Dharma, Karma ... Damn

Once upon a time there was a Gold Coast Goddess whose heart was captured by a Peaceful Warrior and she fled to India. Like Tripitaka on the road to enlightenment, she followed her brave monkey to the foreign land, her will fuelled by incense, tadasana and the search for extra hot flat white soy (no froth). The idealistic and mystic expectations of the East incinerated by the summer heat, relentless natives and perpetual dust, she found her solace in yoga, Skype and WhatsApp, keeping her sanity intact despite the lack of female sanitary products, raw food and kitchen apparati.

After many long months, escape from India was near, but the gods of postage transpired to prevent a graceful exit, by losing, keeping or withholding crucial Australian yoga wear packages.  Being Yoga, Bonds, and Rockwear are now on some terrorist watch list.  She didn’t exhale until the plane was out of Indian airspace and the DHL demons could be discarded.

The sub continent relegated to somewhere west, all was calm in Cambodia, until the iPhone thieves struck and life was thrown into chaos.  Like having one’s life support severed, the loss was devastating; not just the actual phone and personal violation, but the information, access and flow over effects of digital identity and security.  Rescued by the Boy’s old iPhone 4S – the horror of it – our heroine picked herself up and re-established her equilibrium ... well almost.

The time for heading west arrived, and in the absence of a returning visa, the goddess and the warrior were to part at Mumbai airport.  The check in at Ho Chi Minh Airport was confused and protracted.  The plight of the pilot who also was having problems checking in was of no comfort.  Ho Chi Minh to Bangkok, Bangkok to Mumbai and goodbye as they were pushed in opposite directions by terminal staff.  Welcome to India!

With no boarding pass to her final destination of Kathmandu, the goddess sat in the transit hall at the mercy of a dozen counter staff, who declared there were no seats on the plane – despite her luggage having been checked through.  Water was leaking through the roof of the new international airport.  It had showered her as she walked to the counter.  Attendants scurried with buckets and vacuum cleaners, while a stream could be heard rushing down the adjacent lift well, making it more of a well.  

In the middle of the night, in a multi story building, back in India of all places, she feared she’d become just another unidentified foreigner killed in the collapse of the poorly constructed terminal.

After an arbitrary period of time, purely at the whim of the counter staff, the missing boarding pass was produced with a flourish, in front of other unhappy travellers.  Obviously in a performance to demonstrate how fabulous Indian systems are – not!  The final escape beckoned and not even a 6 hour wait for a delayed flight was going to stop her.

Able to breathe again, she watched as the sun glanced off the Himalayas and Nepal greeted the morning.  But India had one last treat.  JetAirways had whimsically decided to offload her luggage, checked through from Ho Chi Minh City to Kathmandu, at Mumbai.  This meant the luggage would be on some undisclosed future flight.  Of course none of this was clear in the Kathmandu luggage belt crush, where on that same day every arriving flight was using just two of four belts, and as luggage failed to appear, anxious people continued to wait.  The log jam of people, unfortunately not luggage, was unable to be negotiated.  The line for the Lost Baggage counter was more like a snake with competing heads.

In tears, she gave up after five hours with no answers and little hope.  For the next two days, the newspapers reported and JetAirways confirmed ‘The Worst Day for Kathmandu Airport’.  One tonne of luggage on her flight alone had been left on the tarmac in Mumbai.  One the third day she was advised to return to the airport and her luggage would be there.  With trepidation and no security checks, she walked straight in the exit, located both her bags and walked out without question!  The tags indicated the luggage now had more passport stamps than she did.

Somewhat settled and booking a ticket home to Australia, the goddess perused the alternatives.  Kathmandu Mumbai Singapore Brisbane was the cheapest; JetAirways and India.  No thanks.  Silk Airways looks good.

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