Arriving

Jan 28- The flights to India were effortless; long of course and tedious in the way that boredom can hone down into the bones. But effortless. The 15 hour flight from Newark to Bombay became 18 hours due to yet the 6th winter storm hitting the East Coast in 30 days. De-icing of the plane and runway- as well as later having to circle round and round Bombay to wait in que for landing- put several more hours on the trip. Heavy air traffic at night with arriving flights. But my travel buddies were good: a sweet couple from Seattle. We bunked down together in a cozy way in "our little corner of the world" for the duration.

When I got through immigration that night around 11:50pm and walked out of the baggage area I was met with a sea of literally hundreds of unfamiliar faces, mostly men’s, with placards and calling out names insistently. The Indian government has thankfully erected a metal railing which holds the taxi drivers and greeters at bay, which lessens one’s general level of activation. This gave me great heart, as 3 years ago in Bali you were greeted by the same throng, but in a very 'up close and personal' way. I walked around and around the arena but no placard for "Patti" to be found. I was feeling overwhelmed imagining some snafu on the third walkabout when I heard a female voice calling my name. I saw a sweet faced woman who had to be Mimansa, at the far back of faces. She had been unable to make her way to the front. Father Godfrey came later; we waited happily for the next flight to arrive an hour later with 4 more team members and eventually made our way to the very comfortable and well appointed Aruba Home apartments that night, around 4am. Almost 26 hours after leaving Asheville: a long journey but only the beginning of this one.