India Trip – April 2015 | Day 2

The flight to Delhi was one of the smoothest plane rides I’ve ever been on.  A nice chat with the lovely Indian girl sat next to me and 3 movies later I stepped off the plane and headed towards immigration. Once I’d collected my suitcase I walked towards the exit and searched for someone holding an Impact Teachers sign but grew anxious as I walked back and forth rereading each sign and not seeing anything that resembled Impact or Brandy. I rang the hotel and was told to just hire a car so I abandoned the idea of a pre-booked cab and handed my money over to the first cab stall I saw. I followed the driver out of the airport and there patiently waiting was my original driver, Impact Teachers sign in hand… I was luckily able to get my money back and after a short drive I was checked in and asleep within minutes. The next morning I met the team for breakfast and after a short training session where we went over the plan for the week we were off to Dalli Hatt market. There was so much to see and even more to buy! I picked out a necklace, bracelet and earrings for my sister and snagged a small brass elephant for myself before we headed to Akshardam temple. We were told that electronics of any kind were not allowed in and once inside the temple we would have to remove our shoes, so to skip the queue at the shoe deposit we opted to leave our shoes in the car with the rest of our belongings and trek the parking lot barefoot. I prayed that I wouldn’t step on a rusty nail as tetanus was the one jab I had neglected to get during my round of pre-trip vaccinations! Once through security my jaw dropped at first sight of the immaculate gardens, we joked that someone was trimming the grass by hand using scissors and a ruler but as impressive as the sprawling lawns were it paled in comparison to the ornate and pristine temple. My eyes darted from one intricate statue to another and I grew dizzy from staring at the ceilings that were in themselves so detailed. I blinked my eyes several times, trying to capture everything I saw in an attempt to hold on to the mental images that flooded my brain. We gathered for a group picture and waited patiently for them to print before bare footing our way back to the car and on to the hotel for dinner. After a a quick briefing of what to expect for our first day at the schools we all turned in for the night, excited for the week ahead of us!

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