Originally posted by: Descartes
Well, I made it. I don't have any pictures uploaded, but I thought I'd update anyway. The wife is off doing various poojas, and I'm sitting here drinking loads of coffee and watching Telugu movies.
So, it's been an experience. That's about the best way to describe it. There's so much, that I really haven't begun to figure out what I think about everything.
The wedding itself was incredible. It started at 4AM and stopped at 4AM the next day. I've never been so exhausted. I'm a bit of an introvert as well, so being thrown into 24 hours of hardcore socializing was a bit rough on me. I'll post some videos on YouTube when I get them if anyone is curious.
My wife's grandmother died the day after the wedding. She had two heartattacks a week or two before we got here, but she was relatively stable when we got here. She couldn't make it to the wedding, but the wife and I were able to see her. She couldn't talk much, but she told her caretakers that she wanted to wear her best saree when she met her granddaughter's husband. She died a few hours later.
Everyone in the family says that she waited to see me. She just wanted to know who married her granddaughter (they were very close) and that she was happy. It's hard being saddled with thoughts of being the last person of the family to see her alive, but I guess it's at least a happy moment that my wife was able to see her again.
Anyway, the death changed a lot of our plans. My family (mom and brother) ended up going to Agra, Jaipur and Delhi alone, and that alone had I think about 25 hours of travel. Some highlights:
1) Taj Mahal is beautiful. That's probably no surprise. It's much more impressive in person than in photos. The scale of it can't be captured properly.
2) Agra Fort is impressive. The view from the fort of the Taj Mahal is great. I got a lot of nice photos of this.
3) Jaipur seems like a nice place. I enjoyed my time here. The Amber Fort was a lot of fun, and so was the elephant ride up.
4) Delhi is also a nice place. Qutar Minar was incredible. The food is good, the people are nice and there's plenty to do. I got to see Gandhi's assassination site as well.
5) We went to Avanaram (sp?). Nice place. We did a pooja there and everyone was very nice.
6) Went to Tirupati. Insane. We climbed the 3600 steps over the mountains to get there. I did ok, the wife almost passed out after the 2000th step I think. The temple itself is beautiful. We did two poojas there. I got to see the God, and that was an experience I can't really capture in words. The rushing of the crowd, the drums, the fire, the temple... it was all surreal.
This is getting long, and I'm quite sure no one is going to read all this without photos, so I'll summarize if only for my own benefit
1) People stare... a lot. I get this in the states as well, especially when I go to Indian gatherings; however, this takes it to a whole new level. I've had positive responses and some negative ones. Part of it might be the fact that I've been seen walking around in everything from Western-wear to a traditional dhoti, but usually it's just because I'm the only white person in sight. I'd like to think it's because I'm just that good looking, but reality sets in.
There were a group of kids at Qutar Minar in Delhi that came over literally by the hundreds just to shake my hand. Kids seem to be really responsive to foreigners. Always smiling and waving.
2) Traffic isn't as insane as I thought it was in the beginning. There really is some reason to the madness. I stopped caring when the driver decided to pull into oncoming traffic or in front of a water buffalo. It just seems to work itself out. I think I've figured out the "system" of the horns, flashing lights and order of precedence when it comes to traffic.
3) Soda/pop/soda-pop/Coke tastes better here. I think it's because actual sugar is used? Not sure.
4) The food isn't as good as I thought it would be. I had some absolutely insipid nonsense in Jaipur. I make better Indian at home. I had some great food in Delhi and even better food in Hyderabad. I've taken a great liking to being able to get some tandoor chicken at just about any time of day.
5) Tipping is insane. Everyone wants a tip. Everyone quotes me at least 2x the actual price. Even in the temples, the priests would hit me up for a tip. They'd usually say a few things in Hindi, asking me if I'm from Calcutta to which I respond "No, America." When it came time to complete the pooja or distribute prasadam, they'd always say "Dakshan?" (I forget how to spell it, sorry). This happened in every temple. I didn't think it was the appropriate place.
Also, the band during the wedding created a scene when they wouldn't let me enter the room again without tipping. They blocked the doors and started playing music. They wouldn't move for less than 500Rs. