The Journey: Sarnia to Narasaraopet

Once again, I have reached the conclusion that a life without the Internet is, indeed, not worth living. I guess I should be grateful that it only took a week and a $200 bribe to get it set up. 

I mean Rupees instead of $, though. So, basically, five bucks.

The journey over here was exactly what you would expect it to be like for two adults travelling with four young children for 35 hours. Raja was the only one who didn't cry at all. That I know of. We drove to Toronto and parked our vans then took a shuttle to the airport and unloaded our mother lode of luggage onto the curb, at which point Raja realized he'd forgotten some back in the van we call "Black Mamba". So, quick as a flash, he was back in the shuttle and I was standing there with the kids and luggage, wondering what I should do. It was chilly and we weren't wearing coats. Then Maya told me she had to go to the bathroom. I had no choice but to tell her to drop trow, then lift her up onto a huge planter to use as a toilet. A fresh kleenex in my pocket was used as tp/dirt removal. Crisis averted and another memory made for her to cherish. I was carrying Vera in a snuggli and managed to only crush her a little as I hefted our suitcases onto a couple of carts and then pushed them one by one into the airport, all the while trying to keep the three mobile children from playing their favourite game: running around and screaming.

 I had some cross words for Raja upon his return but forgave him a week later when he bought me the Internet.

Our airline screwed up our seats so that instead of having a row at the bulkhead so we could all sit together and use a bassinet for Vera, they had us with two seats here, two there and one all on its own. They said the flight was fully booked and there was nothing they could do. So as I crammed into my row beside Maya and with Vera on my lap, I started crying like a wee bairn because my 7 year old, Ammon, was heaven only knows where for the next 13 hours and Raja had Teja off somewhere too. My tears caught the attention of my neighbours who were absolute dears and went out of their way along with a flight attendant, to switch seats so that there were four of us in a row and one more just ahead of us. 

I spent the first part of the flight scared we'd crash and then the second half hoping we would. The kids took turns throwing tantrums until they all finally, and I mean finally, fell asleep in various positions of discomfort. I had to line up some pillows on the floor to get Teja asleep. Then I  spent many hours too tired to watch my little tv but unable to sleep, so I sat there casting scornful glances at my fellow passengers- many of whom were snoring. And just when the exhaustion became stronger than the crick in my neck and I was starting to doze, some other people's kids opened their cryholes and ruined everything! And the lady behind Raja had a coughing spell that lasted the rest of the flight. I'm going to have us all tested for TB when we get back. 

No, for real.

As we started our descent, having lived aboard that plane for the past 77 years, Maya threw up all over Raja and herself. And the fact that my cold was not entirely gone presented itself in the form of icepicks in my ears. And Vera was having a freak-out too. I was useless and crying uncontrollably because of  the pain in my ears. Then Teja started gagging because of the smell of Maya's puke. But she didn't throw, up thank goodness. That came later.

So we switched planes in Abu Dhabi. Conveniently, there was a wide variety of designer perfumes in the Duty Free for Raja and Maya to disguise their stench with. So that problem was solved too. That flight was only 3 hours long and a total breeze. Maya fell asleep before we even took off. Teja fell asleep just as we were landing- probably because she's the middle sister. My ears went bananas again but I had some sour gummy candies to take the edge off. Also, ibuprofen.

The drive from the airport to Raja's parents' house was the worst. The roads are so bad here. We requested a vehicle with seat belts which they were kind enough to oblige, but only in part- There was nothing to plug those suckers in to. "Bleepin' useless" was the phrase I used around that time. As the bumpy/swervey drive lasted on into the eternities and the sun rose high in the sky, Teja started to puke. Then Vera befouled her diaper and I got some on my jeans while changing her. We finally got here, a filthy, exhausted, stinking family of six.

So, that was just the beginning. And it is so very apparent to me how lucky we are that things went as well as they did. It could have been so much worse. 

Tune in for tomorrow's installment where I share the details of our stay for the past week.