Blonde? What blonde...???
Our stay in Calcutta, somewhat unexpectedly, extends
itself....
You would think that the bond between hairdresser
and client would extend to honest discussions on the subject of roots. However,
until that fateful day of November 8th, 2003, I had heard nary a peep from Amber
as to what, quite obviously, exists below my scalp-line - i.e. blonde bits! Now
this fact would probably surprise most casual observers (including myself...as
I'm sure there are no blondes in at least a couple of generations of my family)
but there can be no other explanation for missing our outgoing flights by 24
hours. I can't even blame the traffic...I mean it's congested....but not that
congested!
We discovered this rather horrific state of affairs as we were packing on that Saturday afternoon and I thought I should check the exact time of the flights - not even thinking that I needed to check the date. It's pretty hard to describe the process of heavy blinking...looking away...looking back...more heavy blinking....and then the feeling of your stomach zipping past your knees and heading for your feet at something approximating Mach 1! And THEN....having to break the news to your travel partner....who, I might add, took it remarkably well! Since this was now Saturday evening, there was no hope of determining when we could get a flight out until the following Monday....the next 36 hours were just a wee bit stressful. It's quite amazing how a place, which moments before was a pleasure-filled environment, complete with golf caddies and pedicurists...can suddenly feel like a prison (albeit a pretty slack one).
Suffice to say that these two people should have been winging their way across the Pacific instead of sipping tea......
Since I am writing this bit significantly after these events occurred...and since most of you know that we made it home...I can dispense with the spine tingling suspense-building...and tell you all that, after we tracked down Singapore Airlines (wouldn't you know it - they'd moved) on the following Monday, they managed to fit us on the next flight out (Tuesday night) - and, amazingly to us, didn't charge us anything extra! Since we'd convinced ourselves that we were FOR SURE going to be charged a couple of thousand dollars, we suddenly felt that we'd received a windfall! Brilliant rationalizers that we are, we celebrated by doing a bit more shopping - after all we did have two extra days to kill.... (Editor's note: Amber took all the pics during these couple of days so I'll have to wait get some copies scanned before I can post them).
During our "scattered period", an old family friend (Michael Pook) was extremely helpful. Michael's an Englishman who has lived in Calcutta since the early 1960's and runs a company which does glorious things like building fountains in various parts of the planet. Now there's a cause designed to bring joy to humanity. On the night we were supposed to be flying out, we took Michael out for dinner at this swanky North Indian restaurant called Zaranj. Michael picked us up at the club with an air-conditioned car and driver...now that's the way to live (especially as the air conditioning allowed you to escape breathing in the foul soup outside). Michael has a great, dry sense of humour...though you'd never know from this pic....
Our final day in Calcutta was spent hanging around the club and packing - this time so far in advance that we could have been at the airport 5 hours before the flight! It did give me some time to wander around and take a couple of pics.... These are the caddies lounging around and waiting to offer their services to unsuspecting golfers. Behind them is a building dedicated to the provision of ice-cream to over-heated guests - now isn't that a good idea!
This little area was quite close to our room...reminds me of a Parisian cafe...wrought iron and all....and to complete the authenticity of it all...the waiters were almost as rude....only sometimes, though....and when you're head-wobbling....how rude can you possibly be???
Well...that was it! We piled ourselves into a cab....meandered our way through the diesel fumes (they were particularly bad that night) and...about an hour later, landed up at the airport. When the Singapore Airlines flight actually rose off the tarmac...given our past few days....we could hardly believe it....WHEW!
One more day in Singapore (no connecting flight this time) and we'd be on the homeward leg across the Pacific...
We discovered this rather horrific state of affairs as we were packing on that Saturday afternoon and I thought I should check the exact time of the flights - not even thinking that I needed to check the date. It's pretty hard to describe the process of heavy blinking...looking away...looking back...more heavy blinking....and then the feeling of your stomach zipping past your knees and heading for your feet at something approximating Mach 1! And THEN....having to break the news to your travel partner....who, I might add, took it remarkably well! Since this was now Saturday evening, there was no hope of determining when we could get a flight out until the following Monday....the next 36 hours were just a wee bit stressful. It's quite amazing how a place, which moments before was a pleasure-filled environment, complete with golf caddies and pedicurists...can suddenly feel like a prison (albeit a pretty slack one).
Suffice to say that these two people should have been winging their way across the Pacific instead of sipping tea......
Since I am writing this bit significantly after these events occurred...and since most of you know that we made it home...I can dispense with the spine tingling suspense-building...and tell you all that, after we tracked down Singapore Airlines (wouldn't you know it - they'd moved) on the following Monday, they managed to fit us on the next flight out (Tuesday night) - and, amazingly to us, didn't charge us anything extra! Since we'd convinced ourselves that we were FOR SURE going to be charged a couple of thousand dollars, we suddenly felt that we'd received a windfall! Brilliant rationalizers that we are, we celebrated by doing a bit more shopping - after all we did have two extra days to kill.... (Editor's note: Amber took all the pics during these couple of days so I'll have to wait get some copies scanned before I can post them).
During our "scattered period", an old family friend (Michael Pook) was extremely helpful. Michael's an Englishman who has lived in Calcutta since the early 1960's and runs a company which does glorious things like building fountains in various parts of the planet. Now there's a cause designed to bring joy to humanity. On the night we were supposed to be flying out, we took Michael out for dinner at this swanky North Indian restaurant called Zaranj. Michael picked us up at the club with an air-conditioned car and driver...now that's the way to live (especially as the air conditioning allowed you to escape breathing in the foul soup outside). Michael has a great, dry sense of humour...though you'd never know from this pic....
Our final day in Calcutta was spent hanging around the club and packing - this time so far in advance that we could have been at the airport 5 hours before the flight! It did give me some time to wander around and take a couple of pics.... These are the caddies lounging around and waiting to offer their services to unsuspecting golfers. Behind them is a building dedicated to the provision of ice-cream to over-heated guests - now isn't that a good idea!
This little area was quite close to our room...reminds me of a Parisian cafe...wrought iron and all....and to complete the authenticity of it all...the waiters were almost as rude....only sometimes, though....and when you're head-wobbling....how rude can you possibly be???
Well...that was it! We piled ourselves into a cab....meandered our way through the diesel fumes (they were particularly bad that night) and...about an hour later, landed up at the airport. When the Singapore Airlines flight actually rose off the tarmac...given our past few days....we could hardly believe it....WHEW!
One more day in Singapore (no connecting flight this time) and we'd be on the homeward leg across the Pacific...
Posted: Tue - December 2, 2003 at 04:42 PM
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Published On: Dec 05, 2003 10:02 AM
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Published On: Dec 05, 2003 10:02 AM