Our last day in India...for a while

Today was the first day when I (Mackenzie) was in the zone: the tourist zone that is. I am a Tourist with a capital T- complete with camera, large map, and clueless demeanor. Josh and I did an audio tour at Qutb Minar, the largest brick minaret in the world (and a World Heritage Site!) It's part of an entire complex built around 1200 AD by the first Muslim rulers of Delhi. It was nice but hot- there is a reason why people do not stroll about between 12 and 4PM here. It feels like Florida in July, though at least we are not expected to play softball in this weather. Fortunately the frozen yogurt fad has made it all the way to India, so we got to eat delicious cold fro-yo from Cocoberry (which is totally a Pinkberry rip-off).

Josh and I are off to Singapore tomorrow morning. We'll write about our adventures there when we get a chance!

Here's the living room of our apartment in Gurgaon. This place is pretty comfy: we have two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a balcony with a nice view (not pictured because it's not actually that nice), and enough closet space to contain the five suitcases of clothing Mackenzie brought.

There was only one drawback: When we first walked into this place, it was 90 degrees and muggy. We were not happy campers until we figured out how to use the A/C (or "airco", as it's called here). I can't imagine living here in the summer without A/C - the millions of Indians who can't afford it are really troopers.



Mackenzie is only one of many Bainies on transfer in New Delhi. There are several other transferees who have been here for a while, and they welcomed us with an invitation to a nice restaurant for dinner. We got a delicious Indian meal and two rounds of drinks in an upscale restaurant for $30 per person. I could get to like India.

The people were nice too. Left to right:
Mackenzie
Josh
Carl (Swedish, and not as awkward as he looks in the photo - we told him not to hold his arms down like that)
Anant (American, but he gets mistaken for a local all the time)
Matt (British, and so quite familiar with India already)
Matt's mum (visiting her son so she can make fun of him in front of us)

We're in India!

Josh's Point of View:

Hello from Delhi! We just flew in all the way from Boston... and boy, are our arms tired.

Our itinerary consisted of a flight from Boston to Newark, then an infinitely longer flight to Delhi. So we thought the first flight would be easy compared to the second. Not so. We were delayed in Boston: we waited for two hours on the runway, growing more and more worried with each minute that we wouldn't make our connection. When we finally landed in Newark, I literally sprinted all the way to the departing gate and pleaded with the crew to let us get on the plane. It was already closed, they said. We'd just gotten in from Boston, we said. As we talked, a half-dozen people from the Boston flight caught up to me and joined in the pleading. Finally they agreed to open up the plane again and let us on. It took some more pleading (and the interruption of a poor girl's chess game on the seat-back computer) for Mackenzie and me to get seats next to each other, but we did it.

The flight to Delhi was surprisingly easy. They served us plenty of food - I liked it, though Mackenzie didn't - and we both got to sleep. We also acculturated ourselves to India by watching a Love Aaj Kal (a Bollywood romantic comedy) and Gandhi (a classic but very long movie.)

We landed in Delhi, and the culture shock quickly began. We found our driver, and he helped us load our many bags into his car. So did a whole bunch of other hangers-on who appeared out of nowhere to carry our bags without our asking, and then demand tips for their effort. Having never been in a developing country before, and not knowing what the hell to do about all these guys who might run off with our bags if I wasn't nice to them, I handed them an amount of money equal to several days' salary in India. Oops. At least it wasn't much money by American standards. And at least our bags were okay. But now I'm kind of afraid that anyone who makes eye contact with me here is going to demand money.

We're not moving into the Bain-supplied apartment until tomorrow. For now we've settled into a room at the Lemon Tree Hotel, and we're thankful to have some peace and quiet after 24 hours of travel. Unfortunately I think I'm going to be totally unable to sleep because I'm still on USA time. Oh well... you have to start somewhere, right?

Mackenzie's Thoughts:

This place reminds me of Egypt. Except without the Mubarak Police Academy. And with more random high rise buildings. We'll see if I get more comfortable with India when I see it in the light tomorrow. For tonight, I am just glad we got in okay and that I was mean to the poor hanger-ons and refused to pay them more money than Josh did. Yup...I am the foreign bitch.

And so it begins....

Twas the night before India
And all through the house
Not a creature was stirring
Except for Mackenzie, because really do I ever get anything done early?



Yes, I am finishing up packing tonight and getting ready for the big trip to India. Tomorrow Josh and I take off on a 4:45 PM flight bound for India (via Newark... hmmm... for some reason, all of my life journeys have begun in New Jersey). If you are interested in following my adventures, be sure to sign up for emails by entering your email address in the "subscribe via email" box on the top right of the screen. But remember, I make no promises to be PC.

Next year in Jeru...er India. Until then!