We got to BOM pretty much on time, but it took us awhile to get out past immigration and customs. We changed money and then started looking for our driver who was supposed to pick us up. No one was to be found. While we were looking, I went to a refreshment stand and said, “Panni chahiye” which means “I want water please.” I was very proud of myself. When the man at the stand produced the water, I said, “Kitne” which means “how much?” and he told me. The only problem is that I can only count to 10 in Hindi, so I had to ask him in English. 30 rupees.
We got a prepaid cab, which turned out to be much less than what the Y was going to charge us. Their price was Rs. 2700 and the prepaid cab was Rs. 500. The only problem was that we didn't have the correct address for the Y, so we spent the next 2-1/2 hrs. driving around Mumbai looking for the Y. We went to 2 YMCAs and then finally found our YWCA. We got there around 3:15 a.m., which wasn't that bad New York time, but we hadn't slept the night before, so we were pretty tired.
Reflection: Getting there
The time difference between New York and New Delhi is 10 ½ hrs., and that can be a little disorienting, but by managing your fatigue and your rest, you can minimize its impact.
Whenever I tell people I'm going to India, almost the first thing they say, with a pained expression on their face, is, “How long will it take you? It's a really long flight, right?” Yes, it's a really long flight, whether you go the easterly route or the westerly route. But that can work in your favor. The problem with short flights is that there's a lot going on: the beverage service, the meal service if you're lucky, then duty-free, then another meal service. On longer flights, there's a longer period of uninterrupted time and if things work out, you can get a good amount of rest. For me, I prefer to sit on the aisle. That way I don't have to disturb my seatmate when I have to go to the bathroom. It also gives me a little more room for my elbow on the aisle side. And I don't mind taking a little something to help me sleep, so I get myself comfortable, down my pill and settle in for a long nap. It's not real good sleep, but it does the trick. The last time I went to India I slept for 6 hrs. and when I went to S. Africa, I slept for 8 hrs.
No matter how much sleep I get on the plane, though, I'm still pretty tired when I get there, and that a good thing, as well. We got to Mumbai in the middle of the night and didn't get to bed until the wee hours of the morning, but I was able to go to sleep and yet wake up at a decent time in the morning. And voila! No jet lag. The fatigue that comes with traveling allowed me to be tired enough to sleep and the sleep that I had gotten on the plane allowed me to be rested enough to wake up in the morning.
On the way back, it works the same way, although going east is more difficult than going west. I think I was drinking a lot of coffee when I got back to keep me up past 3 in the afternoon. It took about a week to get back to normal, but the impact of the jet lag was definitely minimized by managing fatigue and rest.
Reflection: Language
There are 22 official languages in India, but there are really hundreds more actually spoken, when regional variations and dialects are taken into account. English is the lingua franca, left over from colonial times, and Hindi in the North and Tamil in the South perform the same function. Hindi is not a language that is spoken widely outside of India, so Indian people are pleasantly surprised when a westerner speaks the language. I’ve picked up some of it by watching Bollywood movies, and it’s always fun to try it out when I’m in India. It’s a great goodwill gesture, as well, because Indian people are so pleased that a foreigner is making the effort to learn their language.
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