By Bubba Sugarman
We roused ourselves and finished our last bits of packing excitedly anticipating our day ahead. With some bittersweet goodbyes to those we would be leaving behind, we loaded into two white vans and embarked on our twenty two hour travel day to Delhi. We crowded into our first plane, a small regional jet, and set off for Newark New Jersey. During our four hour layover in Newark, we staked out a corner of the terminal and brandishing our half charged laptops finished our research applications, papers, and other various assignments. We had our last American meal at the airport’s selection of restaurants and boarded the plane to India. Finding our seatmates, we settled in for a thirteen-hour flight.
We arrived in Delhi to find a massive, clean, international terminal. We regrouped, had a bathroom stop, and collectively marveled over the different styles of toilets we found. We breezed through customs and collected our bags as we listened to Indian music interrupted by English and Hindi announcements crackling through the speakers above. The sun had recently set, and the air was humid and cool. We stepped out of the terminal and were met with a scene of honking traffic obscured by the night and a heavy veil of air pollution.
We boarded a bus and made our way from the airport to our hotel, The Colonels Retreat, located in the Defence Colony. Our heads nodded as we drifted in and out of sleep. We caught glimpses of rickshaws and motorcycles as they raced by, hurdling through narrow gaps in the heavy honking traffic. We passed cows, feasting on pieces of garbage accompanied by street dogs lounging around. Bright lights and small fires lit up the streets of the neighborhoods and illuminated the storefronts. We fell into our beds and welcomed our first night’s sleep in India.