India trip - Part 4

After visiting Guruji's Ashram the next day, we did some more shopping in chd before rushing back to Delhi. The state of the freeway was .... horrible. This particular road (chd - Delhi) called the GT Road has been under construction since 1990 or earlier and it was as horrible as ever. Someone remarked that they (Indians) plan their road upgradation work keeping in mind current traffic needs and by the time they finish, the capacity is already exceeded and they start all over again. It rang so true - the whole 6-7 hour journey (which was promised to be 3-4 hours).

Anyways, the next day we were supposed to fly out to B'lore to meet my BIL. We reached the airport on time and despite some initial hiccups, we managed to check in. While waiting at a cafe in the airport, suddenly there was some commotion. Apparently, a middle aged lady was sitting and screaming her head off at anyone or everyone who came near her (or it appeared that way). A few minutes of patient callous listening to her screaming revealed that she had dozed off while sitting on a chair in the cafe and some crook took advantage and walked away with her camera. As soon as she realized it, she started yelling and screaming. I felt bad for her but couldn't stop wondering what she was hoping to accomplish with her high pitched ranting. She should have been careful in the first place and eventually the only people who could help her would be the security people... but...

About 50 mins before the departure, we decided to go to the boarding area as we were getting bored. To our surprise, as we walked up, we heard them announcing the final boarding call for our flight. Freaked the hell out of us. Apparently, in India they stop the boarding a good 45 mins before the departure (in Comparision, Southwest waits till about 5 mins before departure). Flight was uneventful and we made it to my BILs place after a long drive (on a MERU cab). Same issue with traffic in B'lore. Roads had been dug up for Metro work (although couldn't see anyone doing anything). So traffic was bad. It was good to meet BIL and his family. The air was much cleaner in B'lore. Over the next 2 1/2 days, went to a couple of malls (bad traffic again but inside mall it was good), watched Golmaal 3 at PVR and went to ISKON temple (nearly missed the movie since my BIL wasn't sure of the directions coming back ...). BIL's apartment complex was also quite impressive. Huge multi-story buildings, 24 hr electricity, lush green landscaping. Finally flew back to Delhi on the 29th.

The wedding ceremonies started from the 30th onwards. More coming up ...