India Chronicals Part 2

India Chronicals Part 2
We left Albuquerque on Jan.13, flying to Newark, NJ, then on to a non-stop flight to Delhi.
First mistake: We did not weigh the suitcases after the final stuffing. Thus, when we checked them in Albu. one was 12 lbs overweight, which would have cost $125. While JP worked with the Delta folks, trying to get our bags booked all the way to India, I frantically took everything heavy out of JP's suitcase and stuffed it into my carryon.
Second mistake: One of the things I put into my carryon was a very heavy manilla envelope, without looking to see what was in it. JP's part of this mistake was to use a manilla envelope rather than a clear plastic zip lock bag.
When we went through security, I found out what was in the envelope. It contained 6 Swiss Army knives and a box cutter, which were to be presents for JP's family. Luckily, I do not appear to be a terrorist, and they bought my story.
Mistake 3: We did not arrive early enough at the airport to allow for screw ups, so did not have time to go back down and check in my carryon bag. So, the knives were confiscated.

The flight from Newark, NJ to Delhi was non-stop: 14 hours in a cramped seat. It was delayed 2 hours because someone had checked their suitcases but failed to board the plane. Very scary. So all bagage was removed, the missing person's bags found, and all other bags repacked.
We arrived at the new airport in Delhi at 11:30 PM. I love walking out of the airport into the Indian night. The smell of the tropics is an intoxicating assault. As usual, JP's nephew, Shashi, the go-to guy, was their to greet us, along with a taxi. The fog was unbelievable. How the driver saw the road, I don't understand. JP was nervous, but I have learned to trust Indian drivers. The amount of traffic here at midnight is about the same as rush hour in Taos.
Upon arrival at Shyam Kasore's home (JP's brother) the family was awake and greeted us with chai and snacks. After about an hour, we finally went to bed.
After many trips here, I am used to the very hard beds and squat toilets. What I never get used to is being in an unheated house when the ambient temperature is 45 degrees. The family takes pity on us and puts a rarely used electric heated in our bedroom.
This morning we had to bathe in the cold house. We do this by filling a five gallon bucket with hot water and have at it. The reason we have hot water in this bathroom is that 4 years ago JP bought a small water heater as a gift for the family. I've gotten very good at bathing in this manner and don't even use the full 5 gallons. I forgot that they do not use washclothes here so did not bring one. Rather, I have dedicated a pair of underpants for this use. The bathroom is attached to our bedroom, but is also accessable from the main part of the house and is used by many other family members . This means we have to lock the outside door when we want to use the bathroom, but not forget to unlock it after we are done.
I'll get the gross part over now and describe the toilet. It is basically a bowl in the floor with footpads on either side to show where you place your feet. I personally prefer this type of toilet as it is more natural for our bodies. They do not use toilet paper in India. Rather, there is always water available. They find it disgusting that we use paper on our bottoms. One of my proudest achievments is that I am very comfortable using their method. This took me 3 or 4 trips to India to accomplish this.
I am sending this from a cyber cafe in Gurgaon with no bathroom so enough for now.
Peace,
Nadine