Mumbai!

My fears were unfounded, as I predicted - I should have gone to Mumbai for the full weekend as planned.  I would have enjoyed it even by myself.

Yes Mumbai is huge and crowded, but it is a modern city.  Compared to Ahmedabad, it is a breeze to manuver as an American, as long as you have enough time to sit in traffic for a bit.  Signs (e.g. auto stand from airport) are well marked in english, and the lower working class seems much more comfortable with english than in Ahmedabad.  Westerners are more prevalent, so I was not stared at.  Mumbai seems lively and interesting.  A good place to live... ????  Only thing I wonder if it is too westernized.  I came to India to experience something completely different.  If I just want a great city, I can return to Philly.

I arrived during Janmashtami (Krishna festival, see pics).  There was a celebration close to the company guesthouse that I was staying.  I walked over and observed.  They make a human pyramid to break a hanging pot.  It is fun for all, despite some people getting hurt falling from failed human pyramids (I saw a nasty broken ankle).

My work function the next day was good too, but no one wants to hear about corporate yadda yadda.

Crowd observing

Another pyramid about to start.  Not much to see here except the awesome stache on the guy in the lower right corner

 Some red liquid poured from the broken pot onto the kid, now we celebrate!

Mumbai?

I am very dissapointed with myself.

I have been looking for an opportunity to get to Mumbai.  Any opportunity.  As I said before, it is a lively world-class city, and may be somewhere that I'd like to live before my stint in India is over (if it has an end anyway).  However, I don't want to consider moving there without visiting first.  Many Indians have warned me against moving there due to traffic/crowds/high cost of living.  However, I know that my preferences and interests often leave my Indian friends a little stumped, so I have decided to make up my own mind.

Lucky me got the opportunity, and an opportunity at no cost to me.  I have a work meeting at our Mumbai site on Tuesday.  With Monday being a holiday, that meant I could spend the long weekend in Mumbai, and flights would be paid for.

Unfortunately I don't really know anyone in Mumbai.  There were a few friends of friends, and one aquaintence, but nothing panned out.  I moved to India by myself, so I shouldn't be afraid to do some sight-seeing by myself.  But it seems that I have just run out of energy.  I am sick of being out of my element, being stared at, and of being unfamilar with my surroundings without the communication skills to figure out what to do.  I am very comfortable now in Ahmedabad.  But when I do NEW things, even here, I like to have someone with me to help.  Even if I was with another confused American it would be ok, that way I have someone to talk to and laugh with.

Not to mention Mumbai monsoon is much worse than Ahmedabad, and I hate rain.

So I will fly into Mumbai Monday night, do my work, then return immediately.  I regret my decision already.  Hopefully I will return soon, with a friend, after monsoon is done.

Weekend Trip #2

Trip 2:  Nainital

Yet another hill station!  For someone who prefers city vacations to nature vacations, I sure have been to a lot of hill stations (to my american friends, hill station = mountain resort).  This was a trip planned by my friends, so I didn't get any say in the destination.  I was just happy to tag along and see something new.

Just getting to and from Nainital is a blog worthy tale.  First took a sleeper train ticket from Ahmedabad to Delhi.  Almost missed the train due to late friends, heavy rain, heavy traffic, and an auto that broke down halfway to railway station.  The good auto driver helped us by running into traffic to flag a new auto.  Because it was a holiday weekend (India independence day), there was crazy traffic on the drive from Delhi to Nainital.  The 5 hour journey took 10 hours.  The crazy driver hit 3 other cars during the whole trip, at least making the journey interesting (and scary at times).

On the way back, heavy rains caused a sink-hole on the small road that our hotel was on.  We actually saw a car attempt to drive through the sink-hole (it was filled with water and fooled the driver into thinking it was a shallow hole).  Half the car went right into the hole!  There was no alternate road from the hotel to the main road, so we could not leave at the desired time.  I was worried that it would take days for a city road crew to come out and repair it.  Of course, Indians are resourseful and helpful, so within hours random citizens worked together to lift the car out, fill the sinkhole with bricks and rocks, and direct traffic safely.  We were on our way.

Halfway down the mountain we had to stop for 4 hours while a landslide was cleared by bulldozers.  We were able to watch them work.  Once again, it amazed me how fast they worked.  Probably it had something to do with not taking the proper safety precautions, but all got cleared without issue.  Later we had to backtrack 40km due to a washed out bridge.  I saw a truck tip over that ventured too close to the edge of a road.  Needless to say, I missed my flight home from Delhi to Ahmedabad, but got a flight the next day.  Unlike in US, any flight can be cancelled up to 2 hours before the departure, and all money will be refunded except 750 rupees ($17).  Granted, $17 is not inconsequential for my Indian income, but it is not a huge deal.

I wish I could have take pics of the sinkhole and mudslide, but my camera was already packed.

The mountain and lakes were beautiful.  We had fun sight-seeing, eating, and drinking.  We stopped in Delhi to celebrate Rakhi with Pranav's sister.  This is a holiday that a sister ties a bracelet on her brother and gives him gifts.

