India - The Arrival

India. I don't really know where to start. How about at the beginning?

I arrived at the airport at 4:50am Sunday morning. My luggage came at 6am. It wasn't lost - everyone's bags had to go through "security" first. I never thought I'd be one of the people searching for their name in the sea of hand-written signs held by drivers at airport arrival terminals, but that's exactly what I found myself doing. To my relief, I found my name amongst the rest, and let the driver help me outside with my bags.

That's when it hit me: both the realization that I was in a completely different country, and the wall of air. Or maybe the realization was due to the way the air hit me when I stepped outside: it was smoky, or smoggy, or something that made the air gray and heavy. To me, it smelled like there had just been a fire. Or perhaps everyone in the entire city was burning those Citronella candles that keep mosquitoes away. But as we continued walking (and in the days that followed), I realized that's just how the air is.

Driving from the airport to the project (which is south of Delhi), I saw lots of cows, dogs, a horse or two, some monkeys, and even a peacock in the road or walking alongside it. And, perhaps what surprised me most in the animal category was looking up from my Hindi/English phrase book (I was trying to strike up a conversation with the driver, who only spoke Hindi) to see a camel pulling a giant cart outside the window. (Quite a common occurrence, as it turns out.)

But obviously the most striking thing was the people. And the houses. I use that term because it's more well-known, but tent might be a better description. Everywhere there were people living on the side of the roads, in plastic tents or other constructed shelters. There are
houses more like what we're used to in the city (i.e., an actual building with a foundation and walls), but still completely different from our Western standards. It's like nowhere else I've every been. The closest I can come is Juarez, Mexico.

And, while driving, it is necessary to continually swerve back and forth, both in your lane and in any other lane or shoulder of road that is available, in order to avoid the potholes. Giant potholes, that might swallow a car if given the chance. Not to worry, though: honking constantly (or at least when in sight of another vehicle or person or biker) helps them to keep tabs on your whereabouts so that, no matter whose lane you're in (or how many vehicles are in one lane at once), it all works out somehow. And you always have the right of way, even if you are on the wrong side of the street. Just keep driving straight, and honk at the oncoming traffic. It works.

Anyhow, defying all odds I made it to the orphanage, and...

*This post is far to long for one sitting already. To be continued in a second one, soon!