R2I - ARRIVAL IN INDIA

We landed in India at about midnight. The plane journey turned out to be better than what we had expected. The kids had slept and eaten well and we also had a chance to catch a few hours of sleep. One of the things we were worried was custom clearance. We had 13 bags with us and anyone could make out that we were NRIs. We were not carrying anything that would interest custom officials, but you never know. One big question we faced when we were packing was what to do with Arti's jewellery. We couldn't send any valuables in the shipment and so we had to carry it with us. However we did not have any documents to prove that it was for our own personal use, has been more than 1 yr old and is not a gift to someone. We were worried that custom officials would give us unnecessary trouble over it. In one of the phone calls, Asim (Arti's brother) suggested that both of us wear cargo pants (shorts) and stuff the jewelry in our pockets once the plane lands in India. The thinking was that custom clearance entails only passing all bags through the X-ray machine. AFAIK it does not involve in-person checks. So here we were, after immigration and getting our bags, going towards the customs check with 2 kids, 13 bags, tired faces and minds and some pockets stuffed with jewelry. We were surprised to learn that we had already passed custom clearance. All they did was take the custom slips from us and waved us on without even looking at the bags. Phew!! That was the smoothest custom clearance I have ever had in my life. So we moved towards the exit gate with high spirits. We (and more so the kids) were immensely relieved to find my parents waiting for us at the exit. As soon as we stepped out of the airport, there was a wonderful breeze blowing, rain was in the air and the temperature was a perfect 18C. It felt very refreshing and all of our worries and stress were temporarily forgotten. Ooohhhhhh.... did it feel good or what. The kids were happily playing with my parents, drivers were getting 2 cars, it has started raining, we could just stretch our arms and soak in the breeze mixed with little rain.....We reached our service appt (in central bangalore) within 30 mins. As soon as all of our luggage was brought up, we kept N down and he started walking as if he had been doing it for the last few months.He was over 17 months old and could potentially walk but had no inclination to do it so far in seattle. The only time he had tried to walk was in june when we had visited bangalore for 3 days. So back to bangalore and here he was happily walking like a drunkard with a cute smile on his face.... Or maybe he took a look at the floor and decided dirty feet were better than dirty butt (he did butt scooting before). The mysteries in the life of a toddler.....