Importing Your Baggage in India

Customs is a kind of firewall that every article has to pass through when it is imported in India. Customs is a department of Government of India so the normal rules of getting business done at a typical government office apply. This time my unaccompanied baggage was about 300 kilos. I had stuffed that 300 kilos in 16 cardboard boxes that arrived in a reasonably good condition to India by KLM flight 871 from Amsterdam. The 300 kilos were mainly food items, books, used toys and some electronic items. It took about 5 hours to get that stuff cleared from the customs. Overall experience was better than the last time because there were two inspectors to inspect the baggage. This speeded up the whole process. There were fewer consignees waiting to clear their baggage so it did not take long to get my stuff cleared. I paid Rs 700 customs duty on my old used artifacts. Additionally I paid Rs 3500 as “service charge” to the agent and 1200 for transporting the boxes to Gurgaon in a small truck. I am not sure whether it was the “service charge” or something else made Indian customs friendly to me.

A Weekend in Banaras

Weekend Trip to Varanasi (Banaras)

After spending a noisy and sleepless night in the 3 tier AC compartment of Shivganga Express, I arrived in Varanasi. The train was running about an hour late but everybody waited patiently for the train to arrive at Varanasi station. A twenty minute long bumpy ride for 50 Rs. bought me to Assi Ghat (Riverfront) which is the most upstream ghat of Ganga in Banaras. Amidst a chaos caused by a mela, I was looking around for the hotel where I reserved a room the day before. 

The hotel Palace on Ganges seemed like a well maintained recently renovated hotel overlooking the Ganga river or Gangaji as the local people call the holiest river of Hindus. A heavy rain since past couple of weeks in the region made the river flow with the vigour, it has been known for since the ancient times. I requested for the small room next to the roof top garden with an unhindered view of the Ganga and I got it.

My school Hindi textbook had a lesson on Varanasi that made my first connection to the holy city. One can not deny the deep impact of Varanasi on the culture of North India whether it is music, Hindi literature, education or hindu mythology. Its special significance as the city of Shiva brings people from all over India to fulfill their religeous and spiritual needs.

A city having such a rich heritage seemed to be in a total state of neglect, as my first rikshaw ride from Assi Ghat to one of the downstream stream ghats revealed. Upon arrival at Dashashvamegh (Ten Horses) ghat, I got overwhelmed by touts offering me a guided tour, cheap boat trip offers and filth accumulated by the uncontrolled offering of flowers and plastic bags to the holy river. I heggled for the price of a good boat trip which we finally agreed upon at Rs. 300.

Sailing upstream against the huge water mass was not very easy for two persons rowing the boat under the command of their boss sitting on the other end of the boat. A gentle wind on the river surface brought some comfort to an otherwise uncomfortable ride in the hot mid-day sun accompanied with a humid weather. Our boat moved slowely along the river bank where the river current was not very strong. As the boat moved upstream, the famous ghats of Banaras started passing like a panorama. Munshi ghat - named after famous hindi writer Premchand. Ghat built by Mysore state. Ghat built by Ahilya Devi Holkar of Indore who was a devout follower of Lord Shiva. The most notable was the Harishchandra ghat where Hindus cremate their dead in the belief that the dead will attain "Moksha". 

For a while I thought about Raja Harishchandra, probably the noblest king, India has ever known who sacrificed his kingdom for his commitment and performed his duty (dharma). During my childhood, I heard this story several times from my grandparents. The boat captain, who was also dubbling as a guide, asked me not to take photos of cremation while pointing at the properties of dome (the caretaker of the cremation ground). The mythological story of Raja Harishchandra, as many historians assert, seemed so real with all the locations and the actors standing intact on the banks of Ganga.

As the boat took U-turn, we passed by a fully loaded boat with largely South Indian lady pilgrims enjoying the C shaped sight of the city from the boat. Downstream boat journey was very fast. After ending my boat journey and telling the boat people that I will do my best to come again in the evening for yet another boat ride, I headed for the Vishwanath Temple which is one of the holiest temple of the Lord Shiva. Through narrow lanes known as galis and after crossing three heavily armed security checks, I managed to do darshan of the small Shivaling in the temple known as the Lord Vishwanath.

In the narrow lanes of Varanasi that run along side the ghats you can find cows, bicycles, scooters, motorbikes, dogs, sadhus, funerals, cowdung and teashops at rapid pace in a random order. The streets have temples painted in bright colors, residential houses, ashrams, music schools and the cafes for Israeli tourists who come to Varanasi in big numbers. The narrow lanes appeared much cleaner when I saw in the city outskirts the following day.

In a narrow lane near chowk, I spotted the house of Bhartendu Harishchandra who was the first literary writer of modern hindi, a tradition that continued with other famous writers like Premchand and Jai Shankar Prasad in the last century.

