The Vagaries of Indian Travel

I knew the day before Indian Independence Day was probably not a good day to go anywhere when they decided to close our whole office an hour and a half early because of traffic caused by extra border checks. Then, to top it off, the monsoon rain that has been noticeably missing from Delhi skies decided to arrive with a vengance. By the time we left the office at 4pm, the water was lapping over the curbs and creeping toward the lobby of our building. Only the fearless squeegee boys beating it back prevented our building from becoming like a canal home in Venice.

Austin and I made a run for the cab, hoping that Devindar would be able to pull it up to the curb, but no dice. Wearing sandals, and with Mom's warnings about leptospirosis fresh in my head, I very quickly realized that I had no choice but to shuck off my shoes and wade through it all to the car. Once we were safely ensconced in the cab, it took us more than 45 minutes to creep our way around the corner and one exit down the freeway to Essel Towers. We had already decided that to get to the airport for our 8:40pm flight to Hyderabad, we should leave the house at 5:40 - that's right, three hours in advance, when the airport is maybe a 20 minute drive away. By the time we had packed up, grabbed a snack and reassembled at the curb, the water in Essel itself was more than a foot deep. We surfed Lake Essel successfully and wormed our way into the solid jam of traffic outside on MG road.

All in all, it took us more than two hours just to reach the offramp for Indira Ghandi International. As we're sitting at a standstill with exactly one hour until our flight and 3 km of standing traffic in front of us, Devindar suggested that we make a run for it, so that's what we did. Devindar hoisted my wheelie on his back, Austin and I grabbed our backpacks and bags, and we hoofed our way through mud puddles and traffic, about two thirds of the way to the airport, before hailing an incoming cab and chumming a ride the rest of the way. And...we made it! Devindar is, as always, my personal hero. Poor guy, it's his birthday and he's puddle-jumping with my overstuffed suitcase on his back, and all with a smile on his face. Austin and I washed our feet in the bathrooms and were 'Flying the Good times' in no time at all.

With what we thought was the biggest hurdle behind us, we settled into Hyderabad for Thursday night and Friday, and got ready to go to Hampi for the weekend. Mari and Lindsay, two colleagues coming in for a conference, joined us for a Chinese dinner before we headed out to catch our overnight train for Hampi. But au contrare, mon frer... it was not to be. We get to the train station and, 'so sorry, but your train car is not here and all trains to Hampi have been canceled.' Apparently, as we found out later, the river in Hampi has flooded, so the railroad siding is impassable, our hotel is closed....you get the picture. Thankfully, we figured this all out after unsuccessfully trying to jump on an overnight bus and before hiring a car to drive us to Hampi. This is the second time that my travel plans in India have been a total wipeout, and I'm over being shocked by it. Here's hoping that next weekend's trip to Pondicherry goes more smoothly. I think India is deepening my faith in serendipity. Yeah Hampi would have been nice to see, but swamped Hampi and a cramped overnight train - not so great. Instead, I'm off to have a 200 rupee massage, courtesy of my employer, get my toes done, and have some blouses made at the local tailor. Tomorrow, it will be sleep in, gym it and have a champagne brunch. Can I complain - I mean really?