Pilgrim's Diary - Returning to the West
By Vipramukhya Swami

Calcutta (March 12, 2001) - 10 AM

About an hour ago I phoned and spoke to Joya Chattergee, a helpful lady who works for Indian Airlines. She was very apologetic about my suitcase. She said that because there isn't a flight to Calcutta every day, Kathmandu sent the suitcase to New Delhi. New Delhi claims there are "taxable goods" in the suitcase and that I need to pay duty on the contents. They are referring to my two digital cameras, I'm sure. I explained to Joya that those are my personal cameras and that I am taking them out of the country with me. She was very understanding. The suitcase is supposed to arrive under customs in Calcutta this morning, and she said she would call me around 10:30 AM to let me know what is happening. She assured me I would definitely get the suitcase back today and that all that would be required is that I make a declaration that I am taking the cameras out of India.

In the meantime, I am waiting it out in the Hotel Host, which is very close to the Calcutta Airport.

These are some of the other aspects of being a Pilgrim. Besides all the exotic places, you have to deal with airports, taxis, and missing suitcases at times, customs and immigration authorities. As a Hare Krishna devotee I mostly don't have to deal with hotels because the places I go have facilities for me, but on this trip I've stayed in a fine selection of hotels, including here in Calcutta near the airport, and three different hotels on the Kali-Gandaki in Nepal.

I'm bored now. The trip seems too long, but I need to be here at least until my suitcase is returned. Even in leaving India it will be too long. The flight leaves India at 3 PM and flied to Dubai. Then I have to wait around in that airport for about 6 hours before the next flight. Even though I will be following the sun, I won't arrive in London until Thursday, March 15.

At this hotel there is no easy way for me to hook my computer up to the Internet, and being near the airport, which is on the outskirts of the city, I am a little out of the Internet action. So my thought is just to take some time out and use this week for cleaning up my book, which I've not had much time to work on this trip so far.

© CHAKRA 19 March 2001

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