Coming out of Calcutta Airport, I saw a band of people gathering around departure area, some of them are carrying cardboard with names of passengers on it. Some are written in English alphabet and some are in what I think are written in Indian texts. I looked around to find the person who is going to pick us up from the airport to the hotel. I tried reading some of the names in the cardboard (to find my name or names of my colleagues) and found the name Joseph Librero
s (with and extra letter
S) . So I went to the cardboard and told the nearest man, “This is me. That’s my name” The guy held-up a clipboard and asked us to come with them. We went out to the airport to the parking lot. On our way to the parking lot, I looked up and saw what looked like a yellow fog covering the night sky. In my mind I thought, “Oh my this is pollution.” We found the car that will take us to the airport. I made my way to the front right seat so my colleagues can take the back seats. When I opened the right front seat, the chauffer said something in Indian that I did not understand so I ignored him and opened the right door. When I looked at the seat I found the steering wheel on it was then when I realized Indian cars are right-hand driven. :) The vehicles in the Philippines are all left-hand driven so this is my first time to ride a right-hand driven car. (Note: I took the pictures below the day after we arrived so that's why it does not look like night time)
On our way to the hotel I found many Indian motorist are fond in using their car horns. Every time there is a little delay in the traffic, I hear them blowing their horns. I also noticed that some of the motorists are not following traffic rules. This is not new to me since in Cebu we have the same problem, jeepney stops and parks wherever they like so it did not bother me much. I asked the driver if the traffic is this bad and he answered with a smile, “It’s over 10 o’clock… rough-driving time.” It gave me the impression that the morning traffic will be much more in order. I noticed that the streets are still very crowded in that time of the night. I asked the chauffeur why and he said something like, “people are going to bars to have fun”. Now that I thought about it, I appreciate the chauffeur so much. He answers my question really kindly. He always ends his statements with the word “Sir”. Like “It’s past 10 o’clock sir and it’s rough-driving time.. sir”. I don’t know why but this makes me feel so special in a way. :)
The trip to the hotel was a bit long and so I looked around and try to see much of the city as I could. I saw the public train tracks, I also noticed that taxi’s are colored yellow but the thing that I really noticed about them is that they are not air-conditioned and the model looks very old. I have to say, this gave me some concerns since #1, I saw the yellow sky and #2 We are planning to take a cab to and fro the malls in the city.
We arrived in the hotel – ITC Sonar. It’s a beautiful place. The rooms are very spacious and the attendants are very accommodating. I went to the room and took a night rest. I was able to take a warm bath and took a very good nap.
I woke up around 6 o’clock in the morning. This sounded very early but in Cebu this is about 8.30AM which is for me not really early. It seems that my body clock is still in sync with Cebu. I called my colleagues (which I will remain un-named) for breakfast. As expected for a five star hotel, the breakfast is very great.
After breakfast, we decided to take a trip to a mall near by using a cab. When went inside a cab, the driver barely understands us but I understand that he told us, “his taxi meter is not working and he charges us 120 Rupees for the trip to the mall.” In our ignorance we agreed him to charge us that much later on we discovered that the cost is around 70-80 Ruppes.:) The taxi driver in the picture below charged us that much.:)
We went to the mall and found it to be a bit different from the mall that we had. I could not find McDonalds or KFC anywhere. I could not recognize a single food in the menu.
It’s then that I feel that I am really in another place far, far away from home –so different from where I came from. I realized that here I need to let go of all comforts and try to adjust as soon as I can. I have to admit this made me a little bit worried. But I have to survive; I have to live; I have to stay here for the next 3 weeks… in the land of Mohinder Suresh.
Note: Next post, I will talk about the cultural differences and cultural the sameness that I've observed in my brief time here in India. I will also talk about why the Philippines needs an Indian senator or adviser.
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9:25 AM
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9:25 AM
