Day 4 - Headed to Lucknow!

The morning of day 4 was a little hectic as I had to pack and meet my friend for breakfast, rush up to the metro line that goes to the airport, and then to fly to Lucknow. It's not easy getting two people 1 suitcase and 2 bags into an auto rickshaw!




Breakfast consisted of what I would describe as masala French toast (I think I would try making this at home) and some sweet stuff like oatmeal but more mashed up. I liked it a lot but I'm not sure if I ate it everyday if it would become boon or bane to my waistline.




The whole time I have been in India so far people stare at me since I am a foreigner and my skin and hair are fair. I know I stand out. I just try to act normal and it's easier to do at an airport where people are used to foriegners. Upon reaching Indira Ghandi International I saw the whole airport in the daytime clearly, not in a jet lagged sleep deprived daze. The sun was shining and the dust that covers this region blanketed everything and created an ever looming haze outside. I think this is a mixture of dust that comes from the region and leftover smog. The city has changed it's public transportation away from oil products so air quality has improved somewhat from a few years ago from what I'm told.




I walked around the terminal and it's shops for time pass (how you pass time when bored) and saw some masala dosa place and some Mughlai cuisine as well. I avoided them as my flight was only an hour and I didn't want to spend on food when I just had breakfast. The smell of the non veg on the grill was tempting though.




I wandered into a magazine shop that had some books and DVDs as well. It was a little odd because right next to the cool Bollywood stuff was a section containing Playboy and other, erm, adult themed items.

I picked up Forbes magazine with a shiny silver cover featuring Shah Rukh Khan. This edition is talking about how Indian celebrities have made and sustained their fortunes. I also grabbed Filmfare so I could jam my brain with useless Bollywood gossip and look at photos of the likes of John Abraham and Saif Ali Khan while I waited for my flight.




While sitting in the terminal none other but a very likely American and most definitely a nerd walked by with thick glasses curly hair and a very fat travel book that simply said "India." I felt bad that he was likely being overcharged on everything! I really felt even just being here with a friend is by far a better experience than being a complete foriegner and not having a more personal connection with the place of visit.




Finally I boarded my flight, still a little frustrated I had to pay for some baggage overage, but took my front row window seat and settled in to watch the land roll by for the next hour. I really enjoyed seeing temples and other tall buildings that rose from the land and want to spend time with Google earth later on when I'm back in the USA to learn what I saw.




Finally I touched down, got my luggage and saw another friend waiting to greet me at the gate. I haven't smiled so big in a while!! This friend is about to get married in a few days and it will be in a most grand style. He has a driver who works for his family who took us from the airport to where his dad works at a botanical research guest house. It was roughly and hour ride and I noticed Lucknow is much less densely crowded than Delhi and seems more affluent as well. While still crowded and chaotic it was only half that of Delhi! My friend told me this is mostly due to this having always been a place where kings and queens and royalty would visit from the British.




I greeted my friend's father and while he speaks English I think he is a quiet person normally and more so being shy not knowing what to do or say to this gori. He was so incredibly kind, however. He let me stay in his guest house for an evening while there is a whole crew at his house preparing renovations and work for the wedding. I freshened up and put on a Salwar kameez (kind of an indian ladies suit) to properly meet my friends family. I wanted to make them feel comfortable as much as possible especially since my friend's mom doesn't speak English.




Before visiting his house and family we ran some errands. I got to see inside of a very large bank, and while it was a little boring waiting on all the finances for the wedding to be done, it was a very curious experience seeing and listening to how a bank here is compared to one from the West. Afterward I got to see the area and house my friend has grown up in. He was pointing out where he and his friends would meet to just chit chat and enjoy some food for a short while and also where he went to school. If I had spent roughly 20-25 years in this area I think I would feel happy and fond to be home. I am looking forward to meeting his fiancée, I think she'll be perfect for him. They have known each other for sometime and he works in the tech industry and dresses very well, while she is a fashion designer. Hoho, truly a match made in heaven and they even look like they belong together!




I felt shy reaching his house. It is a tall 3 story one that's white with orange accents. He introduced me to his mom and I bowed and put my hands together and said, "Namaste." She gave her blessing to me putting a red substance called tikka on my forehead and some rice. Ill have to ask more of the meaning behind this tradition. Then she fed me a sweet and invited me in. I met many aunts uncles and cousins and a maid. We talked for some time as some of the elders were asking questions and my friend patiently translated. The whole time we were treated to tea and snacks and then a dinner of paranthas and sabji with some veg curry. It was delicious! I was impressed by the hospitality and had no idea how much I was about to bond with this family. They were a little impressed I could speak a little bit of Hindi- and over the next several days my skill would increase a little also!




