June 23
Today was the first full day that we spent in India, mostly spent inside due to the fact that it was 44ºC, which is over 100º F. But back to the beginning.
Our fourteen hour flight to India was uneventful. We sat in row 20 J,K,L, which was towards the beginning of the economy class section, so the food was served quite quickly. The dinner was pasta with some sort of chicken covered in cheese, served with yogurt. Yogurt makes sense to serve if the entrée is Indian food, but with pasta? Bad choice, and unfortunately a waste of food. With dinner began my movie-watching marathon, which began with the movie Leap Year, a complete chick flick and clichéd movie. But with junior year having just ended, it was this exact mind-numbing movie that I needed to see. After Leap Year, I decided to complete the Bourne Identity, which I had started at a party. The violence and suspense became slightly overwhelming, and so I quickly exited that movie, and I decided to watch Legally Blonde. Possibly the most hilarious movie I have seen a long time, the stereotypes that Reese Witherspoon debunked were quite widely believed as being true. Still, a great movie with a moral that has been used in umpteen movies, “Hard work and determination lead to success.” After Legally Blonde came Cold Case, a CSI-esque show that attempted to solve cases that had never been closed due to a lack of evidence.
I then attempted to sleep. Attempted is the true word for my journey into the dream world. Four hours of tossing and turning resulted in an hour of sleep, after which the tossing and turning began again. With my laptop and textbook underneath the seat in front of me, taking up the oh-so-precious leg room in front of me. After giving up the fight with sleep, I opened up my AP US History textbook to take notes on the Revolutionary War. Reading three pages took the remaining energy that my sleepless body had; while putting the book away, the breakfast service came around. Why anyone would want to eat breakfast was beyond me, but realizing my hunger as the plate slid in front of me, I ate the pineapple and melon and croissant. While eating I watched my absolute favorite movie, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (which I had seen seven times before). Unfortunately, watching it for the 8th time on a sleepless journey was too much, and I resorted to playing FreeCell. Suprisingly, it was this game that I enjoyed out of all the movies I had watched. It was challenging (I only won three out of the ten games that I played), which made it quite addicting. To the surprise of my mother and brother, I became quite engrossed in the game, hunching over in my seat, muttering to myself in hopes of finding a move that would lead me to another move and another move that would instantly win the game for me. While playing the game, the plane suddenly landed. Choppy landing, but it was great to be back.
Walking off the plane, the heat and humidity immediately hit my face. The captain had said the temperature was about 111º F-temperatures that I hadn’t seen, since, well the last time I had visited India. Immigration was a breeze, but it was the baggage claim that took the longest time. This wasn’t the first time this had happened either. Every time we traveled anywhere, our bags would be the one of the last ones out. After recognizing and lifting all four bags from the baggage carousel, we headed out to the waiting area. My aunt and cousin hadn’t reached, so we sat and waited, my brother and I playing with a little girl that we had met on the flight. She was an adorable girl, with brown hair, wide brown eyes, and a doll that seemed equivalent to that special blanket all children had. I had outgrown the blanket stage; I now had a special jacket that (much to the chagrin of my mother) I had insisted on wearing on the plane. After ten minutes of waiting, we called my aunt and then headed outside, as she had said that she was just arriving. The heat was not too unbearable, but I suppose that was because it was the night. Tomorrow would be the real test. When my aunt and the taxi arrived, we found out that the trunk did not have enough space to hold all four bags. Therefore, three of the bags would be placed on the roof of the bag. Throughout the entire ride, I was conscious of every bump in the road, hoping that it wouldn’t dislodge the suitcases (one of which was mine). Even at 9:30, the roads in India were crowded. The journey took half an hour, during which I mostly kept my mouth shut, both feeling shy and taking on the surroundings.
It was my grandfather who opened the door when we reached home, with my cousin peeking out behind him. It was late, and we were all jetlagged, so we quickly changed into our pajamas and sat in one room, unpacking the suitcase that had all the gifts for my cousins. For my cousin brother, who was a mere six months older than me but never failed to mention it, we had bought some clothes; for my cousin sister (who was 10) we bought a fashion design book and mannequin that could be outfitted with various outfits. I zoned out towards the end of the conversation, reading Devlin’s Diary by Christi Phillips and heading towards the dream world.
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