well i've indeed arrived once again in india. despite a long, complicated series of flights and delays in getting here (suffice it to say that instead of one layover i had a three-leg flight, hours of waiting, and people tracking my progress over three continents). eventually i arrived, at 2.30 in the morning rather than 5.45 in the evening. it was nice to see a friendly face, although after waiting for me for five hours, jimmy's face was less than friendly. (which i hope was mostly remedied by the southern comfort i supplied from duty free.)
after the unpleasantness of the flight/s, i was able to sit back and enjoy being in india. and my first realization? rain! rain in india was something i had never experienced before. when we arrived in karnal (jimmy's village in haryana), we were surrounded by green grass, brooding skies and rolling clouds. (clouds!) it was lovely. karnal in general was nice - and it was so wonderful to stay with a family (particularly my good friend's) so far from home.
from there, despite much protesting from jimmy's mother, i had to go back to delhi for a fulbright orientation. another one. this one was at the taj, which has got to be one of the fanciest hotels in asia (and has won awards to this effect). they had hundreds of fresh roses in arrangements every day. they had actual museum-quality Shah Jahan (18th c.)-era pieces all over the lobby. the breakfast had three kinds of honey, include one that was collected from a honeycomb suspended a foot above the glass bowl. so between spending days in the hotel's rooftop conference room and being shuttled to the public affairs officer's (i'm sure) multi-million dollar home for a fancy dinner, it didn't feel much like india.
it wasn't until 3 days in to our trips, when we touched down in mumbai, that it started to feel like india. bombay is such a sprawling city.. things just fit wherever they can. comparisons with delhi seem impossible to avoid so i'll just say that in delhi things seem more orderly somehow. chaotic, but orderly. in bombay things are everywhere: beggars and businessmen, old crumbling buildings at the foot of (literally) one of the most expensive apartments in the world, trees growing up through fences and along roadsides between skyscrapers, and bustling (or halting) traffic next to a calming sea. outside bombay central, the black and yellow of the autos add to their bumblebee resemblance, buzzing through the streets, swarming around train stations and shopping centers. so far i'm really enjoying the city - and reveling in all its wonderful contradictions.
after the unpleasantness of the flight/s, i was able to sit back and enjoy being in india. and my first realization? rain! rain in india was something i had never experienced before. when we arrived in karnal (jimmy's village in haryana), we were surrounded by green grass, brooding skies and rolling clouds. (clouds!) it was lovely. karnal in general was nice - and it was so wonderful to stay with a family (particularly my good friend's) so far from home.
from there, despite much protesting from jimmy's mother, i had to go back to delhi for a fulbright orientation. another one. this one was at the taj, which has got to be one of the fanciest hotels in asia (and has won awards to this effect). they had hundreds of fresh roses in arrangements every day. they had actual museum-quality Shah Jahan (18th c.)-era pieces all over the lobby. the breakfast had three kinds of honey, include one that was collected from a honeycomb suspended a foot above the glass bowl. so between spending days in the hotel's rooftop conference room and being shuttled to the public affairs officer's (i'm sure) multi-million dollar home for a fancy dinner, it didn't feel much like india.
it wasn't until 3 days in to our trips, when we touched down in mumbai, that it started to feel like india. bombay is such a sprawling city.. things just fit wherever they can. comparisons with delhi seem impossible to avoid so i'll just say that in delhi things seem more orderly somehow. chaotic, but orderly. in bombay things are everywhere: beggars and businessmen, old crumbling buildings at the foot of (literally) one of the most expensive apartments in the world, trees growing up through fences and along roadsides between skyscrapers, and bustling (or halting) traffic next to a calming sea. outside bombay central, the black and yellow of the autos add to their bumblebee resemblance, buzzing through the streets, swarming around train stations and shopping centers. so far i'm really enjoying the city - and reveling in all its wonderful contradictions.
1 comment:
Looking forward to making these observations about Mumbai myself.
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