However I have to admit I did arrive in Delhi, Capital of Mother India, with high expectations. I was looking forward to the new airport – after all the nightmares at the old one, any change would be good, I thought.

And that did live up to expectations. Love the different Buddha hand gestures that await you at the immigration counter (pictured) – somehow they imbue you with a sense of peace even if you have to wait in a long queue and the guy ahead of you has a problem with the immigration officer.

This particular immigration officer reminds me of my old headmistress in school. She’d sit at her desk in her office while us kids waited outside for our turn and each time she bellowed “Next”, we’d quake in our shoes.

His bark though is worse than his bite. I was welcomed into his country and wished a pleasant journey.

At this stage though, I don’t know how pleasant it will be because I am still at the stage of being obsessed about staying connected because like all entrepreneurs for whom there is no life-work-play balance, just life, I simply must have access to my everything or else I will …

And this is where my high expectations have been dashed slightly. Having heard all about how super connected and mobile India is, I had expected it not to be a problem to get a pre-paid data card so I can be my own mobile hot spot.
So when I saw the Airtel counter advertising “super fast 3G data card”, I made a beeline for it. 

“Can I have a data card please?” I asked.

“Sure,” he said, shaking his head.

“This will allow me to access data, right?” I asked, to be sure.

“No.”

“It’s a data card, right?” I asked, to be doubly sure.

“No data, cellular,” he said, nodding his head.

“But your sign?” I said, pointing to the big red billboard.

“Oh,” he said, nodding, shaking and waving his hand, “that’s just advertising.”

And so you have it. There’s a lot of advertising at the airport about USB modems, 3G, video streaming in a flash but that’s all it is.

I went to three separate counters and got the same story. No data, only 2G cellular. Imagine my elation when I found one counter that said it had a USB modem with pre-paid data. After 20 minutes of negotiating and understanding its limitations and conditions, I found out it didn’t work with my Mac.

“Is this Mac compatible?” I asked.

I got a lot of head nodding and shaking which didn’t exactly shed light on the question.

Finally, the guy said, “Please call customer service.”

“Aren’t you customer service?” I asked.

“No, only sell.”

So as I write this, he’s sold me a local SIM card – I had to get something after all that exploration of India’s cellular network – which will give me roughly 10 text messages, one international call (depending how long I talk) and 5 telephone calls.

Not sure how useful that will be but I live by the principle it’s better than nothing.

I suspect though that by the time I get to Rajasthan the same evening, all this obsession about connectivity would have been blown away by the desert wind and I’ll be content to just enjoy the camel ride into the sunset. Rajasthan unplugged, here I come.