Baby on Board- a plane!

Between 2 a.m. and 2:50 a.m., we gathered up our belongings, packed up our bags, and loaded them on the lift. We dressed a groggy Sweeti, not unlike a certain kindergartner at home who, like his sister before him, is dressed in bed by his parents.

The driver arrived promptly at 3 a.m. The manager of the hotel and the driver loaded our bags into the back of the taxi van. The driver again was Manju, who had thought he had been hired for the day on Thursday to wait for us at Ashraya but whom we had paid and dismissed. After that faux paux, we were embarrassed to see him again. Apparently he realized we were just dumb Americans and was very polite, pointing out Ashraya as we passed it in the darkness. The streets of Bangalore were very still, rarely a car would pass. What a contrast from the daytime when pedestrians, vehicles, bicycles and cattle are all trying to occupty the same narrow lanes. Sweeti sson fell asleep in daddy's lap.

We saw an ironic sign: "Practice lane discipline."

We arrived at the airport around 4 a.m. Manju said, "You have three hours free." We paid him and he loaded our bags on a trolly. We went to the door, guarded by men in military type uniforms, who asked for our passports and tickets. While one guard was very serious about proper documentation and tickets, the other was making aces at Sweeti.

When they let us in, we were very impressed by the modern airport. It was a fairly quiet time of day but the place was pretty clearly labeled and laid out in an understandable way. I asked workers from the ticket booths from a couple different airlines, where the Airjet booth was and they pointed to which lanes it would be and one guy said "10-15 minutes they will be here." When I went to the Jetair window, I saw that the booth would open at 5 a.m. That left us with some free time. I bought milk from a cafe for Sweeti, and Amy and I enjoyed donuts and Cappuccino.

A little after five, I purchased Sweeti's lap ticket to Delhi. It cost the equivalent of about $15. When I looked at the flight schedule and saw it was check-in time, we went to the booth and got our boarding passes and checked in. We went upstairs through security which went well. The female security guard who patted down Amy smiled at Sweeti.

We visited a book and gift shop and purchased some souvenirs which may or may not be gifts for certain children back home.

As we were boarding the plane, Amy observed a funny situation as an elderly British woman was put in a wheelchair pretty much against her will by all too willing to help Airjet and security personnel. Amy heard her protest, "I'm not an invalid" (while you're reading this picture a portly gray-haired upper class Brit with a stately accent.)

The take off was not easy on Sweeti, who whimpered and cried and cried and whimpered. It was not unlike when her older sister flew with Mommy to Oregon in November 2001. We suspected she also needed a change, which was not possible while the "Fasten Seat Belts" sign was on. Sweeti also refused to suck on a sucker we had brought for the occasion or chew on candy or drink from her sippy cup. After refusing the sippy several times, she drank from it and calmed down a bit. The refusal several times was not unlike her sister with the Norwegian name. The crying resumed for quite some time, and a Sikh gentleman across the aisle tried to be helpful by suggesting we change her. Well, we knew that! We were just captive by the "Fasten Seat Belts" sign as we kept ascending and ascending. A helpful flight attendant finally got permission from the pilot to escort Amy and Sweeti to the laboratory and then she let them sit in the empty seats in the back of them plane where they could be less conspicuous. The other passengers were understanding for the most part, except the same British woman who cast a judgmental glance.

Breakfast arrived. The vegetarian looked very good, an Indian dish with chick peas, but the flight attendant warned Amy it was very spicy, so we both had the non-vegetarian. At this point I was still in my original seat. I was sitting next to a worker from Singapore Air and we talked extensively about U.S. politics. Since the only U.S. news he receives is from CNN, I filled him in other stories that didn't get much press from the left leaning media. Examples: the Clinton administration's putting erecting a wall of separation not allowing intelligence sharing between the CIA and FBI, which prevented proper intelligence leading to the 911 attacks, that Hentry Paulson- the fed chairman who masterminded the 700 billion dollar bail-out was a liberal Democrat, how congressional policies had forced lenders to make high risked loans that produced the housing meltdown in the U.S. that precipitated the global recession. This led to comment, "So it wasn't lack of regulation, but too much regulation." Exactly.

I joined Sweeti and Amy in the back after having talked the guy's ear off. It was Sunday, after all, and I needed to preach to someone. Another adoptive parent, a woman from Bangalore, came back to bring her child, around Sweeti's age, to the restroom. We talked for a bit. She has a support group and website for adoptive parents in the Bangalore area. She spoked highly of Ashraya, and attributed the long waits to its thoroughness and its being such a fine institution that truly cares and wants the best for the children. She had adopted an infant through another organization and it had taken her only 2 months!

Soon the short light was drawing to a close. The landing was also hard for Sweeti. The flight attendants tried to help make her more comfortable, from giving us a sugar packed for us to put some in her mouth to suck on while landing, to putting a hot bottle of water by her neck and ear. All this did not help. Instead she cried herself to sleep.

We exited the plane and took a bus to the baggage claim. This time the British woman seemed to get a laugh out of men wheeling her to the bus and lifting her in as she sat in the wheelchair. As she said, "You couldn't get this kind of service back home."

All our bags arrived safely and so we exited to a place where hundreds of people held signs with names of their passengers. One sign said, "Singh is King," a popular song by Kismat Connection. Amy spotted a man with a "Mrs. Amy Stafford" sign. Thank God! Amy had arranged for him to come from the bed and breakfast we will be staying at. We made our way around and met up with him. He pushed our bags to his vehicle. Several beggars asked for money and others looked for a quick ruppee by offering to push our bags. We had already hired somebody to do that!

We got in the car, and soon noticed that Delhi drivers do "Practice Lane Discipline." They also have more stoplights and people drive more courteously than Bangalore, relatively speaking. What we saw of the city on the way to the B & B was much cleaner than Bangalore. It was about 10 degrees cooler up here as well. There are many more street people and beggars. Not only are there auto rickshaws but bicycle ones as well. There are even horse drawn ones! As we pulled in to our destination, there was a market set up going on in the streets just outside the gate.

We were brought up the stairs and showed to our room without hardly a word said. We could have used some explanation, such as how to access the wi-fi internet, how to order food, how to arrange transportation etc. Fortunately the manager arrived a bit later and explained some of this to me. We have a car arranged for the day tomorrow to take us to the US Counselate tomorrow and to a US embassy approved doctor to examine Sweeti.

We ordered snacks (lunch) to be delivered to our room-- grilled cheese sandwiches, fries, and Coke. The comforts of home!

Throughout the day, Sweeti alternated between crying, sleeping, and drinking milk. She hasn't wanted to eat much else and must be drawing comfort from the milk. What a tough day for her flying, and how difficult in general on her to have her travel with two people whom she just met several hundreds of miles to an unfamiliar place. TV did help settle her down. We watched an Indian version of Candid Camera that was much funnier than the American version. A man in a shoe store offered women's shoes to men and vice and versa. Another man was fishing in a municipal swimming pool and even handed off the pole to a kid.

For most of the day, people were playing Cricket at a nice field across the road. An Australian woman who was checking out while we checked in said that they had started quite early.

We all napped in the mid-to late afternoon, and when Sweeti woke up she was more curious and wanting to play. But she has gone asleep again. Oh, she has woken again woken up and crawled into Amy's lap. We will be having dinner at 8 p.m. in the dining room here. Hopefully Sweeti will partake with us, as we ordered some Indian food that will be familiar to her.