My First Day

First of all, India rocks! No matter what I will say later, this is a fabulous and the most intriguing place I’ve ever been to. As soon as you get off the plain your senses will be overwhelmed by potent smells (good and bad), by colors (bright and vibrant), by sounds (loud and obnoxious), and by multitudes of people. You will immediately step into a chaos but soon learn to tolerate it and even enjoy it.  

My first introduction to India was arrival in Delhi airport. While I was waiting in immigration line (the story of my life), a fat rat slowly strolled in front of the immigration booth. Even Indians around me looked surprised, of course majority of them spent most of their lives abroad and now were just visiting their homeland.

My second unpleasant surprise was finding out the date, 11th of June. I arrived a day later, or at least a day later than I anticipated. I was subtracting 12.5 hours instead of adding. Why was it a problem? Well, considering that I independently purchased my ticket from Delhi to Chennai for the 10th… I was a little screwed. A very nice Indian co-traveler (1st time back in India in 10 years) offered to help me to contact the small domestic airline that I bought my ticket from. I thought he offered his services to help me with Hindi… but then he ended up talking to everyone in English, which actually was useful because no one understands my English here. After 20 min on hold we found out that nothing can be done from the International airport and I have to go to the domestic airport and deal with this problem from there.

I should mention how I was dressed. Only few days later I realized that it was the reason for many inappropriate comments and endless stairs. Coming to a conservative country, I chose to wear conservative clothes: tennis shoes, baggy jeans and a “wife beater”. Only my arms were exposed. Well, little did I know that women  here, first of all, do not expose their shoulders nor collar-bone, unless they have a shawl around their necks, and, second, definitely do not wear “wife beaters”. In the next few days I was frantically shopping for traditional clothing. Today I even feel self-conscious even wearing a baggy t-shirt. Wearing a tank top makes me feel like a slut. I have done it only twice, once going to a nightclub, and once to the beach trip (always having a long sleeve shirt or shawl available to cover my exposed skin if necessary). Incredible how fast dress conservatism rubbed off on me. I hope it wont last after I leave this country.

I managed to get to Chennai the same day, thanks to incredible power of competition. There were 5 different flights the same evening within the same price range. All I had to do is avoid million people shoving their luggage through the endless construction debris everywhere, ignore tons of flies stuck to my face in 90% humidity and 100 degree weather, and push away half a dozen people from the counter (one thing you should know about Indians, they do not believe in “queue”)… Due to my assertiveness and determination, I succeeded in purchasing my flight ticket 30 min before the departure. And all this is in addition to my adventurous and almost impossible mission in SF where I was getting my new Ukrainian passport and applying for Indian visa on the same day of the departure. But all these weren’t omens that India is just not meant to be; they were just plain obstacles, a preparation for a long summer in India, where each new day brings new hurdles and fun adventures.