After piling on the bags to the final trolley in Kolkata's domestic terminal, we pushed to the exit, surveying the crowds for either of my parents. The crowds surveyed us right back. Oh how I had forgotten how much the Indians like to stare at anyone slightly foreign! I felt right at home.
It wasn't hard to spot my dad - the only whitey in among the crowds. Although it had only been a few months since I had seen him in NZ, it was great to see him again so soon - and in the motherland too. Hugs all round! We headed straight to the busy parking lot, and proceeded on the very last leg of our trip.
After almost 4 hours in the rickety Tata-Sumo, with me and Ish drowsily nodding off in the backseat, we suddenly stopped, the car engine turned off, and silence. I woke up with a start, thinking we were already home! But when I sat up and looked outside, all I saw were police officers, army soldiers, villagers, taxi drivers.... I couldn't figure out what was happening! HOw far were we from Mayapur? Why can't we just go home? I'm tired, why are we stopping? SOMEONE ANSWER ME!
My dad had gotten out of the truck and wandered around outside to find out the happs, and came back about 15 minutes later. Apparently earlier that morning there had been a riot in one of the villagers close by, and two men had been killed. The road had been closed all day and it wasn't expected to open anytime soon. And since there was only one road and one way to get to Mayapur, we just had to wait. For how long no one knew.
AAAAHHH SO CLOSE! We were literally a 5-7minute drive from my parents place, and after the last three days of travelling, I was over it. But what could I do? I lay down next to Ishaan and tried to get some more sleep. The mosquitoes were buzzing round my ears and the heat was making me sweat in places I'd rather not say.
Thankfully we only had to wait 40minutes, and by 9pm I was sitting safely in my parents lounge, chatting a mile-a-minute (like I do) and happy to be home.
Main Entrance to Mayapur
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