Getting Started in Delhi

After almost two weeks of dizzying busywork, I finally have some time to share some notes about how we are settling in Delhi. Angela has given a great summary of some of our intial challenges and victories getting things set up, but I need to record some of the business side of how our inprocessing has progressed. Not the most exciting news, but very important lessons to make note of.

Upon arrival we were very grateful to have the support of the DAO office and an embassy-assigned social sponsor. Despite the burden of helping us sort through the unusually complex logistics of being the first Air Force Olmsted scholar to India, DAO provided what I feel is the appropriate level of support needed for Scholars coming to Northern India. They assisted us on our first night getting from airport customs to our new home (at 3 AM local time), making sure we had some loaner furniture, linens, and dishes ready. They also take care of our basic personnel and accountability functions, so I try to be sensitive and not burden them in any way. Our social sponsor made sure we had some food at home initially (no 24-hour Walmarts here!), and helped us navigate our local neighborhood and markets the first day. Without them we would have had a much rougher start, looking down on Delhi from a hotel instead of moving right into it. We feel very fortunate for the support we received at first, but there may be differences of opinion on what level of support Olmsted scholars should receive here. I will discuss some of these briefly.

Diplomatic Passports and IDs: The DoD (as spelled out by the FCG) requires all active duty members and dependents PCSing to India go on Diplomatic Passports. In the past, scholars have gone to India on Official Passports (perhaps the policy is new?), but their experiences support the wisdom of utilizing the Diplomatic version. Considering the staggering bureaucracy that must be grappled upon arriving here, it is the best path to take. The DAO Ops officer (CW2 Chris Guillory) wisely took the initiative to get us set up with Diplomatic IDs that, with our Dip Passports, help smooth the PCS process...somewhat. I know the current scholar in Delhi has also received a Dip ID, and (in theory) future scholars should follow this path to smooth out hard-to-get-approved processes (in the Indian Govt) like visa approvals and shipment of household goods. Even with a Dip Passport and ID I have had (and continue to have) plenty of great "character-building" experiences trying to get our life in India up and running.

Housing: We are part of the embassy housing pool, first and foremost because the mission required it. But even if it was optional, the dismal infrastructure, totally unreliable utilites, squalid public hygene, sweltering heat, titanic bureaucracy, and stratospheric real estate costs would make an attempt to set up your own safe, sanitary, and affordable living accomodations quite overwhelming if not impossible. Maj Dave Sutton (OSC of '01 Helsinki, currently in Delhi with ODC), who has unique insight as a former scholar and current Delhi resident, helped convince us early of the wisdom of judiciously utilizing the embassy's services so we can focus on the more meaningful and productive aspects of the Olmsted experience. It should be noted that we do not partake of all the conveniences that the State department normally offers. We trimmed back the list of items provided in the home to those that were needed for safety, security, and good sanitation. We took whatever home was offered based on our rank and family size. And after we stayed cool and dry through three power outages in the first day with 110+ degree heat and 89% humidity, I am supremely grateful (also that Angela didn't turn right around and fly home with my kids)! It may be possible to go it alone, but at this time, especially for scholars with families, I recommend the path we have followed.

Health Clinic access: This is another must-have for any scholar, married or single. Although there is the ever-present threat of crime or even terrorist activity, by far the single biggest threat to anyone living in India is disease. I know for a fact Angela and I would never have come if we did not have confidence in the quality of health care needed to prepare and sustain us in such unsanitary conditions. We have been very impressed and pleased with the embassy clinic, as much for their information as their actual care. Top-knotch health care can be found in India, and we will get dental care and see specialists as referred by the clinic. But a lot of incompetent, fraudulent, and downright dangerous products and services also exist.

Other services like security, commissary, mail, pool and gym access, etc: With the exception of security, one might see these as gray-area items. We received a good security brief when we arrived and feel comfortable we will be safeguarded in the event of any natural or man-made incident. I think mail delivery is also an important service, as is commissary access - at least early on. The wives association runs a domestic helpers registry which has been key to finding the employees (screened with police background checks) necessary to run a home in India. We have used the commissary in the transistion period when we had no household goods, but we are already transitioning to getting our foods on the local economy. We've appreciated access to the pool in this (hot) transistion period for the kids, but not used the gym or other rec facilites yet. Although we intend to be out in India much more that we are on the compound, the basic-package of services currently offered makes the intial culture shock bearable and the logistical workload achieveable.

Future India scholars should contact the embassy or consulate early in their planning to discuss what the health and housing conditions are for their area. India is very diverse and some cities in southern India may offer better living conditions or more reliable utilities, etc. than what is found in some of the big cities of the north.

