Starting in Delhi

We splurged: because Barb and Jeff were scheduled to get full physical exams on Thursday morning, and we were taking the overnight train to Delhi, we bought first-class berths so that we could get a full night’s sleep. A thousand rupees a piece is quite expensive by local standards. Because there were four of us, we got a whole compartment to ourselves, with sliding door and curtain to insulate our compartment from the outside world. The beds were already made up for us, and the compartment was carpeted and clean, and most of the lights worked. There was one reminder of the unregulated world, in that a nice young man helped us with our luggage and guided us to the cabin, and asked if we wanted bottled water. Barb thought it came with our ticket, so she said “yes please”. He returned with 4 bottles, asked for 48 rupees, then disappeared. And we all realized that we weren’t in Kansas any more – he was just a guy running a little unofficial sideline. Barb worried whether the water was actually factory-packaged, or simple refills from the local tap. I thought it looked legit, so I drank it, with no ill effect.
The night passed, with a good solid sleep. The train arrived at 8am, only 15 minutes late. We surrendered to a Sikh taxi tout, who overcharged us for a ride to the guest house and then hospital, but he was quite pleasant and chatty throughout. We dropped off the suitcases and sons at the guest house, where our rooms were mercifully ready for us early. We taxi’d on to the hospital where we spent the day – until 5pm – on blood tests and treadmill stress-tests and cardiograms and interviews and poking and prodding. We must go back on Saturday for test results and more consultations – but so far, we seem quite healthy.

Friday the 23rd, the film Slumdog Millionaire was officially released in India, a week after it had been front page news following the Golden Globe awards and commentary wondering whether it presented “India” fairly. We saw the first showing, and we marveled at the impact of the film – noting that they did not have to fake any of the buildings or the slums or the traffic. Aside from the string of remarkable coincidences throughout the film, we felt it was realistic. It shows the remarkable and irrepressible urge to enjoy and make the best of life. And it has a Hollywood ending in the plot, and a Bollywood ending in the final dance number! Go see it.

And now, we await the arrival of “the Aunties”. They are, after all, truly the aunts of Chris and Cole. But also, “Aunty” is one of the loan-words from English that has most saturated this subcontinent. Any older woman – that is, any woman older than me – is addressed as Aunty. (and, correspondingly, any older man is addressed as “Uncle”) So, we await the arrival of Aunty Tori and Aunty Jaime at the airport, in another hour or so. More later, with photos if we can…