12:15pm, June 30
Well, I made it!
Approximately 35 solid hours of traveling after leaving Neenah, I am in Hyderabad. The trip went smoothly, no problems, and on time until I reached Delhi. That was when the major confusion and minor panic ensued. It turns out that the international airport and the domestic airport are in two entirely different locations. I arrived in Delhi from Amsterdam, got my luggage through customs, and then had no idea what to do. So, after attempting to obtain guidance from at least 8 dozen different uniformed airport employees, I ended up at the check-in desk for Jet Airways where they kindly told me that, if I was flying domestically within India, I needed to retrace all my steps, go outside, find a taxi, and ride 25 minutes to the domestic terminal.
Needless to say, I was pretty tired, really hot, and a little stressed at this point. When I get down to the street, there were no signs and masses of people everywhere. I finally went up to a man standing next to his car and asked if he could tell me how to get a taxi. The fact that I was on the verge of tears must have been clearly evident because he offered to give me a ride himself. I just had to wait a few moments for his family to join us. So, my stranger savior, his wife, his daughter, his son, me, and my luggage all crammed into his little car and zipped off to the other airport. I think I probably said thank you to that wonderful man at least 400 times.
Everything else went fine. It isn't even that hot-- 25 degrees C (I know I'm a science nerd, but it's really bad when I hear 25 C and think "huh, if this place was at 0 atm, I could do some chemistry in standard conditions!") I was met at the airport in Hyderabad by Jachin (pronounced Jay-kin), one of my program directors. We had about a 40 minute drive to the LV Prasad Eye Institute. India is amazing. I only got a small glimpse of the city during our ride, but I have never seen anything like it. First of all, the driving is insane. It's British-style on the left side of the road, but in reality the entire road is fair game. And I don't think we obeyed a single traffic signal. Jachin told me that Hyderabad (pop ~700,000) has 100 traffic deaths per DAY. Makes me hope I won't be spending much time on the road.
More importantly, I'd heard all about the immense disparity in wealth, culture, and advancement throughout India, but I could never have imagined what that contrast actually looks like. We drove by palatial-lookin condominiums with blanket shacks and tents propped up against the outer walls. There was a man in a business suit on the sidewalk passing a barefoot guy relieving himself on a wall next to the busy street. We had to idle for a moment in our shiny new car while a man herded 4 of his cows down the road. I just couldn't stop looking. The media gives the impression that India is on its way to modernity and world influence, but, boy, there's still a lot of work to do.
Once we reached the institute, I got settled into my temporary room. Apparently the woman with the keys to the room to which I was assigned took a trip to Chennai (southern India), so I have to wait for her to return in order to really move in. I'm in a small cabin on the institute property, and it is really pretty nice. The bedroom has a window air conditioner, and there's even a TV (I've found 2 channels so far in English). I'm taking pictures, so if I ever get to a place with wireless internet, I'll post them from my laptop onto here.
I'm going to try to write as much as possible, but this place is far from housing cutting-edge technology. I am currently typing on a dinosaur computer that took 10 minutes to boot up Windows 98. And I'm feeling lucky, seeing as this is the only computer where both the tower and the monitor decided to work at the same time.
Well, I made it!
Approximately 35 solid hours of traveling after leaving Neenah, I am in Hyderabad. The trip went smoothly, no problems, and on time until I reached Delhi. That was when the major confusion and minor panic ensued. It turns out that the international airport and the domestic airport are in two entirely different locations. I arrived in Delhi from Amsterdam, got my luggage through customs, and then had no idea what to do. So, after attempting to obtain guidance from at least 8 dozen different uniformed airport employees, I ended up at the check-in desk for Jet Airways where they kindly told me that, if I was flying domestically within India, I needed to retrace all my steps, go outside, find a taxi, and ride 25 minutes to the domestic terminal.
Needless to say, I was pretty tired, really hot, and a little stressed at this point. When I get down to the street, there were no signs and masses of people everywhere. I finally went up to a man standing next to his car and asked if he could tell me how to get a taxi. The fact that I was on the verge of tears must have been clearly evident because he offered to give me a ride himself. I just had to wait a few moments for his family to join us. So, my stranger savior, his wife, his daughter, his son, me, and my luggage all crammed into his little car and zipped off to the other airport. I think I probably said thank you to that wonderful man at least 400 times.
Everything else went fine. It isn't even that hot-- 25 degrees C (I know I'm a science nerd, but it's really bad when I hear 25 C and think "huh, if this place was at 0 atm, I could do some chemistry in standard conditions!") I was met at the airport in Hyderabad by Jachin (pronounced Jay-kin), one of my program directors. We had about a 40 minute drive to the LV Prasad Eye Institute. India is amazing. I only got a small glimpse of the city during our ride, but I have never seen anything like it. First of all, the driving is insane. It's British-style on the left side of the road, but in reality the entire road is fair game. And I don't think we obeyed a single traffic signal. Jachin told me that Hyderabad (pop ~700,000) has 100 traffic deaths per DAY. Makes me hope I won't be spending much time on the road.
More importantly, I'd heard all about the immense disparity in wealth, culture, and advancement throughout India, but I could never have imagined what that contrast actually looks like. We drove by palatial-lookin condominiums with blanket shacks and tents propped up against the outer walls. There was a man in a business suit on the sidewalk passing a barefoot guy relieving himself on a wall next to the busy street. We had to idle for a moment in our shiny new car while a man herded 4 of his cows down the road. I just couldn't stop looking. The media gives the impression that India is on its way to modernity and world influence, but, boy, there's still a lot of work to do.
Once we reached the institute, I got settled into my temporary room. Apparently the woman with the keys to the room to which I was assigned took a trip to Chennai (southern India), so I have to wait for her to return in order to really move in. I'm in a small cabin on the institute property, and it is really pretty nice. The bedroom has a window air conditioner, and there's even a TV (I've found 2 channels so far in English). I'm taking pictures, so if I ever get to a place with wireless internet, I'll post them from my laptop onto here.
I'm going to try to write as much as possible, but this place is far from housing cutting-edge technology. I am currently typing on a dinosaur computer that took 10 minutes to boot up Windows 98. And I'm feeling lucky, seeing as this is the only computer where both the tower and the monitor decided to work at the same time.
posted by Amy M at 1:30 AM
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