We then left and went for some shopping so I would have something to wear for the wedding. We went to this shop that had the most amazing clothes- I wanted to buy so many things but still haven't fixed my situation with money yet. Still working on that! I later found out that this shop was in a place called Bootnath Market. I could definitely go for shopping here on the weekends if I lived nearby!




I picked out a red one that is a little tight they will need to alter it, I suspect it's not too much trouble. At least it shouldn't be expensive even if the dress was a little bit.




Afterwards we returned back to the guesthouse where I stayed the night. There I met Piyush's uncle and he was very friendly. Curious and bold about this gori. He seemed like an uncle from a college like a professor type. I recognized the longtime Lucknow accent when he spoke as it reminded me of some coworkers from AT&T.




The hospitality is too generous and a little suffocating. I've ended up with a room full of snacks sweets fruits and an unfortunate bottle of expired orange juice. I'd really enjoy an orange juice right now. I didn't mind though, I had a place where I could sleep peacefully- and also watch Bollywood songs on UTVStars channel on the TV. I also, thank the heavens, had hot water and a western toilet!

Photos from India!

Here's a nice little slideshow of my travels in India. This set does not include the wedding photos. I'll have a separate post for them.

Day 3

Today I was supposed to go to Agra to see the Taj Mahal. I found out the phone I got wasn't charging and still didn't have wifi or money. It took quite some time in the morning to get a new charger, realize the bank had blocked my ATM card because of charges in Dubai, and I had to borrow my friends phone to figure all this stuff out.


I needed to have a way to communicate throughout my time here so I spent time fixing all of these things and it was 11 am by the time I got a new charger, borrowed a phone to send an email and figured out options to wire money.


I had cholay bhature for breakfast at the hotel at then met up with my friend to at least get to see some really cool parts of Delhi since we would have reached the Taj with only an hour left to visit. Ill try to see it from Lucknow or on last few days of my trip.


The morning smells as I had walked out of the hotel were a cacaphony of firewood burning, animal piss, food cooking, fresh fruit from the carts and sizzling dishes of what the street vendors were making. In a way I was getting used to this smell or almost looking forward to it since it always had something interesting and different. I thought maybe my sense of smell would be keen enough to know exactly where fresh rotis were being cooked.


The sun rising played nicely on the dust that always exists like a blanket on the city and I snapped some pictures while running errands. While getting the phone charger fixed a very lean aunty (an Indian woman approximately your mother's age, like addressing a woman as "Mrs.") approached me asking for food. She appeared genuine, but you never know. It's heartbreaking but I cant fix everyone's problems here and I again don't know if she's truly begging or working for someone. I had to ignore her as I didn't even have spare change myself at this point. My day would be sponsored by my friend.


The first place he took me was through the metro system to Indraprastha and we took an auto a few miles away to the memorial park where Gandhi's funeral pyre was.


Here there are carefully manicured lawns similar to near India gate and parliament buildings. There's a ramp that goes up in the center of the field and let's you look down at the memorial area, or you can take off your shoes and go to the center and pay your respects.


A local school had taken a field trip here so as I walked upwards on the ramp I was greeted by a hundred smiling and curious faces. Teachers with bamboo sticks were shoeing the boys out of the bushes and onto the proper places on the lawn. Green parrots were flying overhead in and out of the nearby trees. I could look down and feel the gravity of one of the most well known men in the world where there was a small pool where the pyre would have been and again a flame that burns and will never go out to honor Gandhi It seemed like a place locals trek to but I also spotted a Sardar (Sardar is also colloquially used to refer to adult male followers of the religion of Sikhism) with a tour group following him with a mix of foriegners.


Afterwards we went towards old Delhi where there was a large mosque called Jama Masjid and some semi famous hotel foreigners stay at. Here there seemed to be even busier markets and I saw a child going through some goods on a table and was picking up stickers of Salman Khan and a few other Bollywood actors. I wanted to stop and buy some but I hope I'll have better luck shopping in Lucknow. There was a large Muslim population where we were at so even in the heat I was wearing my jacket to avoid too many stares. It is respectful and easier if you stay covered up. Definitely keep a scarf handy for that!


