Salaam Bombay

WHEW!

Just got in from a 20 hour flight. I am sitting comfortably in a lovely Bombay flat overlooking the Arabian Sea. Our relatives here greeted me at the airport and I came to their home to be greeted by a buffet of my favorite Indian sweets (called "mishti"). I'm so glad to be back at a reasonable altitude. My trip went really without a hitch, though I forgot to bring my typhoid pills (doh!) and my Mom reminded me like 8 times that they were in the fridge (double doh!).

The only other minor annoyance was the 3-year-old kid who insisted on kicking me in the shoulder/head the entire way from Amsterdam to Bombay. Poor thing was just trying to get some sleep and kept stretching out his stumpy little legs on to my person the whole flight. I didn't have the heart to say or do anything...anything. Literally, I would just pretend like it didn't happen, much as a performer might ignore a heckler. The show must go on.

Amsterdam was really cool. It was only the airport, granted, but it gave me a taste of what continental Europe is like: fashionable, technologically-advanced, and way into public transportation. I've been to London, but there's something about Europeans who speak little English but 5 other languages that is so appealing. I also felt right at home--almost among my brethren since it was Holland. I grew up in Grand Rapids, Michigan (affectionately termed "Van Rapids" for the plethora of Dutch there), and I felt a longing for home as I passed the dozens of tulip shops and store clerks with impossible-to-pronounce name tags, like Jongekrijg, Vanhuisenboersehooksema, etc.

Anyway, I've got a full agenda the next week or so as I traverse India to spend time with relatives. I may not have time to post. Aww, who am I kidding. I'll probably update y'all every 8 hours.

Until then, Namaste (as they say here in In-Jia).

TKP