Day 21-22: The Journey Home

Chennai to Mumbai, Mumbai to Hong Kong, Hong Kong to San Francisco

Wednesday, September 1-Thursday, Sept. 2, 2010

Woke up and got ready quickly to take a walk with Raja down the road to buy sweets. I have written about Indian sweets before, but it’s very hard to describe them. Some are very sugary, but others are more nutty or buttery. In fact, when I went to buy sweets they had three basic types to choose from: milk sweets, cashew sweets, and ghee (butter) sweets. I bought 1 kilo (about 2.2 pounds) of each. Each type comes in many different varieties, so if you are someone who works or lives with or hangs out with me, you and I are going to be eating some sweets for a while.

After the sweets, Raja went to look for a scale so we could weigh our bags. Everyone was out on errands, so I was alone for a bit with only some of the domestic helpers there. One of the cleaning girls; Epseba, tried on a couple occasions to make conversation with me, but her English is poor, and my Tamil is worse than her English. Next time, I will have much more to say.

I finished packing my bags, and weighed them on the scale by weighing myself, both with and without the suitcase.  According to that scale, I have actually lost weight in India, but I don’t believe it because every time I weighed myself the result was different. In the end, we had eight large suitcases, each weighing only slightly less than 50 pounds.  Five of them are mine. Considering I only came with one tiny suitcase (which, incidentally, I left behind) that’s pretty scary.

I hope everyone knows that this is a one time thing, where I go overseas and bring back presents for everyone I know. Next time, you all have to go yourselves. 

We went out to lunch: good Indian family fare and ice cream for dessert. It was my treat, and I enjoyed being able to do something nice for Aunty and Uncle after how well they treated me. If Raja and I live in Bangalore, I hope that they will come visit us so that I can spoil them like they’ve spoiled me.

At about four, the drivers (yes, two of them) came to collect us and all of our bags, and we left for the Chennai airport. Before we left, we took blessings from Aunty and Uncle. I went first, as the guest. I knelt down at their feet (although they told me I didn’t have to, as I am not their child or grandchild, but I wanted to show them my deep respect.) They put the tikka on my head, and gave me a gift of some fabric and two lamps and an incense holder for my puja altar/closet/room. (They also gave me leaves and bananas, but I couldn’t take them with me. ) The boys and Raja also took blessings. I gave Aunty hugs and told her I’d take care of Raja and the boys for her. 

They came with us to the airport, but couldn’t come through the gate when we went through to check the baggage, so they stayed on the other side of the metal railing. It took a porter, myself, and Raja to wheel all of our bags to the check in.  After we checked in the luggage, we took turns going to the gate to talk to Aunty and Uncle.  Eventually, they had to leave. Tomorrow morning, they have to leave to go to the place where Uncle grew up, as his mother is very sick and they need to visit her. Aunty was obviously very sad to leave us (especially the kids) and I could see her crying. I made sure the boys knew that they would be making a thank you note to send once we got home. (In addition to sending e-mails, etc.)

Our plane didn’t leave until after 8 p.m., and we had to catch a bus to get to the plane again. On the flight, MC and I sat together, and Monkey sat with his dad. MC and I had some long conversations about Harry Potter and life and stuff. He’s a really smart guy and a deep thinker.  We had a good chicken curry meal. 

In Mumbai it was pouring down rain as we got off the plane onto the bus, walked into the terminal, and  boarded another bus to get to our next plane.  There were delays getting in and out of Mumbai due to air traffic and weather. Also, we had to go through Immigration and then security. My experience pretty much sucked there. Raja sent me ahead, as I had to go stand in the women’s line. I got all the way up to the front, where people were pushing in front of me. I went to go through the security, and the lady said, “Where are your tags?” “Right here,” I said, pointing at them. “No, these are old. Where are your new tags?” “Where do I get new tags?” I asked. “There, at the counter,” she said, pointing waaaaaayyyyyy back to where I began. I went to get new tags and got back in line again. This time there wasn’t a problem until a purse, which was right in front of all my stuff on the conveyor belt, tipped over and the security ladies had to go scrambling for all the lady’s stuff. After I finally got through security, I grabbed my bags and went down the escalator, but couldn’t find my guys anywhere. I repacked my laptop in my bag and had just figured out I should look for my gate when Raja came up yelling, “Get to the gate! They’re boarding already!”

We got to the gate on time.

Our trip from Mumbai to Hong Kong was on Jet Airways again, which is the best airline, in my opinion.  We took the four seats in the middle, but this time I sat by Raja, with the boys on my right. Monkey slept the whole way, while MC watched about three movies before snoozing for about the last half hour of the six and a half hour flight.

So this is the leg where time goes wonky. From Mumbai to Hong Kong, we go two and a half hours ahead. Then, from Hong Kong to San Francisco, we go backwards in time 15 hours.  So, say we left Mumbai at midnight Thursday morning, we’d arrive at Hong Kong at 8:30 a.m. Thursday, but it would only be 6:30 a.m. in Mumbai. Then we leave at 10:00 a.m. and fly to San Francisco, which takes 12 hours. So we arrive in San Francisco at 10:00 p.m. on Thursday (Hong Kong time) but really, it’s 7:30 p.m. Mumbai time, and only 7:00 a.m. Thursday morning in San Francisco!

This is how jet lag happens.

Anyway, Raja and I talked and tried to sleep with no success on the flight to Hong Kong. Once there, I got to use a clean toilet in a clean bathroom with toilet paper. I can’t tell you how exciting that was. Not only that, but Raja paid for us all to take showers! it was awesome. It had been so hot all day in India I felt as if I had been sweaty and crumpled for hours.

Because our flight from Mumbai was late, we didn’t have much time to waste. By the time Raja was out of the shower, we had to rush to our gate, where they were already starting to board. The guys in Hong Kong hand-checked our carry-ons, but everyone was so sweet and polite, I couldn’t help but smile. Hong Kong airport is neat and orderly, a nice change from the chaos of Indian airports. And they had a Starbucks. Just seeing it was comforting.

We are on a United flight to San Francisco now. I am sitting between the boys. We had a nice dinner of chicken and mashed potatoes and veggies and salad and cake. Well, I did. Monkey was too busy watching the Karate Kid (I watched too) and the MC was fast asleep.  I swear, after three weeks of barely any fresh fruits or veggies, that lettuce was so good! I ate it plain. No dressing, nothing. I was just glad to have something green and crunchy.

I am looking forward to being back in the states in a few hours. In fact, 12 hours from now or so, I’ll be home (well, to Portland. I’m staying there for a day or two to recover before heading home and…back to work.) I’ve missed all of you, but I’m not sure I’m really ready to start school again.

I'll write more later. Until then, be good!