We tried to enter the masjid but three guys tried to take money charging for having a camera. They seemed suspicious even to me as most monuments and places i had seen so far have clear places to buy tickets and enter. Foreigners are charged like 5x that of locals too. My guide talked to a young helpful looking desi and he recommended we go in through another gate where because I was wearing jeans they would charge me and give me a Salwar to wear. I know if I go I Agra now to wear something like this and to cover my head with a dupatta scarf too.


My friend didn't like the kind of exploitation happening here so we walked a while to catch an auto and I got to see the Sunday market happening at Chandni Chowk. People were buying new shoes socks and jeans on the street and in the traffic folks were trying to hawk suits and magazines and odd shaped balloons for kids. On the motorbike in front of us a young boy on the back of his dads bike was excited to get this large balloon as dad paid maybe 5 rs to the vendor.


The auto rickshaw took us to the area where the Red Fort, where the Mughals ruled around the 17th century. It's incredible looking at Old Delhi and this impressively large fort thinking very little has changed in the last several hundred years. Again, for tickets to the fort I had to pay like 150rs and my friend only 10 because he's Indian.


We strolled through the opening which was filled with tourists of all kinds, including a disgruntled German we saw earlier at the mosque. I don't think he liked paying the gora tax.


There are emporiums lining the entrance to the fort- places where not many people were shopping because the goods for sale like jewelry and trinkets were clearly overpriced.


Once we finished walking through this long hall it opened up into a large well maintained grounds about the size of a football stadium, maybe two. We could stand right in front of where the Mughal king would sit on his throne and make decrees and also some guesthouses and museums. It was amazing to see such a place since the US doesn't have anything that I've seen thats quite so large or old. I felt a sense of awe and wonder. Now that India has its independence it can try to benefit from the buildings it's conquerers have left behind. Even the government buildings I saw earlier had been built by the British.


I delighted in taking photos of the many interesting folks by the fort, but soon after walking so much worked up an appetite. Strangely, I've been told KFC has much better chicken here than in America. Well it's true! We took a long autorickshaw ride to a large mall called Select City Walk. As we pulled up I could see a very large, tall building, and outside there was a construction pile with a man standing at the very top, peeing. If you're a guy in India it seems you can just go wherever, and whenever you want, no one minds. I felt a little embarassed though because he was looking around and when he saw a white blonde going by in the auto his stream just cut off mid-pee. Poor dude, wasn't expecting to see me! I think place is the largest mall in Delhi and we actually did eat at KFC. They have a curry flavored fried chicken that's delicious and I hope it comes to the US very soon!


I tried to take photos in the mall but the guards were afraid I was taking videos. Security checkpoints are installed in many large public places and they mean business. I'm glad to see security a priority but its sad also that India is caught between many warring countries and factions and actually requires such security. I wonder if these measures have prevented or stopped any bad events that may have happened, or if its more reactionary.


In this mall you could find almost anything you could think of. Western stores mixed with eastern. The most beautiful designer saris and suits and lots of jewelry stores. The wedding stores were gorgeous too with mannequins with bride and groom. Since Valentine's day was right around the corner there were lots of displays all around. It seems to have taken off as a super cute popular commercial holiday here. I even saw some guys with trucks on the side of the road selling big pink fluffy bears and cheesy items. Nothing says you love your girl more than a big pink stuffed bear bought by a creepy guy on the side of the road!


I was feeling pretty jet lagged so after eating I returned to the hotel to chill out for a while since I was tired from walking around all day. After some rest we went out at night and walked around a little bit and tried to get my ATM card situation fixed. If I was feeling more energetic I would have tried to see a movie theater or go to a club, but I was pretty overwhelmed with the crowd. Delhi is just wall to wall people at any time of day or night. I also wasn't too sure what kind of attention I might attract in a club just being white. I talked to my friend and we decided to just chill out so I could get rest and be ready to get up and get to the airport to fly to Lucknow the next day.


I think the next time I travel to India I'll stay a little longer in some places and shorter in others now that I've experienced jet lag and know more of what to expect. I can budget my time better and if I am passing through Delhi I'll know where to go and where to avoid. It was really difficult I wish my friends could take more leave and spend more time with me, I'd truly have a difficult time without help negociating and knowing where anything is. Imagine being in a place where you can't read an address or street sign! Its really amazing!