The fourteen of us coming from the United States to participate in the seminar started our days at local airports. Later, I learned that a colleague from University of New Mexico began her journey at 6:30 am to catch a flight from Albuquerque. Others came from Des Moines, Iowa; Sarasota, Florida, and Alpine, Texas among other departure points.
Seven of the fourteen converged in the Newark airport for the flight to Mumbai. When I landed there, I already had a text message from two of the participants. We had connected over e-mail a few weeks before when we learned we would share part of the itinerary. The three of us introduced ourselves and ordered dinner from a restaurant near the gate.
We shared our air travel stories as well as expectations for the trip. One of my new colleagues had been to India recently. She met with universities in Goa, a resort city in the south, eager to set up exchange opportunities for their students. She confirmed that drinking the tap water or even brushing teeth with it was inadvisable, but confided that she was not taking the malaria pills that the other two of us were.
Among this group of veteran travelers, it turns out that we had all contemplated upgrading our coach seats to business class or at least economy plus. Some had gone as far as to price the option before opting to stay in the assigned seat. I managed to secure an aisle seat near the back of the plane. I noticed that the passengers included a mix of both Indians and non-Indians. Still, United Airlines made few concessions to Indian culture beyond a packet of pickled vegetables and a cup of yogurt with the dinner tray.
Over the nearly fifteen-hour flight, I slept for about five hours. Numerically, the rest didn't match my usual total, but I felt refreshed enough to watch two Game of Thrones episodes and read further in Midnight's Children. Until Daylight Savings Time starts in the United States, India is ten and a half hours ahead of the East Coast. That meant we'd be landing around 9 pm on Saturday. We agreed it was fortunate that we could arrive and then head directly to sleep.
In contrast to all the confusion and frequent e-mailing to receive the business visa, the immigration process was straightforward and efficient. The other passengers marveled at how I fit all my things in only a carry-on backpack when everyone else had one or even two checked roller bags plus their backpacks. The seven of us on the flight reconvened on the other side of customs and met up with a driver waiting for us.
By then it was nearly 11 pm, but the highway out of the airport was humming with traffic (they drive on the left side). The evening air felt warm and humid, tempered by the ocean breeze. All along the side of the road, couples had parked their motorcycles and canoodled by the water's edge. Glimpses from the shuttle bus revealed modernistic spires and swooping building outlines juxtaposed with shacks closer to the road.
After about thirty minutes, we slowed down where a welter of auto rickshaws called tut-tuts clogged our passage. I looked up and saw a gated compound with an illuminated marble entrance and multi-story tower resembling a government ministry. We passed through the security cordon and headed inside to the lobby of our hotel, Taj Land's End.
We passed through metal detectors, which triggered a memory of a terrorist attack on luxury hotels in Mumbai. The cocoon inside the hotel betrayed no anxiety. Women in elegant saris waited for elevators to take them to ballroom. Electronic music wafted from the bar. I checked in and said goodbye to my travel companions.
It was nearly midnight, so I didn't have the energy to take photos of the room Saturday night. Here's the view I captured the next day. I also lacked the mental acuity to figure out the complicated lighting system right away (I later learned that one colleague was so defeated by the console that she slept with the lights on), so I quickly showered in the palatial, marble-lined bathroom and went to bed.
Seven of the fourteen converged in the Newark airport for the flight to Mumbai. When I landed there, I already had a text message from two of the participants. We had connected over e-mail a few weeks before when we learned we would share part of the itinerary. The three of us introduced ourselves and ordered dinner from a restaurant near the gate.
We shared our air travel stories as well as expectations for the trip. One of my new colleagues had been to India recently. She met with universities in Goa, a resort city in the south, eager to set up exchange opportunities for their students. She confirmed that drinking the tap water or even brushing teeth with it was inadvisable, but confided that she was not taking the malaria pills that the other two of us were.
Among this group of veteran travelers, it turns out that we had all contemplated upgrading our coach seats to business class or at least economy plus. Some had gone as far as to price the option before opting to stay in the assigned seat. I managed to secure an aisle seat near the back of the plane. I noticed that the passengers included a mix of both Indians and non-Indians. Still, United Airlines made few concessions to Indian culture beyond a packet of pickled vegetables and a cup of yogurt with the dinner tray.
Over the nearly fifteen-hour flight, I slept for about five hours. Numerically, the rest didn't match my usual total, but I felt refreshed enough to watch two Game of Thrones episodes and read further in Midnight's Children. Until Daylight Savings Time starts in the United States, India is ten and a half hours ahead of the East Coast. That meant we'd be landing around 9 pm on Saturday. We agreed it was fortunate that we could arrive and then head directly to sleep.
In contrast to all the confusion and frequent e-mailing to receive the business visa, the immigration process was straightforward and efficient. The other passengers marveled at how I fit all my things in only a carry-on backpack when everyone else had one or even two checked roller bags plus their backpacks. The seven of us on the flight reconvened on the other side of customs and met up with a driver waiting for us.
By then it was nearly 11 pm, but the highway out of the airport was humming with traffic (they drive on the left side). The evening air felt warm and humid, tempered by the ocean breeze. All along the side of the road, couples had parked their motorcycles and canoodled by the water's edge. Glimpses from the shuttle bus revealed modernistic spires and swooping building outlines juxtaposed with shacks closer to the road.
After about thirty minutes, we slowed down where a welter of auto rickshaws called tut-tuts clogged our passage. I looked up and saw a gated compound with an illuminated marble entrance and multi-story tower resembling a government ministry. We passed through the security cordon and headed inside to the lobby of our hotel, Taj Land's End.
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| The hotel lobby by day |
It was nearly midnight, so I didn't have the energy to take photos of the room Saturday night. Here's the view I captured the next day. I also lacked the mental acuity to figure out the complicated lighting system right away (I later learned that one colleague was so defeated by the console that she slept with the lights on), so I quickly showered in the palatial, marble-lined bathroom and went to bed.
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| The view of the Arabian Sea from my hotel room. |
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