As an Air Force Scholar in India, here are a few unique items to remember:
- You will be managed under AFIT/CI programs (AFIT/ENEL). They have no budget for Olmsted scholars but are responsible to coordinate with Airstaff for the the funding needed to pay the DoS for your housing (through ICASS system). This has been painful for me as the first to go to India (and AF-wide $$ is tight), but as alluded to above, trying to use OHA in India (as conditions are now) would prove to be futile. They are on your side so give them whatever info they need for your support. Stay in contact with your AFIT PM, both personally and via their web portal. Don't forget they are the ones who will fill out your training report and handle you for promotion boards, etc.

- You'll probably be assigned to the 15 MSS at Hickam for personnel support. Don't bother to go TDY enroute to inprocess. Email the Personnel office, Finance, and Flight medicine (if on fly status) - they all were very responsive and inprocessed me "remotely"(see my registration report for contact info). They concurred that I should keep my personnel and flying records with me, and my med/dent recs of course followed me to the local clinic. Annual flight physicals are supposed to be funded and accomplished by Yokota - we'll see how well that works.

- Ask Hickam Finance for their "PCS packet" before you leave CONUS. Print, pre-fill-out a copy, scan it, and email it to yourself on a webmail account with all their forwarding addresses in the body of the message. Then all you need is access to the web to file your travel voucher and get your pay updated. Who knows how long you will be without a web connection. (Keep a blank or partially filled version of the packet with you in case of unplanned changes, then all you have to do is find a scanner also.)

Overall, I feel our adjustment period is going very well. Much of this is thanks to fellow scholars and other expats who knew we were coming and helped us get started. Already we are starting to meet our Indian neighbors and make friends outside the expat community. My somewhat feeble attempts to use Hindi are welcomed by all with whom I attempt to talk. It makes us feel like we have hope of being part of this community, not just visitors or outsiders. We are just now making more time to explore Delhi more widely (see Ange's 1 July post).

Perhaps most exciting is our new plan to venture into Himachal Pradesh on a 10 day driving tour into the Himalayas. If our household goods get here this week we will make this first big trip within India before school starts for me and the kids. Hopefully we'll have some great pictures and experiences to share soon!

The journey begins

हम भारत जा रहे हैं! हमारा यात्रा शुरू कर रहा है! हम भुत खुश हैं और सुब चीजे तयारी हैं।

Finally the day arrived for us to pack up our myriad belongings, say goodbye to family and country, and start the big trip to India! Grandma had to take a picture of us with all our stuff, and it was quite a load. Still, we managed to keep all our bags under the new, lighter limits (only 50 lbs per bag allowed these days - anything more brings on the fees) and we only checked 2 bags each - amazing!

हमारे पास भुत सामान हैं , लेकिन ज़्यादा धीमे नही हैं।

We had to start this trip with a self-funded flight from Chicago to Dulles. We tried every which way to stage the trip from Chicago, but the government travel rules and contracted ticket prices made it financially impossible to do anything but leave from DC. Thank goodness for Southwest Airlines - we all made the flight for under $400 USD! The kids were excited to start the trip and enjoyed a short flight to "break us in" for the many hours on airplanes over 3 more days.

हम चिकागो से रवाना हुए । हमें चिकागो से वॉशिंग्टन तुक जाना थे , क्योंकि चिकागो से भारत तुक ज़्यादा मेहेंगे थे - सरकारी यात्री कि कानून के तेहेत।

As we waited for our flights and hotel shuttles, both at Chicago Midway and Dulles, we hung out at the USO. Awesome! Not only was it a last dose of Patriotic America, but a super place for 4 kids to get a snack, play a game, and watch Motocross and Nascar while Mom and Dad checked email and relaxed on the couch. Beats being bored and cramped out in the noisy terminal! We will miss our beloved country, but we are excited to make the rest of the trip tomorrow.

हवाई आधे पेर एक भुत आचा इस्थान है - उनका नम "यु एस ओ" है। हमारे लिए इस इस्थान में भुत आराम थे. ये इस्थान सेनिकों , नव सेनिकों, वायु सेनिकों , और उनके परिवारों के लिए है ।

India here we come!

Quick Book Review: "The Ugly American"

I just finished reading Lederer and Burdick's 1958 work entitled "The Ugly American." This is an excellent book - both entertaining to read and very thought provoking. Lt Col Bartz Sykes (USAF and OSC 2003/Vilnius) recommended this per a posting on the Olmsted Foundation's News page, and I second his very positive review. Although the setting and context are focused on how US Foreign Policy was being run (or being botched) to counter the threat of Communism, I found myself making parallels to how the US is currently addressing other concerns - especially countering radicalism and terror movments. I also came away strongly impressed that the authors advocated many philosophical points General Olmsted would have agreed with. As we get ready to dive into our experiences in India, this book has focused my thinking about our small but important contributions to such large concerns. I add my vote to those who say it should be "required reading" - especially for Olmsted Scholars.

