Tuesday, June 30, 2009
What the heck is going to happen?
I've been all over the Karigiri campus in the last two days talking with different departments about how I could best use this month in India. It looked grim yesterday, but a little better today, so maybe tomorrow will be even better. I will probably be working primarily with the community health department, going out into the villages to conduct field-based reasearch, but I may also be able to spend some time in the molecular biology lab, doing polymerase chain reactions (PCR) and Southern blotting. I got word of an international students group that meets on Wednesdays at a nice hotel in town, so maybe tomorrow I'll finally make some good contacts. I'll let yall know how everything is going in a few days.
Saturday, June 27, 2009
What the heck just happened?
Ever since my last post early Tuesday morning, everything went awry. Let me break it down for you:
June 23
- I had to cancel all six of my flights because of I failed to catch Orbitz' error in my itinerary.
- I purchased new flights (Atlanta-->Paris-->Mumbai-->Chennai)
- Flight delayed two hours in Paris for repairs
June 24
- Arrive in Mumbai at 0130, 15 minutes after my flight left for Chennai (it was the last flight of the night, and my only constant was my arrangement to be picked up at the Chennai airport at 0300)
- Follow strange man to a vehicle who said he would take me to the domestic airport
- Passing the domestic airport, he tells me it is closed and opens at 0700.
- Pay far too much for the hotel that he almost definitely worked for.
- Use the last bit of my U.S. currency to purchase the Mumbai-->Chennai flight which had to be bought in cash (also my debit card didn't work in Paris, so I figured I couldn't access my account in India either, rendering me totally broke)
- Arrive in Chennai with no problems
- Train booking office at Chennai airport: FAIL (nobody at the desk)
- Meet nice taxi driver who takes me to Chennai Central Train Station
- Spend literally 1.5 hours searching Tourist Reservation Office (with massive Eddie Bauer duffel bag)
- Find office, buy ticket, nearly pass out/faint/collapse/die from the heat and from sleep deprivation (I actually wrote out my name and the address at Karigiri and made it visible in case I passed out)
- As we approach Katpadi Junction, where I am supposed to get off, I can't see because night had fallen and the the windows were a dark purple tint, so I eventually grab my bags and head for the exit in front of me, but a nice Indian lady passenger is just standing there! and she eventually tells me that I'm supposed to exit at the rear of the car, so I trudge to the back only to see the ground moving outside! so then comes the most intense five seconds of my life: four Indian men plus myself start yelling at each other trying to decide whether I should jump off or not, and as my Eddie Bauer duffel was in its backswing to be thrown from the train, I saw the platform end and then only dark abyss and twinkling steel, so I stopped my throwing motion and chose the option that I figured had the greatest chance of survival: stay on the train until the next stop in Bangalore.
- Decide to stay the night in Bangalore rather than jump off the moving train at the next junction and catch the next train (which wasn't until 23:30) back to Katpadi Junction (the latter was the train manager's suggestion)
- Make a friend who got me safely to a reasonable hotel in Bangalore
June 25
- Make another friend who helped me get on a lower class train back towards Chennai
- Finally get through to the leprosy center to arrange a pickup at Katpadi junction at 18:00
- See man with "Karigiri" sign amidst the thousands of Indians surrounding me, and I arrive safely at the leprosy center.
My commentary concerning these occurences is far too lengthy for this blog, and the bucket I am sitting on in this internet cafe is hurting my butt. It is sufficient to say that I made it; it sucked really bad, but I made it. Much like my grizzly bear encounter many of you know about, this adventure was hardly enjoyable in the heat of the moment (although I laughed out loud at my incredible misfortune a few times). I realized, however, that very little adventure comes without cost or risk (Collin), and neither does following hard after God.
What a start!
June 23
- I had to cancel all six of my flights because of I failed to catch Orbitz' error in my itinerary.
