My 4th Consulting Trip to India after HUGE Landslide

On Wednesday, January 5, 1994, we start our consulting trip to India aboard KLM Royal Dutch Airlines and with our Royal Wing Card, we both enjoyed once again an upgrade into Business Class.
Around noon on Thursday, we landed in Amsterdam, The Netherlands and after calling my Parents, we headed to hotel Ibis for some rest and a shower. 
We departed for Bombay (Mumbai) India on Friday, around 10:30 and arrived on Saturday, January 8, by 1:00 at hotel Centaur Airport, the very same hotel Pieter stayed at during his DANGEROUS solo trip (see link below post).
We did rise early as we had a flight at 8:00 to Coimbatore.
From Coimbatore, the road by car up into the mountains and instead of the usual 2.5 hours it would take us today 3.5 hours because of a detour.
On September 30, 1993, the deadliest earthquake in Maharashtra, Mumbai, presumably caused an underground long tear, so the mountains shifted.

The Hindu Re-crowning the Queen of Hills for above image

From a distance we got to see this bare mountain side, it makes one skip a breath... 
Mother Nature's POWER.

Read more: Landslide Hazard Mitigation in the Nilgiris District, India

There was another 'cloud burst' on 11th November 1993 in the upper reach of Marappalam of Coonoor Taluk, about 18 huts situated below the road and washing away Coonoor MTP ghat Road for about 1.5 km. The road traffic was suspended for more than a fort night. Twelve persons lost their live and 15 persons missing. It is said that 21 passengers were washed away with two buses. An important highway, sheared stretched of rail road for about 300m.

To the right, the landslide damage is still visible...
We both have seen the rail road, the one that we traveled once to work that stretch, was sticking up  in the air like matches! See below post about My 1st Trip to India...
Like a giant hand had stripped the entire mountain side bare, removing everything in its path...

~

We did arrive finally at our guest house in Ooty, Pieter was as carsick as one can get from the longer road up into the mountains.
That was on Saturday, January 09.
This guest house's shower was a rather puritan experience!
No window, but a hole in the wall, that was only provided with metal slats, which did not close...
We had a small electric heater, to turn in any case not completely blue from cold, from shower to bedroom.
This also helped us with getting into our clothes fast; just like a couple of drilled soldiers!
Keep in mind - this is HIGH IN THE MOUNTAINS!

Lovely mountains... but rather cold and windy during the night!
On Sunday, January 10, we did drive through the mountains to the mushroom farm to start our work period together as consultants.

We always enjoyed our beautiful surroundings in the Queen of Hills

Mother nature can be rough at times but when the sun shines down, it looks awesome...

People in the mountains for sure are not wealthy...
This is how they live close to that mushroom farm.

Two donkeys on the side of the road...
Yes, India is a vast country and one of many contrasts!

Looking down on the mushroom farm, visible through the trees.

And here the mushroom farm is in full view...

Of course it is hard to capture it in one shot!
We did work intensely for one week and on Friday, January 14, we left from the farm, after a meeting with the entire staff, on our way to Coimbatore.
This time we could travel via the normal route as of 14:00 o'clock that day, they had opened a Bailey Bridge, put in place by the military, to be used for light vehicles.
There was a sign: One Vehicle at a Time but we saw another vehicle coming our way!
It looked terribly scary! In Indonesia we saw more often a land slide but never such a devastation as here!
The two of us are never afraid, but we both know for certain that there is really such a thing as a Guardian Angel!!!
A miracle often, that we once again got out unscathed.
Also good to see up close such destruction from a natural disaster!
This teaches us once more very clearly, that there is still someone who is many times more powerful than we, small measly ants on this little globe.

We arrived in Coimbatore and traveled again, like the previous consulting trip together, by train to Madras (Chennai). This stretch of some 600 km we managed in 10 hours, in a first class sleeping compartment. Two rows of bunk beds for 4 people. Both of us slept at the top.
One staff member was with us and another unknown businessman.

We arrived around 5:00 and were being dropped off at a chic Sheraton Hotel (far more luxurious in India than here in the USA!).
After a shower and change of clothes, we had our usual wrap-up meeting with the general manager from Pond's India, at their main office in Chennai.
It took quite some effort and even courage for always being straight forward, but still righteous, to give our opinion about things and people. This was required of our job, being consultants...
We always felt relieved, when starting the return journey.
With our luggage packed up again, we left around 14:30 to the airport of Madras.
Flying to Delhi, first class; thus they found us worthy of that!
We met again with our contact person whom we had not seen in two years, because of our non-stop direct flight to Bombay (Mumbai) but on Saturday, there was no Bombay/Amsterdam flight.

In completing the Royal Treatment, they brought us for one night to the Taj Palace Inter Continental Hotel...
Again, such a stark contrast with so many poor people in that country, such luxury for only two people!
We got up at 4:30 on Sunday, January 16 and started our flight back on Royal Dutch Airlines.
Again we got an upgrade to Business Class, due to our Royal Wing card and flew to Amsterdam, The Netherlands and on to Detroit, MI before going to Atlanta, GA.
Back in the USA...

