arriving in india…part 1

I am sitting here in an Bombay internet place and I am damn cranky. One I am too tired to write anything, especially a blog but I am waiting for my photos to be transferred to disc and they are taking their time. I would too if I was convinced in an after life. Where do I begin with India? First off the whole trip fell from the sky for a friend of mine asked me if I wanted to make a courier run for a Indian Fashion company two days before they wanted me to fly. I said “why the hell not?”, and here I am…
I arrived in India at midnight after a 20 hour trip. I had a stop over in Paris where I was very tempted to by foie gras and some bordeaux wine. However, consuming this in India had a vulgar appeal to it and although I love French food and things vulgar (at times) I passed it up. My flight was fairly uneventful. Once in India I waited for what seemed an eternity for my luggage one of which was this bag given to me to transport the goods. I passed through customs, changed and got some rubies and out I was. Waiting for me with a sign with my name was a Tamil man with dark brown skin. The air outside was hot and humid with a distinct smell of both the tropics and the third world. Outside I was instantly introduced to the bedlam called India. Cars were honking at cars that were left or parked in the middle of the exit to load luggage, it was smoggy, smelly, loud and hectic. My driver spoke no english but he had a note for me. Dear Mr. Aaron welcome to India, please leave the bag with the driver he will take it, he will drive you to your accomodations, please give driver your return ticket for its needed to confirm flight…please call me…thank you..Mr. Ali Kahn. We drove from the airport and that familar feeling of being somewhere foreign hit me. Since he did not know one word of english nor I hindi or Tamil I just silently stared out to the night and the strangeness of it all. I saw so many investement ads I thought odd do indians need so many financial products and will “Lays Latino brand potato chips” make Indians more Sexy and latino as promised. We passed one area I am told was a malaria filled area of black water that was stagnant. The smell that hit me was a combination of sulphur and rotten flesh. It was so powerful I nearly vomited. I have nearly vomited from smells twice after since. I had no idea where he was taking me. We ended up at a building in which I thought was arranged a place to stay. After stopping and speaking to the multiple sleeping security people, one of which an older man was irate at the hour awoken we entered a dark and decaying building…We took the slowest elevator on the planet I am sure and stepped over all the sleeping people in the hallways which were covered like so many corpses. We waited outside the door of the place and the guy rang the bell but I heard nothing. When I wanted to ring he stopped me and we waited and waited. Of course we waited cause the bell did not ring! Finally the old , hostile man came and he rang and we waited. Finally he rang it hard and it rang, after like twently minutes of all four of us staring at the door waiting for it to magically open. No one spoke English or rather I did not speak Hindi..The man finally came to the door and had no idea i was arriving. It was full and we left. I got back in the car with the driver and we drove looking for a hotel. We finally found one for me to stay in after going to four or five hotels. It was expensive at $20 dollars a night but comfortable and it was 3:30 am by now and I was exhausted. I watched some bollywood and videos on cable and went to sleep… Ok I will write more later. My discs have been ready but he did not bother to tell me! I am so cranky and hungry I have been here 136 minutes just to transfer my photos…..
ok more later I have not even told of my first day!

This entry was first posted on Tuesday, January 24th, 2006 at 8:46 am