Well I am sitting here in the business center of the Hotel Royal Plaza in Delhi, having eaten a hearty breakfast and re-packing two suitcases which I will leave behind for a few days, to be brought out to the dam site tents on the 20th.
Eight of us arrived after flying in from Newark. It was an interesting "experience" because our flight was delayed for over an hour due to "mechanical" difficulties. When I saw the captain and first mate leaving the boarding area, I decided to find out just what was going on. I learned that our plane had come into Newark that morning from Mumbai and was full of mosquitoes!!! Well it was necessary to spray for the little beasts and everything was thought to be alright. Not so! Wen our flight crew boarded the plane to prepare it, they discovered the spraying had been unsuccessful and the plane still was infested. They contact the exterminators who came and re-sprayed the plane. We had to wait for about an hour for the pesticide to work.
In the meanwhile, while we were waiting, all of us wearing our "safety green" work tee shirts, emblazoned with the Rotary emblem and our slogan, "ROTARIANS ARE DAM COMMITTED", the is little doubt than anyone could have missed us. Several folks came up to us to say that they were Rotarians and to find out what we were all doing on our way to India. There was one man who came to us, who had just given his classification talk at his Rotary Club that day. He was on his way to Idia for raising awareness of Autism and he was almost in tears to learn that we were all Americans but were going to India at our own expense to immunize Indian children against polio. His name was Vijay.
Then a woman spoke to me and her name is Sarah Sweetwater. She was so pleased to meet us and know what we were doing, not only as a Rotarian but also as a polio survivor herself. She plans to travel with us next year!
Finally, an Indian gentleman approached me and called me by name. He said he heard my voice and recognized me from my voice and that he had heard me speak at a district conference in North Carolina a few years ago, and because of my message, had decided to join a different group of Rotarians from his own district, coming to immunize children against polio.
Time to board, a I was upgraded to first class where I happily was able to sleep on an extended seat-bed for several hours. I was very grateful for the upgrade and didn't ask "why?" While in my seat, I actually was able to reach out and swipe and kill a couple of mosquitoes who had missed the toxins!
Upon our arrival, we all went through customs and immigration at Indira Ghandi airport and were met by Bani from HiPoints in the reception area. We were guided to our bus and traveled through the dark streets and arrived at our hotel. Others from our group arrived at different times and we would see them in the morning.
When I came down for breakfast, I met Linda Bertuzzi and Colleen Baird from Las Vegas. They had arrived shortly after we had, but had encountered a "new experience" - namely, Linda had lost her passport, wallet, credit cards, cash, etc. between the airport and the hotel. She is panicky to say the least, but I am confident that our United States Embassy will straighten out the entire situation and she will be joining us later on. Pete and Kim Miller are off for a few days on their own, and the members of our team from France, who are currently skiing in the northern part of India, will all meet us on the 20th at the damsite.
We are off now to Jodhpur by flight, and then to participate in the festivals ongoing there and then on to Jaisalmer.
So far, it has been a wonderful journey, with a few bumps in the road!
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