Staying at the Matrix

I've had my first three flights - packed planes, weird entertainment choices and the worst - snorers close by (I feel like yelling in their ears in frustration!). I couldn't sleep much and was in a documentary mood and ended up watching:

• a doco on the British army involvement in the Northern Ireland conflict (oh yeah couldn't miss that one even though I've seen it before),
• the “Inside Job” about the financial industry and how it contributed to the global financial crisis,
• a show about the assassination of Martin Luther King, and finally...
• mock film about Joaquin Pheonix’s signing career (he’s got eyes that melt my soul, but what a waste of 1.5 hrs that was and the otherwise super talented Casey Affleck - wtf?)

My flights all ran into each other and so from Canberra onwards I had to run to make the Sydney-Singapore flight which then arrived late in SIN and that delayed the Delhi flight, so in the end I was so tired that when I faced the pure MASS of people at passport control, I almost cried (this was after mostly sleepless travel next to an evil snoring man, at 3am Delhi time, mind you, probably a relaxed Sunday breakfast for all of you – yeah I have a fantastic job!).
So I stood in the shortest line, which I magically predicted would go faster than all the others (if you will things to happen they do, don’t they?) and I started to count the people in front of me – 1, 2, many, too many… Anyway it was 5am by the time I got to the hotel.

Now for the India part… Well it’s polluted. So far it’s as bad as China, Beijing at it’s worse really, maybe even worse (India HAS to be better than China though!). Even in the middle of the night, I couldn’t see further than 100m because of the smog. And it was both inside and outside, I couldn’t breathe well and this morning I washed the scarf I was wearing on the Singapore-Delhi flight and until I reached the hotel, the water was the colour of the smog. Aaah but you get that in the big wide world…

Straight outside the airport the first contrast of the wealthy and the poor starts. A shanty town straight out of the airport carpark - one with tents, shacks, open fires around which people sit to warm themselves, and masses of rubbish. I was glad I was in a car with a driver who knew where he was going.
The hotel is massive and has this empty interior with rooms surrounding the empty space – I think it’s supposed to be impressive but for some reason it reminds me of the Matrix – the human batteries ‘real world’ part. The inside of the room is Matrix crossed with eXistenZ - an alpine chalet feel with wooden floors, walls and furniture but outside is smoggy Delhi – what is reality?

I’m getting used to the no drinking of water part too although I almost swallowed water in the shower and then almost washed the toothbrush with tap water too. Hard to remember the ‘spit not swallow’ rules! Ha ha.. ;-)

I am now getting over my minor jetlag and watching the ‘I see dead people’ film, I can’t remember the title but ya’ll know what I mean - the scary little boy and Bruce Willis. I so often end up watching some scary film in some weird country!? Although nothing beats watching “The Exorcism of Emily Rose” (or something of that type) in some Arab country and then the lights going out in the hotel! Oh dear, I think I slept with the lights on for a week after that!

I also remember that episode of Law and Order SVU from Season 2, Manhunt, that had me with night lights throughout the house for a month… It’s so great to have an active imagination, right?

Current soundtrack – “She Brings the Rain” Can, haven’t quite analyzed the reasons as to why that’s playing in my head yet… And on the decks, or so to speak, is the “Future Days” Can album which I’m still getting to know, but damn it’s already soooo good!
OK work starts tomorrow so I’ll let you know what real India looks like. Here from the window - the 2 towers at the smog horizon is the Presidential Palace ("with 300 rooms for our first lady" as the driver told me last night) and the round building just to the erm... right... of the PP is the Parliament of India.
Oh and my favourite channel in the world is on TV - Deutche Welle - how many hours in China did I spend with DW as my background noise pretending to be elsewhere... :-)