Thursday, July 06, 2006
Bad Son, Rock Star Momma
Part of adventure travel is dealing with the unexpected and most travelers enjoy the successes of handling such impedances. Not when the impedances affect one’s mother. Fortunately, my mother is more of a rock star traveler than I could have hoped for.
It starts with a miscommunication of what day she arrives. The miscommunication part is a long story not worth all the ink, but the realization is quite worthwhile. I had called her just before our train left the Bangalore station and with a horrible phone connection, did catch that she was leaving at 11:36. I had always thought she was leaving Saturday night and the only part of her itinerary I really looked at was her arrival which stated, “Monday, July 2nd @8:30 p.m.” This was part of the “miscommunication” as Monday is July 3rd. I am on the train to Delhi and start doing some math in my head as to her flight path. Hmm…seems like an awful long layover in Chicago? I sleep on it and awake the next day pretty confident she is arriving before we had planned. From my numbers, if she left Seattle at 11:36 p.m., she arrives at 8:30 a.m. July 3rd. If she left Seattle at 11:36 a.m., she arrives at 8:30 p.m. July 2nd. Either times are before our train gets to Delhi. Not good. Because she is expecting us to be at the airport, we did not go through any of the required warnings a foreigner needs before meeting Delhi head on. Not good. Well, I needed to make some phone calls. This is not easy as our train seldom stopped and efficiently wouldn’t stop for long (usually 2-3 minutes).
Em and I came up with our game plan…which included the contingency of me missing the train and seeing them in Delhi a day later. Confident that my Hinglish conversation with a train attendant informed me that our next stop was a long one, about 10-15 minutes, I went for it. Leeping from the train as it rolled to a stop, I ran the required few hundred meters to the public phone. Sure enough, a huge line around the two outdoor phones. Waiting, eyeing the guys on the phones, eyeing the train, eyeing the phones, etc.., I finally picked up the receiver. This first call was the one I was least looking forward to: calling Papa at 3:45 a.m. his time to try to quickly get the time she left Sea-Tac from him while softly stating that there may have been a miscommunication. Lucky for me, he was quite reasonable (or just real sleepy) and even mentioned, “ya, there was something weird about the day she gets in.” Verifying that she left Sea-Tac late morning verified that my mom was destined to land in Delhi that Sunday evening in the dark with nobody there to meet her, no hotel reservation, and no help as to what to do. Not good. With the phones a fairly aggressive catfight and the phone operator continuously urging the users to hurry up, once I put the receiver down somebody grabbed it. Without any love from anybody, I was at the back of the line after paying for the first call. This next call was the remedy and I found myself doing the eye bob between phone and train way too frequently. Fortunately, my second call was all I had to make as our hotel had an opening for that evening and would provide an airport pick-up for her.
She was not expecting a stranger holding a sign with her name on it so it took them a little while to connect, but it all worked out. She was quite proud of herself, as she should be, for making it happen.
It doesn't get any more respectable for the vagabond son. I will keep this shorter and less painful (for the reader and mainly me). After being told false information from immigration upon arriving in India and getting the run around from various Foreigners Regional Offices, we learned a couple days ago that Em and I need to leave the country before our six month mark which comes in less than a week! Ya, how cool..."Welcome to India Mom, we're leaving!" Fortunately, she continues to impress me with her free spirited, "that sounds like fun" attitude. With some heavy weight from her vote, we decided we will go to Nepal for a few days!!!
With those stories behind me, it has been fantastic to see her and have her here. We have been staying in Old Delhi, awakening to the local Muslim prayer call early in the morning (and hearing it repeated another four times throughout the day), and been enjoying the sights from the hotel window and walking through the streets. Our first night we witnessed a Hindu wedding below us where the crew transitioned a slummy alley way into an extravagant setting in just a couple hours. The overall vibe is much less tout-heavy (salesman-all-over-tourists) as the backpacker area, Paharganj, we stayed in earlier, and has tons of great local color.
