ON THE ROAD TO INDIA 1987

The flight from Bangkok to New Delhi was uneventful except for the prudish English couple that I had the unfortunate pleasure to be sitting next to.  

I could be wrong in my impressions, but when I went to sit down, the man was sitting in the aisle seat with his wife sitting in the center.  I had requested a window seat.  After I was seated he had his woman exchange seats with him saying to me that it would be more comfortable that way. I had no reaction except to think who gives a shit and fuck you very much. I promptly went to sleep. 1 didn't speak to the couple of yo-yos through the rest of the trip.  As I said before I could have been wrong in my impressions and misinterpreted the entire matter. I have a tendency to create drama where there is none. I suppose I should have said something about it, but my impressions were comforting to me so that's the reality I created, right or wrong.

I must have slept quite hard because I wasn't given a disembarkation card by the stewardess, which is normal and routine. As the plane slowly dropped from the sky, I noticed we were landing into a fog-like substance.  The Delhi Airport was very small.  It was sitting in a mist, very dreamy looking.  We deplaned and headed to customs.  I was about the third person in line when I suddenly realized I had no disembarkation card.  So I had to leave the line and go to the rear and fi11 out one.  It was no big deal, but the other passengers thought something was wrong. Customs can be a very nasty place to go through in terms of being questioned by the officials, but I normally have no problems regardless of the places to which I have traveled.

I finished filling out the form and proceeded through the exit where I had my bags sent through X-rays for further checks.  As I walked into the public area, I was met by my guide who came up to me and said, "Are you Mr. Aubrey Weldon?" I said, yes.  He said, "I am Jacinta, and I will be your guide".  We walked out into the mist, which by the way was fog but it smelled like an electrical burning wires.  The guide was about 5 feel 8 inches, wore a coat and tie on and spoke good English.  He also wore glasses and had a mustache.  He was a graduate in accounting and had recently joined Zutichi Travel as a guide.  A private car was waiting. The driver was asleep under a blanket in the back seat. It was 2:00 a.m. Delhi time.

The guide told me that because of the delay, all my air flights in India had been cancelled and I would be traveling by private car to Agra and Jaipur.  I would be in Delhi for two nights then to Agra for one night and then to Jaipur for two nights.  Then I would return to Delhi for the trip back to Singapore.  I doubted the last part because of Singapore Airline. I lost a lot of confidence in that airline though they did every thing possible to make my trip work.

We arrived at the Taj……