Sunday turned out to be a very long travel day–our flight to Kolkata was several hours delayed and we arrived in Kolkata in the dark, too late for our dinner with the rest of the Freedom from Hunger gang.  The drive from the airport was a mad dash that lasted about 40 minutes, during which our drive was completely silent, the traffic, for an Indian city was light, and we could see very little.  Lots of construction of massive office buildings strewn along the way–and only one of note, a very large, very modern building standing more or less by itself with one large lighted sign across the bottom, “MOTHER’S WAX MUSEUM.”  No, I have no idea either.

Having spent many hours, now, in the Delhi airport I must praise one attribute:  it is a “silent airport.”  Other than gate changes, no flight announcements. Even at the gate, no announcement that boarding is about to start, has started, is proceeding, is close to finishing, the doors are about to close–not a word.  No TVs either.  It was lovely.  And, you know, when our flight time came near, people just started lining up, in whatever order they chose, and I would bet you the flight boarded more quickly–at the very least as quickly–as any American flight where there are queues and boarding groups and all of that.

While the streets here are a cacophony, the airports are blessedly quiet.