Story & Photos

by Sean Grant

I left Seattle on a Friday afternoon in route to France where I caught a connector flight to India.  During my flights over I had an opportunity to read and conduct a little research about the country that I was about to visit.  My two hour layover in France was very interesting.  I noticed that there were no clocks in the terminal, so if I had missed my next flight I would be out of luck.  Fortunately I met one person that spoke English and she informed me that I needed to move my watch forward.  Needless to say she saved me from missing my next flight in addition to the embarrassment I would have suffered if I had missed the party sent to meet me on arrival in India.

Our travel took us to the Karnataka region of India, which is the southern portion of the country.  After enterning Bombay (Mumbai) we took a short 4 hour drive to Pune where we checked into the hotel (The Hotel Aurora Towers) and freshened up a bit before our formal reception and introductions.  Later that evening we officially met one another as well as our hosts, Dr. Ranade, his assistants, Dr. Ashok, Ujwala (Daughter) and Michael of Karnataka Plantation Coffee, and Ujwala's sister , Teja.  Dinner was fantastic; this was my first time experiencing the wonderful foods of India, and surely not the last.  This was truly a great way to end the day especially after the two long flights it took to get there.

My wakeup call came early the next morning especially after enjoying myself the evening prior and now the jet lag began to have an increasing effect on me.  We started the day with a great breakfast and met one another as a group.  Let's see if I remember everyone's names.  They included Brian, Mark, Michael, Miguel, Paul, Sherri, Tom and me (Sean).  After breakfast, we all packed for departure from the hotel and our mission began.

Next issue...Let the tour begin...