Mumbai is huge and full of people. This is my first time visiting.
There was a snowstorm in DC and this led to me missing connecting flights and getting redirected through multiple carriers to finally arrive in Mumbai. I was compelled to go to Delhi and from there to Mumbai in order to arrive in time for pride. I had trouble getting a boarding pass there and called Nandan to let him know what was up. The first thing he told me was “Welcome to India! Your problems begin now!”
While waiting in Delhi I met some other people who had also left from DC into Doha and were now in the same situation as me, where Qatar had given them papers which were not being accepted for an onward flight. We were gathered near an information desk waiting area and when an airline rep arrived I thought it was strange that the scheduler would tell me and four other people to sit together for the same issue but not tell us about each other. I had not seen these people before and they had not seen me, but when the representative asked who had the issue with Qatar Airways we all spoke up and recognized the situation. The solution was to wait another hour then suddenly he returned, took us to a counter, and had the agent print us boarding passes for our onward flights. Anywhere else in the world I would say that the representative spent the hour arranging for our business, but when he told the agent to print our tickets I am almost sure that he just did this on his personal authority with the agent knowing nothing more, and I wondered if he could have done that in the beginning. Also, my bag did not follow me through this and I had to collect it from the airport the day after I arrived. The rebooking and baggage collection was all smooth and no time was lost in getting to my destination because of all this, but the process of the rebooking and the fact that in claiming one checked bag I had to show my passport to ten people and sign my name for half of them just reminded me very well of what it means to be in India.