This morning we took the train to Agra for some monument viewing and now we're off to visit the Taj Mahal!
It starts with a miscommunication of what day she arrives. The miscommunication part is a long story not worth all the ink, but the realization is quite worthwhile. I had called her just before our train left the Bangalore station and with a horrible phone connection, did catch that she was leaving at 11:36. I had always thought she was leaving Saturday night and the only part of her itinerary I really looked at was her arrival which stated, “Monday, July 2nd @8:30 p.m.” This was part of the “miscommunication” as Monday is July 3rd. I am on the train to Delhi and start doing some math in my head as to her flight path. Hmm…seems like an awful long layover in Chicago? I sleep on it and awake the next day pretty confident she is arriving before we had planned. From my numbers, if she left Seattle at 11:36 p.m., she arrives at 8:30 a.m. July 3rd. If she left Seattle at 11:36 a.m., she arrives at 8:30 p.m. July 2nd. Either times are before our train gets to Delhi. Not good. Because she is expecting us to be at the airport, we did not go through any of the required warnings a foreigner needs before meeting Delhi head on. Not good. Well, I needed to make some phone calls. This is not easy as our train seldom stopped and efficiently wouldn’t stop for long (usually 2-3 minutes).
Em and I came up with our game plan…which included the contingency of me missing the train and seeing them in Delhi a day later. Confident that my Hinglish conversation with a train attendant informed me that our next stop was a long one, about 10-15 minutes, I went for it. Leeping from the train as it rolled to a stop, I ran the required few hundred meters to the public phone. Sure enough, a huge line around the two outdoor phones. Waiting, eyeing the guys on the phones, eyeing the train, eyeing the phones, etc.., I finally picked up the receiver. This first call was the one I was least looking forward to: calling Papa at 3:45 a.m. his time to try to quickly get the time she left Sea-Tac from him while softly stating that there may have been a miscommunication. Lucky for me, he was quite reasonable (or just real sleepy) and even mentioned, “ya, there was something weird about the day she gets in.” Verifying that she left Sea-Tac late morning verified that my mom was destined to land in Delhi that Sunday evening in the dark with nobody there to meet her, no hotel reservation, and no help as to what to do. Not good. With the phones a fairly aggressive catfight and the phone operator continuously urging the users to hurry up, once I put the receiver down somebody grabbed it. Without any love from anybody, I was at the back of the line after paying for the first call. This next call was the remedy and I found myself doing the eye bob between phone and train way too frequently. Fortunately, my second call was all I had to make as our hotel had an opening for that evening and would provide an airport pick-up for her.
She was not expecting a stranger holding a sign with her name on it so it took them a little while to connect, but it all worked out. She was quite proud of herself, as she should be, for making it happen.
It doesn't get any more respectable for the vagabond son. I will keep this shorter and less painful (for the reader and mainly me). After being told false information from immigration upon arriving in India and getting the run around from various Foreigners Regional Offices, we learned a couple days ago that Em and I need to leave the country before our six month mark which comes in less than a week! Ya, how cool..."Welcome to India Mom, we're leaving!" Fortunately, she continues to impress me with her free spirited, "that sounds like fun" attitude. With some heavy weight from her vote, we decided we will go to Nepal for a few days!!!
With those stories behind me, it has been fantastic to see her and have her here. We have been staying in Old Delhi, awakening to the local Muslim prayer call early in the morning (and hearing it repeated another four times throughout the day), and been enjoying the sights from the hotel window and walking through the streets. Our first night we witnessed a Hindu wedding below us where the crew transitioned a slummy alley way into an extravagant setting in just a couple hours. The overall vibe is much less tout-heavy (salesman-all-over-tourists) as the backpacker area, Paharganj, we stayed in earlier, and has tons of great local color.
This morning we took the train to Agra for some monument viewing and now we're off to visit the Taj Mahal!
Labels: India