It is 7:00 in the evening. I am waiting for the Ganga aarti to start at Dashashwamegh Ghat. The place is full of locals and the foreign backpacker type young tourists who have no clue where they are headed tomorrow morning. Some people are on dharna demanding immediate cleaning of Ganga and making environmental unfriendly dumping of garbage in the river illegal. The city and the river, it has been known for, since two millenia, desprately needs attention. Spencers and Vishal super market chains and a McDonalds family restaurent under a multiplex in IP Mall announce the arrival of 21st century India to this one of the oldest city on the gangetic plains. A key question remains whether the decay and erosion of Varanasi continues or we will preserve it for the future generations. 

Baggage Claim

The next flight with few vacant seats was on Sunday evening where we all were supposed to be re-booked. Or at least this is what we were told by a customer service clerk. Apart from not reaching their destination on time the passengers were also worried if they will get a hotel room to sleep. Getting a hotel room when your flight is cancelled is the second most unbearable things of flying on international route. First is the flight cancellation itself. I overheard that to get a hotel room we have to queue up again at some other corner of the airport. When my turn arrived there were still few seats in the Sunday evening flight to Pittsburgh. I grabbed one of them without any second thoughts.

America has a great cultural diversity that confronted me as I entered the airport after disembarking from my flight from Amsterdam. I saw African American immigration staff, Indian Airport Support Staff, Mexican Baggage handlers and Chinese something. And some European Americans to make the american diversity complete. Understanding the diverse American English accents was as hard as getting my checked in luggage for my night stay somewhere. I waited for almost an hours for my baggage to appear in the conveyor belt after filling up a form for my baggage retrieval. It did not arrive. It was 9 in the evening at Newark. My body was almost feeling like having had a sleepless night. I made an attempt to enquire about my baggage at the baggage claim counter. The answer shattered my remaining faith in customer service in America, which many people talk about here in Europe. My baggage claim was buried under a stack of similar forms and nobody had come to pick them up. Nobody knew when my form will be picked up.

I was luckier than the most of my fellow passengers that I had a friend living in proximity of the airport. He was just aware of my miseries at the airport. He was just a phone call away to take me to his house and then comfortably put me back at the airport for Sunday evening flight. In his car, driving to his home, I felt privileged that I know someone who can offer me shelter some 3000 miles away from my home in Holland while my fellow American passenger would be sleeping at the airport. His sweet two year old daughter reminded me of her similarities with Anika of two years ago.

Continental Passenger Support Desk

All my co passengers traveling to Pittsburgh moved to the airlines help desk like a herd where a very long queue was expecting us. After sometimes airlines people asked people in back of the queue to go main departure hall for faster services which we later found out was slower than at the airlines help desk. I was traveling by Continental via Newark which is the home base of Continental airlines but it seems the passenger service is the neglected aspect of whole experience with Continental airlines. It was Saturday 8 in the evening. When I heard about the prevailing bad weather conditions on east coast, I got worried if I will be able to make it on Monday morning at 8 o’clock.  I heard some sympathetic voices from the public. An elderly couple among us was supposed to attend the Sunday mass in Pittsburgh and a family with a year old baby and around seven year old boy coming back home from Ireland. Suddenly my suffering seemed nothing in front of other passengers. I felt guilty being ahead of them in the queue by taking benefit of my better mobility because of traveling alone.

 

Tbc…

Journey to Pittsburgh

The pronunciation of New York en Newark is little confusing for a US newcomer. It is even more confusing to learn that both cities have a train station called Penn Station just fifteen minutes apart on the same line. So there was no wonder that I got the ticket to Penn Station which was not supposed to be my destination.

 

Just a few days ago at the US immigration, infamous finger printing procedure passed smoothly. You first put your right index finger on a glass followed by the left index finger and then you look into a webcam like camera. If everything is ok you are welcome in the US. Just after clearing the customs, I was supposed to board the flight to Pittsburgh. The Newark airport is being renovated at least at some places. The chaos at the airport seemed familiar to me as I have passed thru this airport before in 1999. After queuing up for about half an hour, two rather confused looking baggage handlers took my baggage for the connecting flight. The wait for half an hour in the queue seemed like ages as my connecting flight was to depart within next 45 minutes. The next task was to reach at the gate finding my way thru the maze of signboards, security check and queues of people for my connecting flight. TSA staff performs security checks in a ruthless manner which is unseen in Europe so far. I unpacked my laptop and took off my shoes and managed a short and timely security check to be on time to my flight to Pittsburgh.

 

I learnt at the gate that the flight to Pittsburgh has been rescheduled due to bad weather. I had about two hours to spend at the airport. In the big airport in the US,  it is never boring to spend few hours while you wait for your flight. It is, however, another matter when you learn that your flight will not depart at all after waiting for few hours. This is exactly what happened at Newark Liberty International Airport when my co-passengers learnt about the cancellation of Newark- Pittsburgh flight by sudden disappearance of Pittsburgh flight information from the monitors.

 

Tbc…

 

According to Hindu scriptures the world goes through cyclical stages. But only those survive who have the intelligence to fathom the present and read the future. While Indians paid a huge price for not doing either in the medieval times and later, allowing foreigners to rule the country, yet the pain of poverty has made the people the smartest on Earth. They have shown over the last fifty years or so that they have the ability to do both and prosper.

 

From Indian Express