Did We Mention There'd Be Monkeys?: Jodi Arrives

The end of November brought about two much-looked-forward-to events for me. The first was the commencement of a three-week mid-course break. The second was a visit by my girlfriend Jodi, from St. Louis. This was her first trip overseas, and India's about as far as you go for a first trip. Everything was lined up for her arrival. She was flying into Mumbai on a Saturday night where I would meet her at the airport, stay overnight in Mumbai, and then return to Wellington the next afternoon.

Unfortunately, on 26 November, terrorists attacked the city of Mumbai which obviously threw our plans into some upheaval. Despite two confirmations from the airlines that her flight was still on, the flight was of course cancelled at the last minute. At three in the morning India time, I was awoken from dead sleep by a frantic Jodi with no flight to India asking me whether she should fly to Bangalore, which would get her here just a few hours later than planned, or fly into Mumbai almost a day later. After shaking the cobwebs out of my head, I told her to get to Bangalore and that I'd rearrange the other flights and hotels.

The next morning I made the necessary calls to switch everything to Bangalore. Fortunately, the airlines and hotels were very understanding because of the Mumbai tragedy, so it was relatively easy to change plans. I flew to Bangalore that night, checked into the hotel, then went back to the airport to pick Jodi up after one in the morning after almost 24 hours of traveling.

The next day we flew down to the Coimbatore airport and embarked on the windy two and a half hour drive up into the hills to Wellington. Along the way Jodi caught her first glimpse of ox carts, overloaded scooters with four passengers, and of course, monkeys.

Despite having safely navigated her way from the US to India, the Indian military had one more trick up its sleeve in an attempt to make my life miserable. For some inane reason, clearance for visitors into an officer's quarters at the College requires approval from the Defence Headquarters in Delhi. Apparently the three-star general that runs the College isn't qualified to make a decision so key to Indian national security. Anyway, despite having put in her visitor request two months earlier, the Defence Staff in its infinite wisdom decided to deny her request one day before her arrival. There was no reason given, but it most likely has to do with the delicate Indian sensibilities that can't accept an officer and his "girlfriend" staying together without a chaperone. Now if we'd had a proper arranged marriage, maybe this could've been avoided... Regardless, we were stuck having to stay in a local hotel each night while here at Wellington. So much for Indian hospitality. The Indian military has doused me with bucket after bucket of stupid since I've been here, but this time they outdid themselves.

We were determined to make the best of it, though, and for one week Jodi got a chance to experience some of what I do every day here at Staff College and also got to meet my many foreign and Indian friends. Our actual vacation would begin in week two of Jodi's visit.