On my way

I don't even know where to begin! Okay. I'll start from Chennai airport. Landed in India around 12:30 am after a nine and a half hour flight from Brussels. I will say this: Jet Airways is incredible. Good food, good distractions. It was a very pleasant flight and everything ran smoothly.

I had 6 hours to wait until my flight to the final destination of Cochin. As I was still in an airport, I felt insulated from the "real" India. Airports all have the same sanitized whitewash. But, outside was different. In order to get to the departures from the arrivals, we all had to walk through a corridor outside. The automatic doors opened. Thick hot air hit my nostrils and a flood of people were smooshed (there are no other words) against a long hip and chest-high metal pole holding signs and flowers. They looked like fans at a red carpet event. Very emotional and enthusiastic about whoever was coming out of the airport.

I kept my head down. I knew they were looking at me but I didn't want to return any glances. I kept walking, stopping to take a picture of a giant crow, then entered the departures section of the airport. There were men in khakis sporting giant guns on their hips standing at the entrance. I showed them my passport and they let me through.

I sat in designated waiting area and started to get really hungry and very thirsty. I was dying for water. In front of me was a "drinking water" station, and my thought flow went a little like this:



No no no no can't drink the water will get sick but I'm soooooo thirsty no no no no a sip no no can't can't water water so thirsty nooooooooooo etc.

I had to get up and find some bottled water. There was a cafe behind me but they only took rupees and I had none. Only travellers checks and a visa. I also just wanted to walk around after such a long flight. I asked one of the armed khaki men if the Duty Free was open. He said something I assume meant no so I walked aimlessly around for a couple minutes until flopping into a chair in another designated waiting area. I sat beside the right person.

Her name started with D. Didli? Digli? Dindi? I remember thinking it sounded like a dessert. As soon as I sat down she asked me where I was going. I told her Cochin. Where am I from? Toronto. Am I in school? Yes, and for what? English and Relgion. So, I asked her a couple questions. Were are you going? Kottayam. Where are you from? Winnipeg. Oh Winnipeg! Wow! Yay! What do you do there? I'm a retired radiology technician. Cool! Then I told her how I ended up there, in this seat beside her: I was thirsty. "Thirsty? Oh, well I have rupees. When my husband comes back I'll go with you to get some water." Oh fuck yeah!

We went to the little cafe pavilion I was too afraid to go to before. We didn't see anyone manning the station. On an office chair there was a blob of blue material that expanded in and out. We realized there was a human in there. "Excuse me," D said softly. I tried to be helpful by tapping on the sandwich glass, but that did nothing to wake her up and I felt generally useless. "Miss," she said, "hello?" Another customer came up to the glass. D took matters into her own hands. She hopped over the partition and tapped the blob. A bewildered head arose. A very pretty young woman, probably my age, had been sleeping on the job. It's 3:00 am and she's doing the night shift - I don't blame her for passing out.

We got some water and went back to our seats. At 4:00 am we could pass through security, which we did. Before that though, I wanted to change my clothes. I disliked what I was wearing, and even though I was comfortable, somehow baggy "pajama" pants (my dad's comment at the airport) seemed inappropriate in a public place where the women look like goddesses. So I proceeded to the bathroom. I opened the stall door and...

Surprise!

Oh! A porcelain hole in the ground! I was told to expect this, but wow! Really! Just like that, eh? Okay then. I stepped out and decided I'd change in the open area of the bathroom. The stall floor was wet and that grossed me out just a little. Horrific but hilarious. I can get used to this.

After that, D's husband (who was similarly awesome) got hungry. We looked around and they didn't like their options, so they asked, "Do you want to come for a walk?" Oh, yes. We wandered into an elevator that took us to the buffet reserved for "Premiere" passengers only. They shrugged their shoulders and continued in. It was empty. A short man with a thick black moustache greeted us as we took in the place and ventured inside. How much for a meal, D asked. 253 rupees, the man responded. And how much for coffee? 70 rupees. "Oh, it's 20 downstairs, did you know that?" He shook his head a bit and said yes. I loved D's sass in a big way. She was so great.

Two hundred and fifty-three rupees is worth $5 Canadian, so I forked over a five dollar bill, "for when you get back," I said. I proceeded to the buffet which looked pretty Western with its fruit salad and corn flakes, but unique with its rice patties and coconut chutney. Everything tasted pretty good. I felt like a very lucky princess up there.

D, her husband, and the empty luxury buffet.

Not too long after, we boarded our little plane. They sat in 2A and B, and I sat at 5A. They really took care of me! I thanked them for taking me in and we went our separate ways on the plane. It just so happened I was seated beside the only other white person on the plane.



His name was Rob and he hailed from Australia. We had a nice conversation. It made two hours breeze by. I found it difficult to gauge his age - he was blonde, blue-eyed, and wore skate shorts and a bright purple t-shirt. He was a sk8rb0i through and through! He skin looked severely unwashed, and for good reason: he had been travelling in India for two months. Kerala was his final destination, and instead of taking the bus or train as he had been doing, he wanted to take a break from the dust and crowdedness of public transportation. I would say he was between 25-30 years old.

I got more and more excited as the time to land drew nearer. Having talked to nice people along the way really amped me up - I was acutely aware that the happiness I was feeling as I bounced up and down and clapped my hands was due to this guy and the couple sitting two rows ahead. Considering I hadn't slept at all during the night, I was very chipper. Conversation as healing, yeah!

We got off the plane. I grabbed my bag off the conveyor belt, and walked to the exit. I saw Nitya in the crowd behind the bar.

Nitya!

We walked into a car with a little boy, and went towards Trissur. The boy jumped into the driver's seat which I thought was a joke until I realized here, the driver's seat is on the right. I was looking for my seat belt when Nitya said, "Don't bother. Nobody does that here." Okay! There were palm trees, coconut trees, lush greenness everywhere. They drive on the left (generally...) and instead of following the law of traffic lights, they honk their horns when they want to let you know they exist. It seems eratic, but when I asked Nitya if car accidents were common, he said they were rare. Interesting!