Ready or not, India,. here we come!

Date: June 13, 2009
Time: 10:30 p.m. Chicago Time
Location: British Airways flight just out of Chicago

My stomach is tight, tighter than a quality boy-scout knot. My finger nails are overly groomed. At take off, my heart bangs its drum against my chest. I squeeze Steve's hand as if I was squeezing orange juice for breakfast!
"What am I doing?" I feel like standing up and running to the pilot's door and screaming, "I am not a terrorist! I am just a crazy fool and I have changed my mind!" I will take my bicycle and I will cycle around the block in my neighborhood instead. I cannot remember what crazy ideas brought me to make the decision to be here today! Why to I crave adventure? I don't know what the hell I am doing but ready or not, India, here I come!

Date: June 15, 2009
Time: 4:00 a.m. Indian time
Location: British Airways flight from London to Bangalore

My body feels like jelly stuck to a plastic mold. I am so lethargic from sitting on the seven hour plus the nine and a half hour flights. I am watching the airplane move across the screen monitor on the back of the seat in front of me. Officially, we are now above India. In just thirty minutes, I will meet my new land to explore and discover. I imagine a smoggy city much like Tegucigalpa in Honduras. I am nervous and anxious. Really, I am less anxious than before. After sitting on the airplane for so long, I am ready. I am ready to meet India in her entirety--her physical strokes of beauty and the scars of poverty.