From Delhi to Rio

Monday, April 13, 2009

I have a 7 hour layover in Delhi. It turns out that, although most of the airport is new and gleamy, the procedure is not. Those in transit must clump together while 3 sweating gentlemen take down our information, such as passport numbers and luggage tags BY HAND. We get grouped by airline and all this takes a long time and is tinged with uncertainty. Finally we have been processed and are hearded upstairs  and put to wait in an airport-limbo surrounded by 18 sleeping Nepalese refugee families on their way to a new life in Pittsburgh. 2 uniformed Air France women materialize, one slender and pretty with her hair scraped back in a a bun and a tiny diamond in her nose, the other more dumpy with a thick plait down her back. Both however must have received that particular French training. 'GIVE ME YOUR TICKET! GIVE ME YOUR PASSPORT! GIVE ME YOUR BRAZILIAN RESIDENCE CARD! they scream in high excited voices adding to the general stress - no 'please' and no explanation. They disappear for an hour at least and then return triumphantly to lead our bewildered group - some young French people who completed the Annapurna trek and myself - to, lo and behold, our suitcases, which we identify. Then they have a violent altercation and disappear again - and we wait - and we wait - with no documents, no tickets, and nowhere to sit. 

We begin to understand why a 7 hour layover is not too much and I begin to plan how I will hack off that thick, black plait if I don't get my documents back! Eventually, of course, we do get everything back and we can face the long dreary security procedure performed by skinny turbanned Indian military personnel with no decision power - they also fight amongst themselves and never once look at the passenger in front of them. Once inside I reunite with my Danish friends - point out to them a jocular bridge playing group of Danes in a corner- and we say our good byes after a short and wonderful vacation, after which I board my flight ahead of them. I will fly to Paris through the night and catch an 11+ hour day flight to Rio from there. 

I am tired, but my head and heart are full. I pursued and fulfilled a dream and found it left me happier, lighter, and with a ready smile on my face. I am ready for more!