This Day in History

365 days ago (or was it 364?) today, I left for India. I can still vividly remember the ride to the airport, the check-in person almost not letting me on my flight because my return flight date was after my visa expiry date, the feeling of “didn’t I just go through this 6 months earlier?,” the unagi (grilled eel) for lunch on my flight, the agonizing 8 hours in the not-yet-improved Taipei airport (of which 1 consisted of a less than delicious “free” meal), the pleasant feeling of being given a free International Herald-Tribune before boarding the plane (only to realize that reading it was going to be difficult due to my inability to keep my eyes open), the anticipation of arriving in Delhi, the smell of the baggage retrieval area, the “what the hell do I do now?” moment of genius, the 38 degree suffocating heat at 3 AM, and, yes, the disaster affectionately called “The Delhi Debacle” that consumed the next 12 hours of my life…but that’s another story.