LOOKING FOR A SIGN... FEBRUARY 17, 2012

"Okay, Elias, how are we supposed to know where we are going when we arrive?" "Just  look for a sign - on that reads ROTARY DREAM TEAM -INDIA 2012." After deplaning, all of us having grabbed our carry-on items, proceeded to the concourse and began the rather long walk through brightly carpeted corridors, beautifully maintained with displays of plantings throughout and on to the escalators, which brought us down to the level of the Customs and Immigration bureau and bandage claim and for some, and even more important, the duty free shops!  Once having descended to tha level, we queued up to be processed through and then proceeded on to retrieve our bags.  Even if our bags had been tagged as PRIORITY, it basically meant nothing, and we had to wait just like everyone else.  However, the process took much less time than in many American airports. This place is really efficient, and for this, we are most appreciative.  Truly, to be processed through immigration within less than five minutes seems rather astounding! From baggage claim we worked our way out through to the general reception area where we were faced with literally dozens of people waving signs in the air with names of their special friends of relatives, or merely a taxi fare, to wisk them off into the night, which is India! And just as I had predicted, outside and to the left of the teeming multitudes, was my friend and member of the staff of HiPoints, Bani. his face lit up when he saw me, and he gave me a welcoming embrace. I told him I felt I had arrived home again,  and was so pleased to be here. I told him we would more easily find the team members, because each of us was wearing the team shirt - a wonderful shade of purple, which although Gene Hernandez found fault with the color and said he would have a problem wearing that color, it helped to pick out the team members and soon we were all assembled and ready to move on to the next leg of our journey - the bus rise to our hotel. And, oh what a journey that was! Even at the late hour of the night, the choked lanes of traffic we just as I had remembered them, nearly impossible to navigate. What would normally be expected to take a half-hour, took nearly two and a half hours. The cacophonous deluge of sounds, mixed with smells, put several of us on sensory overload.  Finally, upon arrival at the Ramada Hotel in Gurgaon, we stepped down from the bus and into the lobby where the night manager and his staff were prepared to carry our bags to our rooms so we could settle down for a short sleep, but one that was so welcome after the tedium of a fourteen hour flight with a surly crew. Bank explained that not all of the team members had arrived and that some of them would be coming on shortly.  Several of us remained downstairs in the lobby lounge, to enjoy a quick beer or some wine, awaiting the arrival of prospective roommates from either France or Australia. I enjoyed the company of Sergio and Norma Iglesias, the district governor nominee and his wife from Vera Cruz, Mexico. We found that we had a great deal in common and acknowledged reality of the Magic of Rotary. About a half-hour later, first the French contingent arrived, with Diddier Fosse, my dear friend and team member for four or five years, and a young lady named Elodie, who had accompanied him for this experience. Shortly thereafter, the four team members from Australia arrived - Pete Dalwood, Rossi Beddow, Leonie and Lee Ann. Rossi was to share my room with me that first night, and since his mother Carole Beddow and his sister, Fabian, had traveled with me in previous years, we had a great deal to discuss, especially the birth of Fabia's little boy. Finally, with lights out and talk winding down, we fell to sleep. Up early in the morning, and back into two different buses to be driven on to the village of Chahalka, where we would tour the projects of previous teams.