Monday was our day off after a week of touring holly sites and then helping with the lecture tour. So, we finally were able to sleep in. In the morning I got the book/CD boxes taken care off. We checked out of the hotel at noon, but stayed within the premises.
After lunch, we both had spa appointments. Dave Bingham had suggested the Ayurvedic massage mentioning that it was very caring and nurturing, so I tried that massage and it was just like he described. The "therapy suites", as they call them, are huge. They are like large apartments all by themselves. There are two massage tables for those couples who want to have their massage simultaneously. There is an old-fashioned tub (used for certain treatments), a private steam room, bathroom and shower room in each suite. When you enter, the first thing they do is wash your feet (and you need that in Kolkata). The therapists are very professional, courteous and skilled. You really feel like a prince being pampered. That was a great way to finish off the week.
After our treatments we proceeded to the airport, this time with a crazy young driver from the Oberoi, driving as if on a race track. Driving in India is like those video games where a car suddenly cuts you off, another one approaches from the side leaving less than inch in between, cows appear out of nowhere plus the honking. You have to be extremely alert. Our driver had probably about three really close calls, coming to screeching stops because he loved to tailgate. We were chanting aum all the way to the airport but made it there in one piece. One thing I noticed though is that with all this honking and aggressive driving, people are actually not angry at all, there is still a calm feeling beyond that. Turkey has similar traffic (perhaps not as crowded or crazy but it is reminiscent of this), but the main difference is people do get angry and curse at each other in Turkey. Even in the U.S. which has much less traffic, when people drive like this there is a lot of anger and yelling, but here, it is just part of the flow. People don't seem angry and they don't yell at each other or use profanity. The other thing I noticed in India is that I don't remember getting stuck in traffic more than a minute or so (and when we are stuck for a minute, that's usually due to traffic signals). Even when there is congestion the traffic moves, it's slow but it moves. I haven't encountered a gridlock or anything like that.
Our flight was a bit late, with the transport from Delhi to Gurgaon, we ended up going to bed around 2am. Sleeping in tomorrow...
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