Thanks for your visit and comment!

Related links:

Husband Pieter's DANGEROUS Trip back from India | previous post by me
My 3rd trip to India - Consulting Together with Husband Pieter | previous post by me
Consulting for Pond's (India) Limited Mushroom Project | previous post by me
My 2nd trip to India - Consulting Together with Husband Pieter | previous post by me
Brindavan Gardens Mysore with Luxury Heritage Hotel | previous post by me

Lalitha Mahal and Maharaja Palace Mysore | previous post by me
Chamundeshwari Temple and Chamundi Hills in Mysuru India | previous post by me
Trip from Ooty to Mysuru through Mudumalai Wildlife Sanctuary | previous post by me
Wearing a Saree for ONE Day and Lending my Jeans | previous post by me
Pond's (India) Limited Mushroom Project | previous post by me
My 1st Trip to India - Consulting Together with Husband Pieter | previous post by me
Husband Pieter's ADVENTUROUS 2nd Trip to India | previous post by me showing the Qutb Minar

Husband Pieter's DANGEROUS Trip back from India

Well, DANGEROUS it would be, even more than that...

On Monday, November 30 of 1992, I did drop Pieter off at the Atlanta airport for his solo flight to India, due to specific problems in which I could not consult.
So he flew on KLM Royal Dutch Airlines to Amsterdam, The Netherlands and on Tuesday he stayed at the Ibis hotel.
On Wednesday, December 01, Pieter flew non-stop to Bombay, now Mumbai, on this new flight.
He was seated in seat 9B, just behind Royal Class - our Courtesy Card always yielded good seats and often an upgrade!
Pieter also had booked the flight for Dad in March, with 10% senior discount for fl 1,074.00.
He arrived around 23:30 in Bombay and had to wait rather long before his red-white-blue banded suitcase appeared on the luggage carousel.
They did drop him off at the luxury hotel Centaur, Airport in Bombay, India.

Formerly known as Centaur Airport Hotel it is now renamed Hotel Sahara Star Mumbai, India click link.

What a luxury!
But on the way from International Airport to the hotel, Pieter did for the 1st time see Asia's most densely populated slum area...
India has such STARK CONTRASTS!

INDIA, the SLUMS of MUMBAI (BOMBAY) seen around the AIRPORT and after take-off, incredible views! Just click the link for a video...
At the time it were 2,000,000 people living in shanties on 1.5 square mile.
We all cannot realize enough how fortunate we  are for enjoying such preferential treatment in this world!
~
It has changed our lives forever... and we both have great difficulty each year when the Holiday Shopping Frenzy starts... All about $$$ and WANT!
And click here: Death-trap toilets: the hidden dangers of Mumbai's poorest slums.
On December 2, Pieter woke up early due to time difference and he did travel that day by plane to Coimbatore and than on by car into the mountains to Ooty.
With such a direct, non-stop flight to Mumbai, travel was a lot more relaxed!
That was Thursday...
Sunday, December 6, Pieter went very peaceful to a Catholic Church in Ooty.
But in the north of India this would turn into a Barbaric Sunday... with the demolition of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya.

  Rioting also had spread to Bombay, as published in our Dutch/US bi-weekly paper The Windmill

By Thursday, December 10, the Indian Government halted ALL traffic! 

Plants and offices had to close...
They were trying to calm the whole nation down! So far hundreds of dead from the clashes between Hindus and Muslims.

Pieter got instructed to remain inside the hotel, people from Pond's India staff, came to him, walking for still getting some work done and problems solved.
It was a scary situation!

Pieter was unable to call with the USA... So he was forced to try via The Netherlands to leave a message for me with my Parents.
The female switchboard operator tried time and time again, finally she got through! Only to hear my Dad hang up on her, as he thought it was a wrong connection.
She tried again and Pieter could take over, so Dad recognized his voice and Pieter than explained him about the dangerous situation he was in.
Dad in turn called me in Dublin, Georgia/USA with the message that Pieter was stuck in the South of India and couldn't travel and that it looked rather dangerous...
Finally, Pieter managed to get through with a call to the USA and informed me that on Friday morning by 5:00 A.M. (which would be still Thursday evening here in the USA, 18:30 the staff would try to move him out to Coimbatore, even though driving a car was still prohibited! 
But he desperately needed to leave the country!
The airlines in India were all on strike and also the trains...

The evening of December 10, 1992, I had to go to a Ladies Night from Pieter's Rotary Club.

I'd handed the Rotary Club's President a note, requesting prayers for Pieter, who would be on the road at that time, trying to get out of India, somehow!

Pieter was in danger... and they sure did pray for him!

When I came home that night, I had a hard time to go to bed.

Next day on Friday, December 11, for keeping my sanity, I did drive all the way to the Atlanta Antique Show... and then I stayed up.  Read all the magazines I had to still read, writing letters and stayed up with burning eyes till 2:30 on Saturday...

Calling once again with my Parents, but they had not heard anything yet... so I went to bed exhausted.

