If it's Monday, it must be Delhi~

After most of gathered at the Ramada Hotel in Delhi, from various travels in numerous areas of India, we enjoyed a day of exploring the sights, sounds and yes, smells of Delhi - both the old and new. Mos of the folks who had not been to India, or at least to Delhi, traveled by coach to Qutab Minar (one of the tallest minars in all of the Muslim world) as well as Humayun's Tomb and the Red Fort. This was all followed by shopping.

A few of us had some other errands to attend to and met up with our DREAM TEAM at about 6:00 at the hotel lobby. From there, we left by coach and were taken to another section of Delhi, here we all attended a meeting of the Rotary Club of Delhi - Megapolis - out host club and partner. We arrived in good time to the meeting and were greeted by Vikram Sahny, president of the club, as well as Navneet - the club's vice-president. We were so warmly welcomed by other club members, as they began to arrive. Regardless of the time stated on a meeting notice or a formal invitation, one must remember to be a Rotarian, one must be flexible accept INDIA TIME as the norm. This simply stated mean we will accept all scheduling and if the meeting time states 7:00 p.m., that means the time is the first anyone would ever be expected to arrive, but in reality, the actual time of the meeting would be a minimum of two hours after the stated beginning. INCREDIBLE INDIA!

Following the social hour, President Vikram called the meeting to order and proceeded to welcome us "officially". Then a most astounding thing happened - the playing (and singing) of the national anthems from seven countries - each one to be sung by those folks representing the particular. The first was INDIA, followed by the US National Anthem, then Canada, France, Iceland, Australia and finally, England. An absolutely smashing way in which to show everyone the incredible internationality of our organization - ROTARY INTERNATIONAL. Following this, Sanjiv Saran played a video of about five minutes, in which is described in great detail, the accomplishments of this tiny club, which up until now has been about twenty-five members! Once concluded the "formal" part of the meeting was replaced by reports from me (as team leader), followed by an even briefer report from a representative of each of the remaining countries.

Other than meeting, greeting and eating, when the meeting finally concluded BEFORE eating, we were welcomed once again and invited to quietly stand by as one new member of the Rotary Club. We then heard the bell once again, indicating a wonderful meal awaited us. We returned o the hotel and slept or packed or tried to access the Internet. Al Gore, where are you when we need you???