting for my baggage, some suitcase got stuck on the luggage carousel in the gate between where the passengers are and where the airport people throw the bags on. I saw it sticking there in the gateway, and I could tell all the other bags were getting stuck behind it. It was quite obvious. If I had been standing near the gateway (and not the opposite end of the carousel) I probably would have just walked up to it and moved it. I'm quite sure this was equally obvious to the twitchy white guy standing right next to the jammed bag, trying to look like he didn't notice. But he just stood there and eventually the carousel stopped moving and started making annoying loud beeping noises. Finally someone else came up and unjammed the bag, but at this point it was too late and the carousel didn't start moving again. After about 15 minutes of airport crew people yelling at each other and a lot of annoying loud beeping noises, it started up, only to stop yet again after another 5 minutes. This continued for about 25 minutes. It was 12:30 by the time I finally got my bags, and there were still plenty of other people waiting for their things by that point.

We stayed in Delhi in the home of the parents of the director of the RUCHI program, and went to visit the city today. I love the driving here, it is so free and unburdened with pesky laws. Live stock wander around the middle of busy streets, and people tend to use lane markers (when they are present) as general guidelines. I kind of feel like I am in a mosh pit at a rock concert, with everyone trying to squeeze their way to the front, except in cars.

I'm not sure that I will have a reliable internet connection while in Bandh (where RUCHI) is located), so you may not be hearing from me for a while. But I will be missing you all and thinking about you!!

Much love,
Anne

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