Monsoon Departure

We are home. The last days of our trip turned out a little differently than we had expected. We did see some more sights in Delhi, including the Indira Gandhi museum (where we saw her blood-stained sari). We did make it the Taj Mahal and successfully avoided being poisoned (unfortunately poisoning is a scam in the budget accommodation area in Agra), endured the worst night of sleep of my entire life (unbearable heat, mosquitoes, illness, and the budgetest of hotels yet) and spent a lovely morning in the opulent presence of the Taj. It was stunning. However, when we thought we were finally leaving Delhi, our overnight train to Udaipur was canceled. Rajasthan (the state that Jaipur, Jodhpur, Udaipur and many other popular tourist destinations are in) had been experiencing some unrest with a tribal group demanding more rights. There had been riots and train tracks had been dismantled. We considered not going to Rajasthan at all, but after seeking the advice of many wise people, decided on Udaipur, which is a significant distance from the disruptions in Jaipur, the capitol. However, destiny intervened. We took it as a sign. After asking the railway officials, "What do we do?" to which they had no response, we stood in various queues in various buildings to refund our tickets. It was only after doing all this we learned we couldn't purchase new tickets at this station, and would have to go the New Delhi station across town, the following morning. So, we entered the fray of the Delhi rickshaw scene once again, and pleaded with the Indian Social Institute to take us in, without reservations. Now that I'm safely home, I can say that that twenty-four hour period was definitely a low.

However, the following afternoon we found ourselves on a two-tier AC car (by far the fanciest class of travel we'd been on yet, the only seats available...again, I think it was destiny) and were astounded by the comfort we had been denying ourselves (which we couldn't have afforded to take all over the country anyway). But, as luck would have it, an extra family had been let on board and they found refuge in our berth, so we didn't get any of the extra space anyway. Since it was the last train we would be on in India, hardly anything could bother us. We enjoyed the delicious curd in little earthen jars, had interesting conversations with the wise and witty legal consultant across from us, Shoeb, who shared a cab with us in Mumbai, and read the morning papers cover to cover. I may have had my best night of sleep in four months.

We arrived in Mumbai three days into the monsoon. The headline on the paper read, "It has begun." We immediately loved Mumai...the familiar green feel of South India, the mango carts, friendly people, less general desperation than in the North, and the curious mix of a cosmopolitan "Western" feel with sardine-packed India. Our last days were easy, and very wet. I ate caramel popcorn and Ambryn, gelatto, in Mumbai's infamous movie houses, we drank plenty of fresh lime soda, and we explored the beautiful city by foot, monsoon and all. And then one very early morning (after hardly sleeping...convinced during the absolute thundering downpour that the streets would be flooded and our plane couldn't take off...and we would never leave India) we boarded a Finnair flight to Helsinki.

When I stepped off the plane in Helsinki, and simultaneously breathed the fresh Nordic air and saw the pines and the birch on the other side of the tarmac, I literally said aloud, "Oh my God!" We marveled at the simple, elegant Scandinavian design of the airport, the cordial and efficient staff, and the comfortable furniture before boarding our plane for Paris.

In France we ate incredible food, drank delicious wine, enjoyed the hospitality of good, kind people and were fortunate enough to attend the marriage of Joy and Beranger. I even signed official French documents as a witness. Good friends, late night wedding dancing, dogs we could pet, and showers, eased our transition back home.

And after time in Chicago, another wedding weekend in Madison, and four and a half hours in Chicago's Union station due to flooded train tracks in Wisconsin, I'm home.

I think I'll write one more blog entry, and then that will be all. Tat sat, as they say in India. Because I wasn't able to post photos for so long, I've included quite a few here as a sort of "review" of the last half of our trip, in no particular order. I've also added lots of photos to my flickr site, which is a link from this page.