It started at 4pm July 2nd, I left my house with my three bags for my great adventure to India. i thought pleasant thoughts about the journey. I headed toward the bus stop. Unfortunately, at that moment, the Cubs game ended... Thousands of people streamed onto Addison st. blocking my attempts to move in almost any direction. I gave up trying to get on a bus or catch a cab near the stadium and began walking west. 4 blocks later, a cab was finally spotted. There was two of us, it was going to be close... instead, I offered to share. That part worked out, the traffic however did not cooperate. It took about 50 minutes just to reach the blue line (3.5 miles away). Despite the added stress, I made it to the airport ontime, ready to go.
There is now direct service from Chicago to Delhi. For those who have never gone, this flight is 16 hours long - the 3rd longest commercial flight that I know of (1: New York -> Singapore, 2: Dubai -> Syndney). There is no other way of putting it, this flight is damn long. At my height coach sucks for me, but oh well. In a lucky break, the person next to me decided to move, so I got control of two seats and the armrest. There are about 5 movies playing, but only two in english (the other three in Hindi), and 3 meals served. I brought many many books along. Read...sleep...read....sleep....read....sleep
Arrival
It's 9:30pm local time in Delhi (Delhi and New Delhi are the same city, New Delhi is a district within Delhi) and it is hot - 94 degrees. Shot hadn't responded to my email in the previous 5 days, and I had almost no instruction on what to do once I reached the airport ("it will be taken care of"). With a slight bit of aprehension, I passed through customs, grabbed my bags, and proceeded out of the gates....... Fortunately, a guy was there holding a sign with my name on it. I walked over and said hello. It quickly became apparent that he spoke no English and we couldn't communicate. He motioned for me to come outside; I did. Both of us tried a a few attempts to make a phone call, with no luck. He motioned for me to get in the car, I figured he knew what was going on. After a bit of driving out of the airport, we stopped at a STD shop (As I was about to object I learned that in India this means a phone shop - stands for Standart Trunk Dialing). We got ahold of Shot, who explained that this guy would be driving me to Jaipur, he had some money so we could stop to eat, and to just relax as I would arrive in Jaipur in about 5 hours.
Whoa, thats a long time to go 150 miles.
Driving in India is one of of the most stressful experiences I have ever encountered. Let me rephrase, driving or being a passenger while someone is driving in India is hardcore to an American. Imagine the worst traffic jam you have ever been in.... Now take away all traffic rules..... Now add 100 motorcycles within 20 feet of your car, 300 pedestrians crossing the road, 12 people on bicycles, 4 camels, 2 horses, 5 cows, and an elephant. This is what we were dealing with as we tried to leave Delhi (at 10 at night).
For 5 long hours, exhausted from the flight I watched us risk our lives over and over, splitting the uprights between two semi's (on a two lane highway), watching trucks change into our lane and coming within inches of pinning us against the concrete divide, dodging tractors with no lights, dodging cows as they streak across the road to graze in the median.
To give you an idea of what it's like, check out this video which I took the next day on a routine street crossing.
Watch out for camels:
Or elephants:
Carpooling:
Cows are sacred in India, they are not owned by anyone nor are they used for labor. Pretty much they just roam around and do whatever the heck they feel like:
Finally, around 2:30am, we arrived in Jaipur. I proceeded directly to the hotel, I will begin exploring tomorrow.
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