Then Mom called at 4:15 on Saturday, December 12, to tell me that Pieter had arrived at the railway station in Horst/Sevenum, The Netherlands and Dad was on his way to pick him up.

Pieter made it out of India SAFE!

By 5:15 Pieter called me and told me his incredible story.
Brother Martin gained a beautiful black lambskin jacket that Pieter had bought for him from Pond's Leather Garment Factory, just like his one from an earlier trip in February 1991. For only Fl. 200.00 quite a bargain!

~

Pieter had gotten the instruction to NOT talk at all, while they were driving the 2.5 hours down to the city of Coimbatore.
The driver, a courageous staffer from Pond's, would handle all the talking!

They got stopped by military a dozen times but each time they let them go on...

Also they passed through a rather dangerous area, where quite some turmoil was going on.

So they reached Coimbatore  airport, but of course no flights and no trains either.

In such a situation it proves valuable for working under the umbrella of a big and good company such as Pond's, a subsidiary of Unilever. They have power in such a case!

Via the grape vine they learned that a high ranking military guy had to fly from Coimbatore to Bombay in a usual 2.5 hour lasting flight.

It took a lot of money for getting Pieter, together with some more stranded business people working for Unilever (from Great Britain and the US) on the same flight with that military guy!

It was a small plane and they'd bribed a pilote for flying from the military airport to Bombay.

But all was not clear yet, due to the domestic airport being completely shut down, they now needed approval for landing at the international airport!

With numerous phone calls, that got cleared as well.

When Pieter landed in Bombay, it made him instantly feel almost home because soon he would be under the wings of KLM Royal Dutch Airlines and he would really be leaving!

Instead of the usual combi-jumbo for half freight/half passengers, used for this stretch, KLM had sent a full passenger plane because so many people got stranded in India during these riots.

What a grateful feeling for getting out SAFE!

The death toll had risen to 1,400...

On December 14, I could finally pick up my flying Dutchman at the Atlanta Airport!

END of a dangerous journey...

Our Historic Christmas in Italy - END of Romania's Communist Dictator

As most of you know, we lived and worked about one year in Italy.

That also included one Christmas...

Watching TV on Christmas day, in Italian and also in Romanian, which I understand for about 60% since it is one of the Roman languages.

 old Romanian: 'NIMIC FARA DUMNEDEU'

Meaning: 'NOTHING WITHOUT GOD'

On December 22, 1989 the Romanian Revolution had started.
On December 25, 1989 the communist dictator from Romania got executed together with his wife...
Execution of Romanian Dictator Ceausescu and his wife Elena on Christmas day 1989 click on link.

Quite shocking to see this unfold on TV on Christmas Day! 
Still former Communists dominated the country till 1996...
The place where both got executed is now a national museum.
We've never been to Romania yet... Well, in 2019 we did!

We didn't study politics, but traveling and working almost all over the globe, we have seen too much of the negative impact on the population as a result of communism and socialism. 
Almost all over the globe and including our then neighboring countries close to Italy, like Slovenia where our First Lady Melania is born.
In my work in Italy, I've trained several women from Slovenia who fled before the breakup of the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. 

We both lived in the Province of Treviso, near Venice, Italy.
Our cars did arrive per container from the USA, in the harbor of Trieste, which is right on the border with Slovenia.
We had to go there, to pick them up and driving both cars home.
Our First Lady Melania Trump is born in Novo Mesto, not far from Trieste.
Melania did grow up in Sevnica, which is only 2 hours and 15 minutes away from Trieste!

San Lorenzo in Raka, Slovenia where First Lady Melania got baptized

Melania Trump was baptized Catholic, confirms Slovenian Cardinal Franc Rodé click on link.
In an interview by Larry King in 2005 Melania is saying that she left Slovenia 15 years ago, so that means she left in 1990. We left Italy in January of 1990,
Click here and go to minute 12:37 where she starts saying this.
Husband Pieter and I can only admire our First Lady Melania Trump, for having come from such a difficult, communist environment and yet, having made it to Milan, Italy and later to Paris, France before coming to New York, USA while being a super model.
Now she is our classy and elegant First Lady!

On Thursday, August 3 of 1995, we had a Slovenian and Romanian Wrestling Team practice in our town of Dublin, Georgia/USA for the Olympics that were held in Atlanta.

Our local Chamber of Commerce called me to ask if I knew Slovenian or Romanian. No I said but I sure can understand Romanian and if I speak slowly Italian, we can communicate. That's what we did over supper and those men had an entire wish list for their girlfriends that I could translate into English and also point them to the right store for obtaining... They were very happy and we felt good as well.

Both of us also have visited another communist country, Hungary and we have seen with our own eyes the impoverished people's suffering.

As a matter of fact in 2019 we visited most of the previous Eastern European countries while on the Viking Danube cruise.

We only pray that more and more people in this world, still under communist rule, will get to experience their FREEDOM.
God forbid that our own USA is going the Socialist route...
We both have come a long way for escaping its vicinity and at times it looks like we're heading right into it!

Related links:

{Romanian box with Royal Blazon: Nothing Without God} | previous post by me