INDIRA GANDHI AIRPORT - January 24th

Our flight (Continental Flight 82) arrived on time – about 9:15 local time on Saturday evening. Most of the members of the team were processed through immigration and baggage claim, while three of us were directed a different way, because our good friend and new patient was too weak to walk the long way through the airport. We eventually caught up with the rest of the group and worked our way through customs and immigration. We were met by Divan – one of the folks who works for Sanjiv, and worked our way to out to our bus, driven by Suresh and navigated by his porter, Ragu.

A few minutes after we departed from the airport terminal, we found ourselves mired in a huge traffic jam. The fact of a traffic jam at 10:30 at night was a bit foreign to most of us. We drove (or should I correct that by saying we crept) all the way to Gurgaon, and turned left onto the road to Sohna. En route, we listened as Cassandra told us of her very unique experience during our flight from Newark to Delhi. I certainly would not feel right if I were violate a confidence, so for those of you who know her, please feel free to contact her to learn the details.

When we had boarded our bus, Divan received a telephone message from Sanjiv telling him the traffic had been jammed on the mountain road to Sohna all day due to a semi-tractor trailer truck having overturned early that morning, dumping its entire load onto the road, closing both lanes of traffic. Sanjiv told Divan he hoped the debris would be cleared soon, so we could proceed up the mountain road to the place we would be staying – the Sohna Tourist Motel. One thing I noticed, about the time we left the city limits of Delhi and proceeded toward Gurgaon was that the roads were town up – a huge expansion project undertaken in the last several months. It was wonderful to see the progress, but at the same time, the bumps and jolts during the ride did not help our friend, Kim, who had been ill during the flight, and was still terribly weak. Even though our driver, Suresh, was driving very slowly, Kim was in terrible distress. We talked about the situation and Shawn and Kim decided to stay back at the motel, rather than drive the remainder of the way to Sanjiv’s farmhouse for a midnight dinner. We arrived at the motel, checked in with reception and took our bags to our rooms. We met three more members of our team, who had arrived earlier on Saturday. Crissie Day, a Rotarian from Oregon, and her mother, Nancy Day were pleased to see us. Linda Nicol, one of the members of last year’s team, from Nipigon, Ontario, was also there. Shawn and Kim stayed at the motel and the rest of us, including Crissie, Nancy and Linda, boarded the bus for a late night ride to the farm. Not more than five minutes into our ride, we found ourselves in a huge traffic jam on the mountain road. I telephoned Sanjiv to discuss a plan, and we decided all of us would begin walking up the road and Sanjiv would drive his car from the farm as far down the mountain road as possible, and drive us the rest of the way.

Now let’s make an evaluation here… Most of us had been up anytime from 2:30
‘til 5:00 in the morning on Friday. It was now midnight on Saturday night. We were going for a walk, in total darkness, other than for the parking lights on all of the tractor-trailer trucks stopped on the road. From my description, Sanjiv thought we were about three kilometers from the farm. And, we are going for a walk??? Are you kidding?

Rather than “strolling” along the outer edge of the road (where, incidentally there are NO GUARDRAILS to protect us from tumbling down the side of the mountain), I suggested we try to snake our way between the two rows of trucks, and work our way along the road until we met up with Sanjiv. Dianne and Boone from San Antonio, Texas, were somewhat concerned as to whether there might BE snakes along the road, or any other things that “might go bump in the night”! We all trooped along, in the total darkness of the night, seeing only a few constellations up above, and trusting Sanjiv would soon meet us to ferry us to the farm for dinner. After all, don’t we all customarily eat our dinner between midnight and two in the morning??? After walking about a kilometer, I heard a voice calling, “Where is my long-lost brother, Elias?” It was Sanjiv and we were all relieved to see him. He drove the first five people and the rest of us agreed to continue to walk until he returned to take us to the farm. I had been concerned I had not been able to exercise and do a cardio-walk, so this filled the bill. Sanjiv returned, picked us up and drove to the farm. Jyotsna, Sanjiv’s wife, and her sister, Ollie, were there to welcome us. We had a wonderful dinner and at about 3:00 in the morning, we were driven back to the motel, the traffic jam having been cleared. We had agreed to meet our bus on Sunday morning at about 10:30 to return for breakfast at the farm.

Pleasant dreams…