Our Arrival in India

It wasn’t easy but we are here, all in one piece – healthy and safe. International travel is always challenging, but in this trip especially it seemed like every step took three tries to get through. See if you can spot the trend too…

Our journey started from Paris, leaving the quaint Rue Navarre at 8am – rolling through the quite Paris streets (it was New Year’s Day) to the RER Train station. Having looked at a schedule we were anticipating a direct train to Charles de Gaulle, but ended up having to take three, found mainly by following other passengers with suitcases.

Finally we arrived at the airport, now 2 hours before take off. We found the gate for Finnish Air, got in line, but when we reached the front the English-speaking Finnish/French attendant told us that we were too early to check in.…??? We had to get out of line and check-in again in half an hour, and the line was 45 minutes long. So, to the back of the line, with Violet between the front pack, running around, bribed with crackers. Eventually to the front, checked in and on the plane.

First leg was to Helsinki, only a 2.5 hour flight, supplemented by an empty seat between us (for Violet to jump around on), some sort of meat sandwich (looked like a meat-wad between two buns) and the nicest stewardess I have ever met. She gave Violet stickers, an extra bib, a little plastic, bathtub book – and constantly looked after us. Very blond, very blue eyed, and a great help. Violet slept none.

Helsinki airport was very nice. We were astounded how dark, cold and snowy the outside was though. At 3:30pm, it was pitch black with piles of snow everywhere but the landing strip. Violet went to sleep in the Ergo for about an hour, before we all got meatballs and mashed potatoes at the airport café. Very nice…but pricey. Moomin (some cartoon character) was plastered on everything – apparently a hippo/human hybrid…maybe? Finally we loaded on the plane for our 6 hour flight to Delhi.

The Delhi flight was a bit rough – Violet wasn’t crying the whole time, but cranky for a lot of it. She slept only some. Food was mediocre, and she had a huge poop that I changed in the bathroom, luckily with no major messes.

With that we arrived in Delhi- at the brand new Indira Gandhi Airport, a very nice facility. We got both our bags and set to wait. Our flight to Chandigarh was not until 4pm (we arrived at 7am) so we started killing time. Violet and I slept for a bit, we got some food (carefully) at an airport stall, then around 1pm we started to check the boards for our flight. It was not listed, even though later flights were showing up. We checked at the counter, only to find that our flight had been moved up to 1:45pm, and the flight number had changed. They did not notify us because we didn’t leave an Indian cell phone number…. So we were told that we were too late to check in and had missed our flight. Adrenaline kicked in and I told them we needed to make the flight and we would run to the gate if they would just issue boarding passes. So they did, checked our bags and we sprinted through security and were the last ones to board the 45-minute flight. Ugh, but we made it. Chandigarh here we come.

The Chandigarh airport, unlike Delhi, is a very old airport. The ladder pushed dup to the plane, and we walked across the tarmac, under a cargo plane, into the “terminal”- basically a room with a baggage carousel. Naturally, only my bag arrived. So pushing in to the airline office (read closet) one other man and I angrily waved our baggage tickets. Rachel’s bag was left in Delhi, but they would send it tonight to our address. Ok, fine.

I’d say, though all this was trying and tiring, we were only about to start our India experience. I borrowed a phone to call our contact, and gave the cab drive the pre-paid amount to go to our house. The cab ride really began to show us what we were about to engage. No amount of pictures prepared me for the number of people and the condition they were living in. Driving through the informal settlements in to town, seeing people huddled around fires, children running in the road, families of four on one scooter – the experience was intense. Driving at 40 miles per hour, four cars abreast on a two-lane road, with inches between collisions made it clear - we were in India now, a sentiment only magnified by a lack of sleep and uncertainty about what awaited us on the other end. Also it is freezing cold.

We turned into town, and although the slums were gone, replaced by nice houses there was still the reality that there are just people everywhere. On every corner, in every roadside turnout, in every park there is someone there – sleeping, working, talking, ??? Arriving at 1230 Sector 18-C, we met the family whos upstairs unit we would be occupying. It is a very nice spacious unit, with a tiny kitchenette. Everything is electrical, and there are only two outlets in the kitchen - with the refrigerator taking one. The other we now swap between a hotplate, the microwave and the rice cooker. And when we arrived, the power was off. We have one space heater for our place, one that works just ok.

That evening we were given dinner by the family (lentils, rice and a vegetable dish, all not spicy at all) set up Violet’s bed (luckily it was in my bag and not Rachel’s) and went to bed with the heater blasting. We all (even Violet) slept ten straight hours. It was a very hard day –one where we questioned what we had gotten ourselves into a few times. The cold (and lack of heating) made everything harder. An incredible sense of being overwhelmed coupled with vast uncertainty.

(Rachel's bag would arrive the next day)

But we have settled in now (there is more I will write later). Our place is working out well, we have a woman who cleans for us everyday and a man who cooks dinner every night (believe me, neither came easy… more to come on that). The campus where we have classes is too far to walk, so we have to take auto-rickshaws (many stories there). The family downstairs has moved out and four UW grad student girls have moved in, along with the other PH.D. student TA (Cheryl). We are all figuring out this city, which is taking some time. It is not like any city in the US, Europe or even Mexico. There is a very different street dynamic and way of relating to people, that we are all adjusting to. We have started the UW classes started, and those have it’s own challenges as well.

Violet is doing remarkably well – reciting letters and numbers in her sleep, continuing to surprise us everyday. I dare say she is ahead of the rest of us in adapting to life here.

But the weekend is coming soon, and after travel and a week of set up classes ( complete with internet struggles) we are ready to have a few days to just settle in. We love and miss you all – we’ll write so much more later.

Love Tyler