Out of India

We just spent our last day in India and what a trip it was! I thoroughly enjoyed it and really appreciated being allowed to crash the tail end of the 18-day trip my aunt’s friend had already planned.

Yesterday, we headed to our hotel in Delhi, relaxed a bit and had the buffet dinner at the hotel and took a walk around a complex of airport hotels and other businesses known as Aerocity. 

I even watched the Indian news whose top story was about pollution in Delhi. 🙁 It was an issue before Diwali. But after the fireworks (crackers) smog was now blanketing the entire city causing the Air Quality Index (AQI) to surge up to 497. Above 100 is considered unhealthy. Dhaka, Bangladesh also has its own issues with pollution with an AQI of 122 as of now and 177 certain days last week. 

On Nov 7, the Delhi government banned the manufacture, storage, sale and bursting of firecrackers, including the green ones, in the city till January 1, 2024 to control pollution levels in winter. But many people did not comply despite this Supreme Court order and police could not enforce this ban. Now politicians, according to the news, are blaming other states (where fireworks were allowed) for people smuggling them and other states that contribute to pollution like Punjab where stubble burning is common practice for farming. 

Stubble burning is a process of setting on fire the straw stubble, left after the harvesting of grains, like paddy, wheat, etc. It is usually required in areas that use the combined harvesting method which leaves crop residue behind.

Clearly the politics of India are quite complex and I was grateful for an English speaking news channel that could understand. But the whole time I was really thinking this is a public health project. It’s really hard to change behavior of people, especially during a time of celebration.  I really believe that pollution, climate change, and the fallout are international problems that can’t be solved in isolation.  The G20 Summit was actually just held for the first time in India in September; there were signs all over Delhi in particular. This year there was a focus on sustainable development and there were several outcomes that sound promising. 

Heading to the airport again…

This morning was a bit of a relay race through the airport. We had some critical points where we could have easily missed our flight! 

• First, outside jumping ahead in the DigiYatra line.  DigiYatra uses facial recognition to make airport checkin faster and more reliable 
• Then, checkin was expedited by upgrading to premium economy 
• Next we were able to join the diplomat immigration line 
• Then the diplomat security line
• The final stretch required some running (or realistically it was probably more of a light jog) to the gate. Btw Indira Ghandi International Airport in Delhi is huge! About15 minutes into boarding, I turned a corner which was still at least 10 gates away and ran into an airport employee. He offered me a ride on a golf cart! And my aunt was just behind me so we waited. And when she turned the corner I flagged her down. She hopped on and we glided past the people to our gate! One of the last to reach for sure, but we made it and sat comfortably in the same row at adjacent aisle seats, our preferred seating placement. (We’d been asking for those as often as possible on these trips.) 

Sadly our counterpart also on the same flight didn’t have the same experience. She  unfortunately missed the flight despite being ahead of us in the check-in line.

Now that we’re back in Dhaka I’m contemplating the rest of my day. Rest, washing, walking, paying bills, paying back travel buddies, documenting miles for points, catching up on emails, washing hair, career research etc. I think that sounds like a plan!