Rajinder Nagar to China

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11.05.2018


  1. Background: I got selected for a training program focusing on my area of research (Paleoclimatology, the study of past climates) at the Institute of Earth Environment, of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The schedule is very exciting, with seminars by world renowned scientists, and several field excursions. Not sure what I did to deserve this. ^_^
  2. The Chinese visa application seemed quite strange to me, but in all fairness, I don't have a lot of experience with visa applications. I have only been to the U.S. so far, and every one (Indian?) who's filled out the DS-160 knows what I'm talking about. The Chinese application form feels just so simple and casual compared to that grilling. It's 4 pages long, you don't even need an appointment, you go submit it to some Indian person at a counter (not an official), and they say, sure, come collect it a few days later.
  3. Every other person I have mentioned my trip to, since, has felt the need to joke saying, "Chandni Chowk to China". I think this need must be contagious, because I felt the pressure too while deciding on a title for this post. (Or maybe that was just my lack of creativity.) But I eventually decided on this more boring and realistic title, because:
    • I must tell the world about my friend who lives in Rajinder Nagar, and who collected my visa on my behalf. For everyone who's planning to go to China, DO NOT EVER ask one of your friends to do this. The poor guy went thrice, waited hours, and eventually had to fight with agents and officials to get the damned thing, when it's perfectly legal for someone to collect it on someone else's behalf.
    • Also, very grateful that my Rajinder Nagar friends checked up on my packing. Didn't get a chance to see my parents right before I left, and I am not quite an adult yet I think.
    • I did actually go from Rajinder Nagar to the airport to China. So, yeah. Just that.
  4. Foreign travel is so humbling. When an event like this happens to me, I usually get super excited and start beaming like a monkey. It's only when I get to a huge international airport like that at New Delhi, that it dawns on me that what's a big event for my life is a most common, almost mundane event also transpiring in the life of God knows how many other hundreds of people. And then I am usually reminded of how dull my life actually is that I got so excited by this seemingly regular event, and that usually sets just the right beginning note of un-enthusiasm for my trip. Works, I tell you.
  5. I flew China Southern, to Xi'an, through Guangzhou. The first leg of ~5 hours started around midnight, and the crew apparently found it very necessary to wake me up around 2 AM to serve me food. Seriously, it wasn't dinner time in India OR China. Why!?


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