Day 30: Flight to Mumbai

We are leaving for the airport at 09.30am this morning by taxi. Our mid-day flight takes us to Delhi, where we wait for a while and then on to Mumbai, where we have our last hotel stay. Then Sanghanath and I must rise at 5am to get checked in at Mumbai International airport for the 08.55 flight to Heathrow. All being well, we get picked up by Vimalanath's taxi service at 14.30 BST at Heathrow, and then back to Cambridge.

I think returning to Britain will be a cultural and meteorological shock.

Start of the concert last night

The concert last night was sublime. Really wonderful traditional Indian music and we were transported. 

I particularly appreciated the tabla. Such amazing rhythms and sounds.

The night streets of Bodhgaya

4.30pm at Delhi airport: We are now on the plane for Mumbai - sitting waiting for takeoff.

This morning, we got to Gaya airport and so many of our friends were there - waiting for flights around India or flights back to the UK. Our short flight to Delhi went well and now it's another flight to Mumbai where our last hotel awaits us.

Tomorrow morning we board a British Airways flight to Heathrow at 08.55. Given the change in time zones, we should be back in Cambridge for tea time - all being well. 

What a month it has been! I have seen things and been places I could not have imagined - in the last month. I feel privileged. Privileged, especially by the wonderful hospitality of Indian people. 

For three of my four weeks, I did not see a single other Western white person. But then, I'm used to this. This is my twelfth trip to India. My close friends here forget that I'm British, because I'm just me, and their friend. However, riding through remote villages, I get lots of stares - not at all unfriendly. Sometimes, I'm the first Westerner they've ever seen.

Remote village in Rajasthan

10.15pm: Here we three friends are in the Hotel Accord once again. I am back in the same room I was in on my very first night in India a month ago! Sanghanath, Adityabodhi and I have just had our 'last supper' together. Tomorrow morning we will have a parting of ways at Mumbai airport: Sanghanath and myself back to the UK, and AB will head back home to Pune. This month is a big month for him and his family. His son Vishal has a kidney transplant this month - with his mother being the donor.

I have been helping AB raise the £8500 to pay for it.

Vishal and family