CAN WE REALLY BE LEAVING?

Although each member of the Team has been packing, unpacking and then re-packing, it is actually hard to imagine that the day has finally arrived – January 23, 2009, when most of us will descend upon Newark’s Liberty Airport to begin the very long second leg of our journey to India. With me, it began at about 2:30 a.m., when I awoke and dressed and went to my office to clear up some loose ends and check Emails and then return home to shower and dress. Even at that insane hour, I found myself picking up the telephone and calling my friend, Sanjiv Saran in India to check last-minute details. At about 5:30, I returned home to find my wife, Jane had already been up for a while, probably as much because of the anticipation of driving me to the Manchester, New Hampshire airport, as due to a few strategically timed yowls from Jack, our not-so-slim-and-trim cat. For Jack, it was “time to put food in here!” When Jack first wandered into our lives this past August, he had been abandoned and lived on his own for who knows how long. He was totally emaciated and his long grey coat was dirty and matted. However, after living with us, Jack has, how shall we say, blossomed! At any rate, Jack had already eaten one of his breakfasts when I arrived home. I showered, dressed and loaded the car with my bags, and we were off to my office to meet Violet Dube-Moody, who had volunteered to drive to Manchester with us and then back with Jane.

We moved right along, all the way to Rochester, before we became part of a long line of semi-tractor-trailer trucks and a few interspersed cars, which moved (at least in our terms) at a snail’s pace. I kind of smiled inwardly, when I realized in our part of the country, we had no idea what snail’s pace meant! Maybe driving in this line of traffic was just a gentle nudge to my memory of how a true bottle-neck works – how it works in India! Upon arriving at the airport, I had already received a call from a team member, Cassandra Bradley from the Laconia, New Hampshire area, to tell me she was running a few minutes late and that Past District Governor Chris Parkinson (also a member of our Team) would be swinging by the airport to pick up the carton box containing our Team’s official shirts, so he could unpack and re-pack one of his bags to bring them along to India. (My bags were already bursting at the seams, partly due to the fifty-or-so nerf baseballs I had jammed into one of them to take along for the kids in Chahalka.

Jane and I said our good-byes and she and Violet drove off to return to the office, and then Jane to home, where she would meet friends to play what hopefully would become one of many days of bridge games during my absence. I received another call from Cassandra telling me that Chris should be at the airport in any minute and that I should be waiting outside for him, so he would not have to go to the trouble of parking his car before finding me. As it turned out, the security officer on duty outside the terminal would not allow me to stand outside while my bags remained inside, no more than ten feet from me, on the other side of the windows. I moved everything outside, waited until Chris stopped, loaded his car with the shirts, and then drove off. Cassandra arrived a short while later and we checked in at the Continental ticket counter, and were successful in convincing the attendant that although our reservations for this leg of our trip had not been made at the same time, she could certainly waive the charge of $70 per bag for our second bags, since we were connecting to the flight to Delhi, and actually checking our bags all the way through from Manchester. We proceeded to the waiting area, only to hear the announcement, “Ladies and Gentlemen, we are reporting the flight to Newark will be delayed for at least one hour, but we will keep you updated as to an exact time.” I told Cassandra I prefer taking earlier flights into Newark just to make sure I arrive in plenty of time, keeping “flexibility and adjustment” as two terms prominently in my mindset. We departed just about an hour late and arrived without incident, trusting that our bags had been checked all the way through to Delhi, and better still, that they would make it there.

Upon arrival at the Newark airport, I received a call on my cell phone from one of the team members, Shawn Dolter, who confessed that, “I have already broken one rule, and I have not even met you yet.” He told me he and his wife, Kim Thistle (both from Newfoundland) had arrived into Newark the previous day and wanted to travel into the “Big Apple” for some sightseeing, and the only way they could make such a trip was to check into the ticket counter, and send their bags through to Delhi. We had all previously agreed to meet at the international ticket counter before checking in at Continental. As it turns out, most of us arrived on Friday via Continental, so we were all on the “inside” and could only meet at the ticket counter, if we left the “inner sanctum” and then had to re-enter through the screening process, which always takes a long time, especially in Newark.

Not to dwell on a point too long, but suffice it to say we all finally met at Gallagher’s Restaurant for a light dinner and some liquid refreshment. We worked our way to the gate and boarded for our fourteen-and-a-half flight to the next chapter of our lives – India and all it had in store for us. We were somewhat clustered in our seat assignments, and after a very bumpy (ladies and gentlemen, we are going to be experiencing some mild turbulence, so please return to your seats and fasten your seat belts secured tightly) first hour, we settled into a 37,000 foot altitude flight pattern for the duration.

Unfortunately, one of our team members became terribly ill during the entire flight, and as we would learn, would remain so for a few days. Although we thought or hoped it might just be a twenty-four hour bug, whatever it was took its toll on her and finally, on January 26 (Republic Day) she re-gained strength and became a most active member of the team.