Blog-in-Progress (BIP): Incredible India!

Featured Photo: “Indian Currency…Ready for Travel”  Mumbai, India—2011

The possibility of traveling to India in 2011 emerged unexpectedly, and panic set in immediately. Although I had lobbied my Indian work colleagues for such a trip during the prior several months, I was ill-prepared when they informed me that my desired meeting with the Indian Pharmacopoeia had indeed been arranged. I was scheduled to speak just three weeks hence. So much to do, so little time!

First on my to-do list was to seek management approval for the travel; I’d previously spoken only hypothetically about the tremendous value in such a face-to-face discussion. Somewhat surprisingly, my bosses up the chain of command also recognized the potential benefit and gave their blessing, insofar as managers can—given such a costly trip—as they were dipping into funds that were not yet allocated from their annual travel budget.

The next task was to make sure my passport was up to date: check. But a major complication arose: I needed to obtain a visa from the Indian government to enter the country. Speaking with my company’s approved passport and visa facilitator, I was told the only way to get my travel documentation in time was to apply in person, which meant a trip to either Washington, D.C. or New York City. I chose to visit the New York office of the Consulate General of India on 64th Street, just east of Central Park, because it was closer to home. It took the better part of a workday, as the office was only open Monday through Friday.

I can’t recall if I drove there, but since I loathe driving in Manhattan, I suspect I took a train instead, jumping on a subway once I arrived in the city. Seated at a small desk in the Consulate’s office, I went through the application process rather quickly, then handed over my passport so the visa could be attached. It would be returned to me by mail, and I hoped there would be no delays.

As I stood to leave, I noticed the tourism posters on the wall exclaiming “Incredible !ndia”…

…and smiled, anticipating my upcoming, exotic trip. Once there, I would indeed experience many of the wonderful, amazing facets of India: the history, the sights, the people. But “incredible” can be taken two ways: the Latin root translates to “not believable,” and I witnessed some of the unbelievable, darker sides of India as well.

Before returning from my New York jaunt, I ate a quick lunch—I want to believe it was Indian food, but I’m not certain—then made my way back to work, where I started pulling the slides together for my business meeting.

I also continued making travel plans. I booked my flights, while my co-workers in India graciously handled the hotel and transportation once I arrived in their country. And even though this was a working trip, I also wanted to visit as many sights as I could while there…definitely the Tal Mahal, but I wasn’t even sure exactly where it was located. So, I bought several travel books about India to help plan my itinerary.

Within a few days after my visa application, I received my passport back in the mail, now bedecked with the necessary travel permit.

The last detail was to obtain local currency for my trip: colorful rupee notes embellished with the dignified countenance of Mahatma Gandhi, who led the nonviolent resistance that resulted in India’s independence from British rule, and inspired movements for freedom and civil rights across the world.

In my early travel days—before I’d taken enough international trips to understand it was better to withdraw cash from an ATM upon arrival at my destination—I would visit the currency exchange desk at my departing airport prior to flying. And that’s what I did in 2011. I’m not sure how much money I exchanged to cover my trip to India, but I recall it seemed like I was carrying a lot of cash. It was certainly a good bit more than shown in today’s Featured Photo (taken once I arrived at my hotel in Mumbai).

At that time, one Indian rupee was worth just two US cents. So, the total amount pictured in the photo—1,250 Rupees—amounted to just $25. The exchange rate would be hard to keep in mind during my trip. But of course, $25 in India was worth far more than in the US. And with all my travel plans in place, I was ready for my first trip to Incredible India.

(To be continued…eventually)

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BIP – A Quick Word of Explanation:

This is the first of—what I expect to be—a recurring set of posts titled Blog-in-Progress, or BIP for short. After a year-and-a-half of blogging, I now realize what I want to do and also what I can do, or more precisely, what I can’t do.

When I first started my blogging journey, I wanted to write posts delving into the details of my travel stories, enabling me to share the pictures that go along with the narrative. This is still my goal, but experience has shown me this invariably leads to a series of posts for each trip.

What I seem unable to do is prepare the multiple posts to meet my stated goal of posting each and every week. So, I’m abandoning my target of weekly posts. Going forward, I will focus on writing all the travel posts before I begin publishing them, once I have finished the collective story.

These BIP posts, then, are intended to give a preview of what I’m working on—to generate interest—while managing expectations before the first post in the series is published.

With this explanation, I invite you to sit back and relax while I write the story of my first trip to India, behind the scenes. I expect it might take me several weeks, possibly a couple of months.

I apologize for the delay and hope you will check back periodically. Or you can “Subscribe” to my blog, and you’ll receive an email notifying you when the next post is available. And thanks again for reading!