“Welcome to Chandighar”

In Chandigar, we stepped off the train into the deafening roar of barn swallows. The thousands of tiny birds who had taken up residence in the rafters above the train platform did not appreciate being so rudely disturbed by our train’s arrival and they had no qualms about expressing their discontent. As we walked down the platform, unable to hear one another, Becky and I scanned the crowd for signs or instructions. We started walking down the station and I noticed two well dressed, official looking men standing about 5’3” with their backs to us and signs displayed towards other disembarking passengers. Remembering our experience at Delhi international, I thought better than to ignore them and made my way around for a better look. Sure enough, our names verbatim from our passports, were displayed prominently on an 8.5X11 sheet of paper taped to a slightly larger piece of white cardboard. “Hello” I said, pointing to the sign. “Mr Bowman?” one of the Indian men asked. I smiled and said, “no, Mr. Powel. Nice to meet you.” “Welcome to Chandighar” he said.
They took our rollaway bags, turned and began walking south at a quick pace. Becky and I walked briskly to keep up, meandering our way through the crowded train platform. We hopped in our car and were whisked off to the guest house. Another “typical” driving experience in India, our driver laid on the horn more often than he let off it. When we arrived we were greeted by a staff of 3 who hurried to cook us dinner of Chicken, vegetables and rice which is becoming somewhat of a staple in my diet. At dinner, we were joined by a young thirtysomething named Sandeep who was also staying at the same guest house. Our bedrooms were part of a government audit building and Sandeep was staying there for a three month training. Again, since we were in town for a family event, Becky’s new in-laws took care of arranging the accommodations. The rooms were far from 5 star and Becky discovered a large bug on her pillow shortly before bed but at a rate of 100 rupees a night (about 2 dollars US) I figured you get what you pay for.