- I purchased new flights (Atlanta-->Paris-->Mumbai-->Chennai)
- Flight delayed two hours in Paris for repairs
June 24
- Arrive in Mumbai at 0130, 15 minutes after my flight left for Chennai (it was the last flight of the night, and my only constant was my arrangement to be picked up at the Chennai airport at 0300)
- Follow strange man to a vehicle who said he would take me to the domestic airport
- Passing the domestic airport, he tells me it is closed and opens at 0700.
- Pay far too much for the hotel that he almost definitely worked for.
- Use the last bit of my U.S. currency to purchase the Mumbai-->Chennai flight which had to be bought in cash (also my debit card didn't work in Paris, so I figured I couldn't access my account in India either, rendering me totally broke)
- Arrive in Chennai with no problems
- Train booking office at Chennai airport: FAIL (nobody at the desk)
- Meet nice taxi driver who takes me to Chennai Central Train Station
- Spend literally 1.5 hours searching Tourist Reservation Office (with massive Eddie Bauer duffel bag)
- Find office, buy ticket, nearly pass out/faint/collapse/die from the heat and from sleep deprivation (I actually wrote out my name and the address at Karigiri and made it visible in case I passed out)
- As we approach Katpadi Junction, where I am supposed to get off, I can't see because night had fallen and the the windows were a dark purple tint, so I eventually grab my bags and head for the exit in front of me, but a nice Indian lady passenger is just standing there! and she eventually tells me that I'm supposed to exit at the rear of the car, so I trudge to the back only to see the ground moving outside! so then comes the most intense five seconds of my life: four Indian men plus myself start yelling at each other trying to decide whether I should jump off or not, and as my Eddie Bauer duffel was in its backswing to be thrown from the train, I saw the platform end and then only dark abyss and twinkling steel, so I stopped my throwing motion and chose the option that I figured had the greatest chance of survival: stay on the train until the next stop in Bangalore.
- Decide to stay the night in Bangalore rather than jump off the moving train at the next junction and catch the next train (which wasn't until 23:30) back to Katpadi Junction (the latter was the train manager's suggestion)
- Make a friend who got me safely to a reasonable hotel in Bangalore
June 25
- Make another friend who helped me get on a lower class train back towards Chennai
- Finally get through to the leprosy center to arrange a pickup at Katpadi junction at 18:00
- See man with "Karigiri" sign amidst the thousands of Indians surrounding me, and I arrive safely at the leprosy center.
My commentary concerning these occurences is far too lengthy for this blog, and the bucket I am sitting on in this internet cafe is hurting my butt. It is sufficient to say that I made it; it sucked really bad, but I made it. Much like my grizzly bear encounter many of you know about, this adventure was hardly enjoyable in the heat of the moment (although I laughed out loud at my incredible misfortune a few times). I realized, however, that very little adventure comes without cost or risk (Collin), and neither does following hard after God.
What a start!
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
A few of you have asked me about my flight info, so here it is:
Tuesday, June 23:
Departure: Atlanta, 3:45 p.m.
Arrival: Newark, 6:31 p.m.
Wednesday, June 24:
Departure: Newark, 8:20 p.m.
Arrival: Mumbai, 9:00 p.m. (June 25)
Thursday, June 25:
Departure: Mumbai, 1:15 a.m.
Arrival: Chennai, 3:00 a.m.
I just realized a major problem with this info, see if you can find it. Ok, I need to make some calls!
Tuesday, June 23:
Departure: Atlanta, 3:45 p.m.
Arrival: Newark, 6:31 p.m.
Wednesday, June 24:
Departure: Newark, 8:20 p.m.
Arrival: Mumbai, 9:00 p.m. (June 25)
Thursday, June 25:
Departure: Mumbai, 1:15 a.m.
Arrival: Chennai, 3:00 a.m.
I just realized a major problem with this info, see if you can find it. Ok, I need to make some calls!
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
India?
Ok everyone, I just realized that I'm leaving in one week for a solo trip to India. Time to freak out for a little bit.
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