Atish’s Welcome to India

April 8, 2010

The expectations and wait of 3 months made for a very anxious several hours as I waited at the hotel for Atish’s plane to land and him to reach the hotel. When the phone call came from reception that my “friend” had arrived my heart pounded and my hands began to shake, “send him up please” I said. I ran down the hall to meet him at the lift. A minute later I heard the lift rattling up to the 3rd floor. On tip-toes I tried to peer through the little window. The door opened and the bell boy first backed out carrying a large box that contained the school supplies the Irvings had donated for the Pagdandi school. After an eternity Atish emerged from the lift with a silly grin. I can’t describe how I felt at that instant I saw him. It was a peculiar combination of an entirely new thrill and something so comfortingly familiar. How do you greet your boyfriend you haven’t seen in 3 months when meeting in a world with zero PDA between the opposite sex? (Indian men share more physical affection between friends in public than couples in America.) Atish’s answer was to extend his hand for a handshake. But considering it was 2am and the only person around was the bellboy I couldn’t accept it. I threw my arms around him and nestled into his neck. The poor bellboy was mortified and scurried off to the room with the bags.

At breakfast the next morning I think we were both still a little shocked to be in each other’s (non-virtual) company. While I wanted to share Atish’s enthusiasm I couldn’t help feeling stressed and slightly miserable. Somehow I was going to have to ditch Atish at the hotel, leaving him on my own and parting from his affection, the idea broke my heart. Why had I ever thought this scavenger hunt was a good idea? I didn’t want Atish to spend his first day in India alone! I didn’t want to run out on him! “So, what are we doing today?” he must of asked me three times during breakfast, “You’ll see,” I always replied, “I don’t want to ruin the surprise.” I felt horrible. I talked Atish into taking a shower after breakfast to “wash the airplane off.” As soon as I heard the water begin to run I pulled out the lengthy letter I had written the previous evening. I left it with several hundred rupees on the bed for him to find. My hands and knees were shaking as I packed my backpack and quietly closed the door behind me. I dashed out of the hotel and headed for the nearest metro station. I was eager to put as much distance between me and the hotel, I was afraid Atish would run out after me or I would weaken and go back. I felt horrible!

The letter I left him detailed the risks I was putting him through. I told him numerous times to drink a lot of water. I told him that he had to call me as soon as he wasn’t enjoying himself anymore, if anything went wrong, if he was stressed. It would only work if he had a good time, if not it wasn’t worth continuing. I told him not to spend more than 80 rupees on any of the auto rides. And he had to text me every time he found a letter so I could keep track of him. Then there were directions to the first letter, “a sweets vendor near the entrance to the largest mosque in India.”

I reached CP and passed some time continuing my hunt for suitable flip-flops. I sent a text to Atish, “Do you hate me? I’m so sorry!” The reply came, “I love you!” I laughed, so far so good. Of all places I ended up settling into the McDonalds in CP, an interesting place to people watch, and waited to hear progress from Atish. The first letter took surprisingly long to find. Jama Mosjid is walking distance from our hotel so I was surprised when the first text came after more than 1.5 hours... But he found the letter and was on his way to Pahar Ganj! I couldn’t believe it, it was actually working! I texted Niharika to tell her our success.

I wasn’t completely surprised when Atish called me frustrated to say that the music shop in Pahar Ganj was closed. I relayed the message of the missing letter to Atish, “Hanuman Mandir?” he asked. Yes, a Hanuman Mandir… Half an hour later another phone call came, “I can’t find the flower vendor!” He described the temple he was at and it became clear that Niharika was right, there are a lot of Hanuman Mandirs in Delhi, including several around CP. He was at the wrong one. I didn’t actually know the proper name of the correct Mandir to tell Atish, so I told Atish he needed to try another one and pretended I needed to get off the phone for some reason. Crossing my fingers I hoped he would succeed on his next try and headed out to find a ride to India Gate to wait for Atish to arrive. Amazingly, Atish texted me soon after to say he was on his way to pray in the temple and then would be headed to India Gate. He had found the correct Hanuman Mandir, the flower vendor, and the last letter!

I waited at India Gate and eventually saw him walking towards me. I hid behind a bush and took some pictures of him searching for his next clue. We found each other and sat in the shade so I could hear all about his adventures and encounters in the past several hours. Turns out I wouldn’t have to take him to see the Red Fort… (read Atish’s blog to hear his side of the story: http://atishkalyan.blogspot.com/). Atish’s introduction and exploration of India had begun and I couldn’t wait to share the rest of it with him.