Visas at last

We've got visas here! All the planets finally aligned and our Dip Visas were finally issued by the GOI. Actually they are sitting in the DoD Passport office tonight, but they are FedExing them to use tomorrow. We are ecstatic and can't wait to finally get the journey underway! Hats off to DAO Delhi and Col Yablonski - without their help we'd still be languishing. India, here we come!

JNU Acceptance

After many months of waiting I finally received official notice that I have been accepted to study at JNU! It wasn't so much a question of whether it would happen, as much as getting an answer before showing up on their doorstep! Admittedly the key to success, after all those late night phone calls, was the "boots on the ground" provided by the DAO staff in Delhi. They deserve the real credit for following up my calls with more calls and going to JNU in person to pick up my letter. They scanned and emailed it back to me, kudos to them.

Previous India scholars have not had to be overly concerned with getting response from their Universities before leaving the states, and their visas were rather routinely granted. This year, we have struggled to get approval from India (perhaps because we are the first Olmsted class to use Diplomatic passports to enter India? ...neither we nor the DAO folks can guess the real reasons). In any case, can you guess what the Indian Gov't asked for when we solicited help with the visas? They wanted to see a "document from India stating that the officer has been invited for the scholar's program."

Thanks to the US DAO in Delhi and the Olmsted Foundation, who contacted the Indian Attache in Washington, we turned around and sent a copy of this newly arrived letter through their Attache (an Indian Brigadier - we hope he has the clout to push it through!) and we hope to see the visas this week!

My Kingdom for a Visa

Today was to be the day we flew to India, but here we sit in Chicago. With still no movement on our visas from the Indian Government, we are now planning to travel in two weeks, hoping to get visas by that time. Here is the background:

We have had our Dip Passports and visa applications at the Indian Embassy since March, but for reasons that only the Indians know, we are still without any response. According to the good folks at the US Embassy in Delhi, we are in good company as many in DoD and DoS currently have this problem. After conferring with our Embassy in Delhi, we decided to push back two weeks to give them more time to work the issue. They also recommended I seek a letter from JNU, in case I need to use it to get a student visa (plan "B" if the Dip visas don't happen). I then spent the wee hours of Wednesday night/Thursday morning on the phone to Jawaharlal Nehru University, trying to learn the status of my admission.

The good news is that, after several calls (one of which consisted of them answering and spouting out: "Hello, lunchtime, no response!" ) At about 4 AM Chicago time I finally got the gentleman who knew my status. He said "Congratulation! You are accepted!" Those were the words I'd waited for since last November, but I had to act quick to get him to agree to fax a copy of the acceptance letter to the Embassy. He of course said he would, but it is hard to tell if he understood and agreed or merely told me what I wanted to hear (a very common practice). After relaying the good news to the embassy, they went the extra mile and found someone to go pick up the letter at JNU (I gotta take the embassy guys out for dinner after we get there!). I hope to see the letter soon.

In any case, we are learning to be patient with the Indian pace of life. We are grateful to be with family and spend a little extra time together. I am trying to keep up some Hindi practice (लेकिन बहोत मुश्किल है! हर दिन में कुछ नये शब्द सीखता हू ) ... admittedly it has been hard to focus on Hindi. I have been fortunate to bump into PIOs (People of Indian origin) both here and in Salt Lake, and It has been a lot of fun to speak to them in their mother toungue. I even chatted with a Bihari woman working at Subway in Laramie, Wyoming!

Meanwhile we keep smiling! मै जन्नता हू कि जल्दी जल्दी हम सुब भारत मे पहुंचेंगे!

Getting ready!

Following the excellent example of my wife, I am finally beginning my own record of our family's experiences. I believe this blog will be very important for us, and for our friends and family - as a record.

मुझे विश्वास है कि ये ब्लोग भुत महत्वपूर्ण होगा हमारे इतेहस के लिए - और हमारे दोस्तों और परिवार के लिए।

I will attempt to write part of this in Hindi, if for nothing else to get some practice! Although only Hindi readers will be able to tell, it will have some errors until I get the transliteration engine figured out.

We are now in Chicago, waiting for visas from the Indian Government, and hoping our move to India will begin as planned next week. After a solid month of time on the road and with family, we are ready for the adventure to begin!