A Certain Kind of Slug
By the time we stumbled out of the plane after some hours of Bollywood films and almost sleep, the fog was already too thick to see out the airport window. Walking to claim our bags, I saw the older woman whom I sat next to walking away with a younger woman also in my isle. They had met on the plane and talked in Hindi quietly and quickly for the whole trip. As they walked away they held each other’s hand. I felt my first isolation.
The bags came easily. We put all of them into carts. We took the carts to a bank. We changed money. We passed through customs.
Outside of the huge glass doors of the airport we got our first breath of the fog. There were many people waiting, pushed against metal rails. As we walked through two sides of them, we were in the middle. Looking around wide eyed, most of them tiredly stared back. It was four in the morning when we got in and the sun had not yet risen.
We met Tracy and Caitlin before we left the airport, both of them standing up, jumping and waving at their first sight of our lumbering footsteps. I felt glad that I had something to take me away from the eyes watching us, something I have not yet grown use to.
As we stopped by our new friends, we were given real flower lei’s and a thin white cloth by three Indian men. They put their goods over our heads until we all wore both. The petals were falling everywhere and I felt shame. Trying not to look at anyone, I walked with my group out of the airport, leaving a trail of red rose like a certain kind of slug. The two woman from the plane said goodbye in front of me.
I smiled talking to the Indian men who greeted us. They shook our hands and welcomed us. We laughed and thanked them for the flowers and cloth. They laughed and asked us about our plane and our delays. They had been up all night waiting for us.
As we got on the bus I thanked Peter, a guide, local coordinator and eventual friend, for the lei. Apparently these necklaces of flowers were his idea. He looked at me and said, “You are welcome! In Hindi it is not lei, it is Har.”
And again I learned from isolation.
Comments
Noah- thanks for sharing your thoughts about India so far.. I expect that as time goes on you will find the sense of isolation transforming to a feeling of connectedness with people who are really different from you, but who you will begin to feel kinship with in a whole new way...homestays will especially help you to understand some of the cultural aspects around you which might feel a bit alienating at first...
I heard that the India group was forming a band of sorts.. I look forward to you sending us a "sound" entry to the blog one of these days so we can hear the music you are making!
Posted by: Michelle Bos-Lun | February 23, 2007 02:55 PM
Have no idea how this works but I'll give it a try. How good to hear from you! We're curious about your adventure and want to read your comments each time they're sent on. We're both well---you stay well too. Have a great time. RA & M
Posted by: Ruthanne and Merv | February 23, 2007 02:54 PM