Читать книгу India Journal - Mark McGinnis - Страница 3

child monk with toy gun, Mahabodhi Temple, Bodhgaya

I am packed the night before and Sammy, my wife, takes me to the airport at 6:30am. We say a anxious goodbye and the flight takes off at 7:00. My schedule takes me to Minneapolis, then to Chicago, from there to Zurich, Switzerland, and finally to Mumbai (or Bombay, as it was known before its fairly recent name change), India. At every airport the televisions are all tuned to CNN and its coverage of the hijacking of an Indian Airlines plane – very disconcerting. For the most part the flight is uneventful but very long. One small event happens in Zurich that would be insignificant were it not for later events. As I stand in front of one of the porcelain fountains in the men’s room with a line of other travelers, in walks a woman airport cleaner as nonchalantly as could be and begins cleaning up around us. This was my first exposure to differences in toilet customs.