Fleeing the floods

With no sign of an end to the resurgent monsoon, and everything from here to Nepal getting up to 5 inches of rain per day for several days, I decided to change my plans a bit. It's not clear that some of the spots I'd have liked to have seen in far NE India will even be possible this season (possibly no window between the monsoons and when the winter snows close the mountain passes).

I also feel like part of the reason I just can't kick this cold is wading through floodwaters to even eat (though I did cheat and take Luxman up on his offer of breakfast in bed this morning - almost like a 4-star hotel!). At least the antibiotics got rid of the first symptom, but I've still got this 102+ fever between Tylenol doses, going on 5 days. At least it's now accompanied by the things that usually mean it's about to go away (stuffed up and coughing like I have TB - I don't, according to the test results!). But I don't see myself shaking that here.

So, I booked a flight to Delhi today (one of only two sunny cities in India for the next week), making use of a highly recommended travel agent (same owner as my hotel). He was able to get me a better fare than Indians are eligible for (foreigners usually get screwed on airfares here, paying nearly double the locals). I also felt like I could justify taking a 2-hour flight instead of a 20-hour train trip. Plus, I get to fly Air Sahara! It even sounds exciting, though I hope they remember to stop in Delhi.

A few more things today made me really glad I'm flying on (more unnecessary use of bullets):

• Fire this afternoon in the only stairwell in my building. I looked out, and someone was running up from the first floor to grab the only fire extinguisher, on the 4th floor. It was apparently caused by an electrical short in the main power panel (probably triggered by more flooding), but it took them a bit to put out. It also got me to thinking about where the fire escape was... At least there's one window on the 4th floor that doesn't have bars on it, but the water isn't quite deep enough yet to dive into.
• Reports in the local paper that they're starting to have issues with the big pumping stations that keep the city sorta dry. Sound familiar?
• More fun news that train service may also be suspended shortly, with folks being stuck all night last night due to flooding.

Fortunately, I still have way too much stuff that I want to see to fill the time I have. I may wander back to this part of India when the monsoons finally pass (again). There are even quite a few things in Kolkata I'd still like to see when I'm well enough to really explore, but I feel like a week here was quite enough.

Anyway, time to catch a quick shower and head to bed. Apparently I need to allow 3 hours to get to the airport with morning traffic (what was about a 15 min drive at 2am) - 13 million people and no freeways!