Delhi 3
Trip Start
Sep 03, 2007
1
207
220
Trip End
Jun 17, 2009
Delhi,
India
Saturday, November 29, 2008
Through luggage security and banding, check-in (including bag share) and then personal security for more groping!
This flight is also delayed and finally takes off at 9.30pm, the new Boeing 737 - 800 also being packed. We get a drink, a meal (I think I'll have the curry please!) and after being stacked for twenty minutes outside Delhi, we glide back in to land at India's capital (again). The flight did give us the chance to read the newspapers and get a bit more up to date on what had happened in Mumbai and the ongoing aftermath. We also find out from the paper that the state elections are scheduled to take place in Delhi tomorrow. Apart from any local political party fervor, it was the day of the Mumbai elections that the terrorists chose to maximise publicity.
Another feature of Indian airline travel is that everyone is mobile (cell) phone mad and despite the broadcast warnings not to use phones at any time when the aircraft is moving, there were people on the phone when we were taxying for take-off and again as soon as we had landed. Crazy.
Baggage game - one small bag straight away and then a loooooonnnnnngggggggg wait, until there are only a few people left waiting hopefully round the carousel. Then our bags come trundling through, one with no airline label and the other with a broken zip but, like a mucky child who comes home late, we are just glad to see them.
It's now 1230am and although tired, we still want to try to complete the arrangements to get home / out of India, as soon as possible, as our flights need rebooking from Mumbai departure to Delhi departure. The two Canadians have friends not far away that they are staying with and so we say our goodbyes. From our domestic arrivals area we need to go to the international area to find the airline offices, which, we have been told, are open until late. It's a case of dogged optimism against adversity and Norah, Tess, Bhupendra and I pay at the licensed taxi office and find a cab to take us and all our luggage, on the twenty minute trip to the international side. The roads are surprisingly busy but then again it's a capital city and as we soon realise, the time of Haj.
At the chock a block departure terminal we find the offices, stepping over dozens of people sleeping on the floors everywhere on the way. They closed at 12, open again 6am. Aardvarks - it was worth a shot and we psychologically feel as though we have done as much as we could to resolve our situation.
Another taxi takes us out to the suburbs, along the unbelievably busy roads with many trucks (many of which, like the cars, don't bother using any lights) to the 'Karol Bagh' district and our previous five star (OK - I jest) hotel. The group referred to it just as "The Armpit!" Anyway it was a bed for the night, which we finally reached and crashed out at 2.45am. This has been a long day.
Saturday November 29th.
Greetings to my fellow members of the "More Mature Persons Club".
We slept until just before 7am, when the rest of the neighbourhood was awake. Don't they have Saturday morning lie-ins in India? Dozing until 8am, when we gave up on any more sleep and got dressed. There had been an internet link here on our last visit but it came up as 'No connection'. I found an airline phone number in a six year old telephone directory and not surprisingly, there was no answer.
I went down to reception and was told that "man who knows internet will be in at 9am". I asked for the airline phone number and was given the same as the old number but "airline offices will not be open until 10 o'clock". What happened to twenty four hour reservation centres?
Back in the room we started to rearrange the bags to try to resolve the overweight issue and put some of the heavier items in the hand luggage. At 9.15 we joined Tess and Brupendra in reception, where Tess was finalising her flight out, which was the earliest possible, on Tuesday. I asked about 'computer man' - "oh no, he is delayed".
Feeling lucky we tried to arrange our flights in reception (as the phone in our room seemed to have a problem). Original number - answering message - changed to new number. New number - not obtainable!
Airport desk number - number unobtainable! All this is going on with a tv blaring out in a corner and the receptionist shouting down his phone or at anyone who came to the reception desk, on which we were using another phone. As Garth in 'Wayne's World' says - "I'm slowly losing the will to live!"
Bhupendra phones his company office, they give him a different airline number and he gets an answer. Norah takes over and her secretarial and people skills results in a choice of flight for tomorrow (Sunday) but earlier than the Mumbai departure. What a girl - now I know why I never divorced her!
Elated by this light at the end of the tunnel, we go for breakfast on the rooftop, still a building sight but now cleaned up (well a bit anyway). A leisurely breakfast in the (smoky) Delhi sunshine, with black kites wheeling everywhere and we are feeling better.
Norah and Tess decide to go for a walk to the shops and I just want an easy afternoon, so I stay to look for computer man. It's always difficult trying to impart information to someone who won't listen and after replying that I've already tried all his 'fixes', computer man assures me he will look into the problem.
Sometime later in the afternoon the wifi comes on and I catch up on emails from the last two weeks, my apologies for the delay. I also have a marathon blog session and get a little closer up to date. One day I might even have a chance to tackle the photo backlog.
In the evening we finish off the packing and go to the restaurant next door, where we enjoy (yes really!) a curry. A reasonable night's sleep follows.
