The students, my Mom and the other 2 professors departed last night around midnight for Delhi, after a whirlwind of plan changes and phone calls. Most will be flying back to the States this evening. It is hard to believe that five weeks have gone by and the program is already over!! While it is nice to have time to think of something other than 14 undergraduates, I have to say I miss them already.
Yesterday morning I got a call saying that Srita, Sunny's friend who works for Kingfisher Airlines at Bhuntar Airport had called because she was worried about the group's flight to Delhi the next day. The one or two flights a day had been cancelled for the past three days due to bad weather and she suspected the same would happen to ours. Because it takes nearly 15 hours to drive to Delhi, we would have to know immediately to make other arrangements for the students not to miss their international connection back to the States.
After hours of Mili, Sunny, and I all sitting on the phone or trying to sort out things on the computer and figure out our options, we decided that we couldn't chance it with the flight - there was just way to good a chance that it would be cancelled and the group would miss their flight home. Sunny worked his magic, yet again, and somehow managed to book four very nice taxis to drive overnight and take the group as far as Chandigarh, and then another set of taxis to take them the rest of the way to Delhi. In order for them to make it by early this evening, they had to leave at midnight.
You have to take this within the context of India, in which nothing ever goes as planned and things are rarely what you have asked for. But to my amazement, 4 toyota taxis rolled up promptly at midnight, the students were all fully packed and ready to go, and the drivers spoke English and were very organized and had apparently slept during the afternoon, so were ready for the drive. Within 30 minutes, we had all 17 people and their 35 suitcases packed and loaded into the car. The drivers had even thought to bring tarps and rope to cover the bags, knowing that it was likely to rain.
We had one final moment as we stood together in a circle and announced to Sunny that everyone had chipped in to buy him a roundtrip ticket on a deluxe A/C bus back home to Dharamsala. We took one last group picture with Sharvan, our favorite staff member, Sunny, Kundan (Sunny's best friend and our resident comedian), Himani and Anne (my friends who are helping with the TB work) and all the students and faculty. As the students streamed from the circle to their respective cars, each hugged me as they passed and 2 or 3 of the girls even started to cry. The five of us who were left stood by the gate to the hotel and waved as each car drove out of the compound and disappeared down the street into the darkness. I worried that the last car was taking too long to follow the others and walked over to see what was taking so long. When I looked in the window of the car I saw that the driver was praying before he departed on this somewhat dangerous journey. The drive to Delhi is long, and the first leg in particular is quite dangerous as you wind your way along the mountain ranges of the Himalayas on tiny roads that run along the edge of the cliffs. Before they left, I asked each driver to take care of my students... please don't let anything happen to them, was all I could think.
Fortunately my Mom called this morning that they had made it safely to Chandigarh and had stopped to have tea at Mili's parent's home (one of the professors who is from Chandigarh). I am awaiting news that they have safely reached Delhi, but I was very happy to hear that they had made it that far safely.
Himani, Anne and I spent the rest of the morning discussing the logistics for us living here in the hotel for the next two months. While we had originally planned on all three of us staying in one room, we decided that it might be better to go for the two rooms (at only $200 more for two months). We went to Sunny's apartment for brunch and enjoyed some delicious potato sandwiches (sounds strange, I know, but they are actually extremely tasty). Then returned to the hotel to start the fun task of trying to clean my room, which truly looked as if a tornado had passed through.
Now here I am, trying to catch up on my blogging and anxiously awaiting for it to be late enough in the morning for me to call to the States... darn time difference is really very annoying!
Yesterday morning I got a call saying that Srita, Sunny's friend who works for Kingfisher Airlines at Bhuntar Airport had called because she was worried about the group's flight to Delhi the next day. The one or two flights a day had been cancelled for the past three days due to bad weather and she suspected the same would happen to ours. Because it takes nearly 15 hours to drive to Delhi, we would have to know immediately to make other arrangements for the students not to miss their international connection back to the States.
After hours of Mili, Sunny, and I all sitting on the phone or trying to sort out things on the computer and figure out our options, we decided that we couldn't chance it with the flight - there was just way to good a chance that it would be cancelled and the group would miss their flight home. Sunny worked his magic, yet again, and somehow managed to book four very nice taxis to drive overnight and take the group as far as Chandigarh, and then another set of taxis to take them the rest of the way to Delhi. In order for them to make it by early this evening, they had to leave at midnight.
You have to take this within the context of India, in which nothing ever goes as planned and things are rarely what you have asked for. But to my amazement, 4 toyota taxis rolled up promptly at midnight, the students were all fully packed and ready to go, and the drivers spoke English and were very organized and had apparently slept during the afternoon, so were ready for the drive. Within 30 minutes, we had all 17 people and their 35 suitcases packed and loaded into the car. The drivers had even thought to bring tarps and rope to cover the bags, knowing that it was likely to rain.
We had one final moment as we stood together in a circle and announced to Sunny that everyone had chipped in to buy him a roundtrip ticket on a deluxe A/C bus back home to Dharamsala. We took one last group picture with Sharvan, our favorite staff member, Sunny, Kundan (Sunny's best friend and our resident comedian), Himani and Anne (my friends who are helping with the TB work) and all the students and faculty. As the students streamed from the circle to their respective cars, each hugged me as they passed and 2 or 3 of the girls even started to cry. The five of us who were left stood by the gate to the hotel and waved as each car drove out of the compound and disappeared down the street into the darkness. I worried that the last car was taking too long to follow the others and walked over to see what was taking so long. When I looked in the window of the car I saw that the driver was praying before he departed on this somewhat dangerous journey. The drive to Delhi is long, and the first leg in particular is quite dangerous as you wind your way along the mountain ranges of the Himalayas on tiny roads that run along the edge of the cliffs. Before they left, I asked each driver to take care of my students... please don't let anything happen to them, was all I could think.
Fortunately my Mom called this morning that they had made it safely to Chandigarh and had stopped to have tea at Mili's parent's home (one of the professors who is from Chandigarh). I am awaiting news that they have safely reached Delhi, but I was very happy to hear that they had made it that far safely.
Himani, Anne and I spent the rest of the morning discussing the logistics for us living here in the hotel for the next two months. While we had originally planned on all three of us staying in one room, we decided that it might be better to go for the two rooms (at only $200 more for two months). We went to Sunny's apartment for brunch and enjoyed some delicious potato sandwiches (sounds strange, I know, but they are actually extremely tasty). Then returned to the hotel to start the fun task of trying to clean my room, which truly looked as if a tornado had passed through.
Now here I am, trying to catch up on my blogging and anxiously awaiting for it to be late enough in the morning for me to call to the States... darn time difference is really very annoying!
No comments:
Post a Comment