Day One in Delhi

“Anne Enquist, Anne Enquist. Please report directly to security as soon as we land in Delhi.” And so our welcome to India began. As it turned out, the problem was that about half of our luggage had not made it on the plane (and as of this moment, Anne is still wearing what she wore for 15 hours on the plane.) The good news, as Laurel would say, though was that our hotel did send our car for us—actually two cars—and we got to the hotel only about two hours late at 5:00 am.

Sunday was our day to get oriented in Delhi. Being led by our new best friend and guide Surrendar, pronounced like “surrender,” we toured old and new Delhi. Here’s Laurel with Surrendar in their “tricycle” on a busy boulevard headed toward an historic mosque. The streets were crammed with vendors selling everything from deli sweets, to goats and sheep on the hoof, to the Kama Sutra, which we said we did not need.

Using BA’s shopping allowance (thanks to the missing luggage), we headed to a government-run, tourist-trap where we were outnumbered by the staff about 7 to 1. Mimi decided to go native—here she is in her new outfit, which matches her Ipod and phone.

Then we were off to India Gate, the President’s home, and then Humayun’s Tomb. We ran into a large group of Indian students on tour there who fixated on Laurel and Anne. Here’s Anne with “her girls” from the school.

Back at the hotel, we all crashed until our host, Mr. Lalit Bhasin came to meet us at 10:00 pm. He is exactly what we expected—charming, polished, and wonderfully connected to all areas of the Indian legal community. Tomorrow night he is hosting a small dinner in our honor, which will include the president of the Indian bar and the former Attorney General of India. Let’s hope Anne will not be still wearing her same travel clothes. That might make “an impression.”