I did have some frustrations with my friends though, and I'm sure they were frustrated with me too.  They are masters of English, but Hindi is their first language, and I did feel left out of the conversation many times.  They will hardly walk anywhere, and taking the car in this overcrowded city often takes more time than walking.  But for me, walking around makes me feel good, and allows me to take in the city and the people in a way that you can't from a car.  Of course, they are indian, and experiencing the "people of india" is something they have done their whole life - so I understand.  I went out on my own a little and had the experience that I wanteded.  I just hope I wasn't so moody that they will withhold their invitation next time.

Rakhi festivities

Traffic Jam, yes, people travel on top of buses

Weekend trip #1

Trip 1:  Village in Uttar Pradesh

One of my friend's family lives in a village in Uttar Pradesh.  His family manages some mango and lychee farms, and he helps out.  He is also very close to his parents, brothers, sisters, and school friends there.  I was invited to stay with them a for the weekend

This family is Muslim.  Uttar Pradesh is predominantly Mulim and is considered to be a very dangerous state.  Of course that was told to me by Hindus.  Gujarat (where I live) is said to be the safest state.  But recently I was told by a Muslim that it was a very dangerous state.  Not long ago there were bad race riots in Ahmedabad, many were killed and Muslims were pushed out of many parts of the city.  I do not want to preach or give a history lesson, but the point is that there is a lot of racism here and "safety" is a matter of perspective.  Since I was staying with a Muslim family, I was not too concerned, but many friends did warn me that I was crazy to go.

Indian villages are not like American small towns.  They are very densely populated, not spread out in single family homes.  This village had about 8,000 people in a very very small area.

I am so glad that I went.  The family was so wonderful.  They spoke no English at all, and laughed at my poor attempts at Hindi.  They fed me wonderful meals.  The sister did mehndi on my arms.  I found out later that the mother invited a tailor to the house to measure me for an Indian suit as a gift, but there wasn't time to complete it before I left.

We went swimming in a canal, very refreshing on a hot day.  I toured the mango farms, and helped with the harvest and packing.  I got to ride a motorcycle through the countryside.  We also visited a friend's cricket bat "factory" (OSHA would have had a field day here, no safety measures at all).  Mostly I just enjoyed the hospitality.  Everywhere we went they pulled up a woven bed for us to sit, gave us tea and mangos, and just shot the shit.

These hooks on long sticks are used to pluck the mangos, then they are gathered from the ground

 

 

Cricket Bat Factory

No dust mask, no guard on the giant saw

Expat Dinner

I found a facebook group "Ahmedabad Expats" and joined.  Tonight we had a group dinner, and 12 people went.  Most people were meeting each other for the first time.  It was a good mix of American, UK, and Scandinavian.  Most had been in India for ~1 year, but spanned from 2 weeks to 5 years.

It was really nice to compare stories with other people living in India as expats, laughing about some of the funny things that Indians do.  I think a few will even become good friends here (a swedish born indian girl and a danish couple seem to have strong friend potential).  I will certainly go out for expat dinners on a regular basis now.

There were some people there that I have found to be your "typical expat", and not at all the type that I want to spend time with.  Most were living outside the city, in gated communities with all the amenities.  They have cars and drivers, play golf on weekends, would not dream of eating street food, and don't really have any indian friends.  There is nothing wrong with having money, but one shouldn't shut themselves off from having some local experiences.  What a waste to come halfway around the world and just live in a bubble mimicing the western world.

Did meet 2 guys that went to Ohio State, ugh!

I did have some excellent dim sum.  In India!  Who would have thought???

Crash! and boredom...

I wasn't sure whether or not to even blog about my small crash.  Some of you will worry too much about me.  But I should tell all...

Went out on my regular Sunday bike ride, just going up and down random roads for an hour or so.  I try to pick new roads every time.  Ahmedabad is a city of 5 million, so there are many roads that are still untravelled by me.  I use the sun to judge my direction, and usually make a big mishapen circle route ending back at home.

One new road that I took was heavily travelled and under construction, so the road was narrowed.  I was passing a bike to my left when they decided to take a right turn.  A family of 3 was on this bike (don't be surprised, I have seen 4 grown men on a bike before).  The woman on the back signaled the right turn but without any lead time.  I didn't have time to stop safely and I just veered right and hit them.  Thank goodness oncoming traffic stopped and didn't hit us.

I took off their mirror.  We all stopped and they looked at me like I was an idiot.  But we all just drove off without a fight or exchanging insurance info.  This is the indian way.

Other than that I am getting a little bored on weekends.  Work is fun and a nonstop source of entertainment (good and bad).  When I travel on the weekends to various parts of India, I am so happy.  (I have a pending post about my great village trip to Uttar Pradesh village, but am waiting for pictures).  When I am stuck in Ahmedabad it gets boring.  My friends here either hang out with family, go out for coffee/dinner, or go out to movies.  The american movies that come to India are usually only the worst ones (only Harry Potter and Indian vs. Aliens in the theaters now).  I am thinking that maybe a job switch to Mumbai would solve this problem.  We will see...