In and out of Seattle (22-23 December)

Beloved --
I never thought that the last 30 miles would be so difficult; but you all remember the lousy weather throughout the Northwest the week before Christmas! What I expected to be a 36 hour turnaround before heading for India turned out to be a challenge. Without the help of my neighbor, Marlin, I would still be walking to SeaTac.

I checked in at 3:00pm on December 23rd and BA Flight 48 departed on time for London at 6:40pm. I wound up sleeping most of the way to Heathrow. At the new Terminal 5 there was no jetway so we were on a bus to the transit area. I made my Bangalore connection with about 10 minutes to spare. First bit of good luck in awhile!

Not surprisingly, most of my fellow travellers were Indian. My disappointment was, that after having ordered a special meal (vegetarian), I was served penne marinara again. My fellow passengers were served the most wonderfully smelling Indian meals (some purely vegetarian). With a great deal of envy, I came to realize that I was truly on my way to the land of ancient civilization, delicious food, modern call centers, and very friendly people.

After a three hour delay in Bangalore on Christmas morning (there just weren't enough passengers to fill the domestic flight--typical to cancel until a plane load occurs), I made the one hour hop to Chennai. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the driver who had been arranged to meet my earlier flight was still waiting outside the Arrivals exit. It was there that I came face to face with the sights, sounds, and smells of India. I'm not the first to say this, but NOTHING can prepare one for the first few hours in India. A couple of authors come to mind, namely E.M.Forster ("A Passage to India") and Octavio Paz (collection of essays entitled simply "India") . [I plead guilty to expanding my bibliography.]

In Chennai every light change unleases a flash flood of autorickshaws, motorbikes, trucks, taxis, and bicycles, each with a horn like a bleating sheep in pain. Each roundabout or merge seems to be an individual test of wills, with the vehicles only inches apart amidst the chaos. It felt like a block by block assault on the next intersection for the three hour taxi ride to Pondicherry. I hit overload (or fatigue) after a couple of hours, and collapsed into bed a three in the afternoon on Christmas Day after a short reunion with my family.

Sunrise on Boxing Day: I found that "most" of Pondy is out on the corniche exercising, doing Sun Salutes, or chanting as the sun rises out of the Bay of Bengal. I joined them for my usual Qi Gong morning stretch. It all felt normal.

I love you and miss you all,

Jim