January 15, 2013 - Operation Box Freedom

Up early to assemble the troops and mount our offensive...

And now we are in Dehradun.

The good news - we got out of New Delhi with our sanity intact and 13 of 14 cartons.

The bad news - we had to leave 15 of 16 boxes behind.  Or is that good news?

It was an interesting day, traveling from the FDA to the Ministry of Finance, and then on the road.

January 14, 2013 - more New Delhi

Another day in the land of bureaucrats...

Again, poor bandwidth and will add photos and more detail when I get the power, but it was basically a day of waiting, visiting offices, traveling to Ministry of Silly Walks and Additional Commissioners, and enjoying the gridlock that is New Delhi. We thought the boxes would simply be cleared for us, but were stonewalled all the way to the top.  Finally a man at the Ministry of Finance gave us a punch list of things to get and do before we would be approved for release of the boxes from customs. 

We did manage to get 13 of the 14 cartons out.  The remaining one has some drugs, so we have to make an application for these to come in, which will mean another couple of trips tomorrow.  We had 5 items to fax and copy, get signatures, and submit to the Ministry, and then they need to assemble 5 people for a meeting and approval.  We were warned that it is budget season, and it may take some time to get everyone together; hopefully not two weeks.  We followed this list to a T, dropped off the required paperwork, and were told they would get to it.

This sign was posted in one of the offices for us to read as we waited.  Guess we might be expecting too much.

 

And waiting in yet another office - a very sweet woman kept us comfortable with tea and biscuitsk, and we stayed in her office a couple of hours waiting to see the minister.  

She had a sign about productivity behind a man who was scrolling through youtube videos of religious music.  Kind of an office DJ.  Sorry this one photo is so large.

Made a new friend at the airport - a sweet dog with a wrap on that looked dirty and old.  Looked like she was lost and I fear she will never be found if I take it off.  She was so well behaved and adorable I would have taken her home if not 1/2 way around the world.  It was painful to see her, looking hungry and thirsty.  I tried to get a group of men playing cards in a shed (they were some kind of work crew, not working of course) to give me a bowl of water, but they asked why and then immediately laughed and sent me packing.  Living in a city of homelessness and poverty can make you heartless.  Here she is looking demure.

And finally, hoping for tummy rubs!

Back to the same hotel, this time with Kush as well.  We sat in our room until 1 a.m. making lists and planning for our day tomorrow.  Armed with goals and determination for our final push and campaign, we went to our respective rooms and fell into a deep sleep. 

January 13, 2013 - New Delhi layover

Sorry for the spotty posting; I am still in New Delhi and have not had enough bandwidth to get photos up.  I will add photos and some matching text to the first post, and to this one when I get to Dehradun, hopefully before tomorrow.

Three of us are still in New Delhi - our local surgeon Kush, our translator Nisha, and myself as a representative of the team doctors (and the most redundant) - working our tails off to get the medical equipment from detention in New Delhi.  There was a glich in preparation of transport of such items into the country, and they want to check it over on several excruciating bureaucratic levels before they will release it.  Nisha and I spent all day at the airport in customs with the boxes while everyone was called (it was a weekend day, so difficult to do), and no one would give permission to override any of the rules for entry.  Kush was orbiting in the background outside, thinking that the boxes would be released at any moment.  We are calling ourselves "The Three Boxkateers." 

Finally Nisha and I left for a hotel when we realized the boxes weren't going anywhere, and after a long ceremony of tying each box with string and sealing with a wax seal (melted and placed as we watched), we signed off on our collection and went to a local hotel.  We treated ourselves to room service and crashed at about 7:30 pm.

Jet lag and sleep disorders being what they are, I woke at about 1:30 a.m. and read, checked email, and passed the time until I could fall asleep for another short nap before getting up.  I knew Monday was going to be another long day, so had to brace myself for what daylight might bring to us...

What unfolded was another day of waiting.  It was Monday, and all the awaited officials had arrived, and no one would budge on this issue.  It wasn't a matter of bribing; our group did not prepare the box entry correctly and to do it from within the country is always a long bureaucratic ordeal. 

We got names of several people we had to see, from Customs agents on up to the Ministry of Finance.  The Ministry is in the middle of making the 2013 budget, so we were warned they were busy.  Everyone was very kind and helpful, but not so far as to clear our equipment.

Our last stay at the Ministry ended late in the evening, so we made another return to the hotel and had room service.  It didn't take long for sleep to wash over us and take us hostage.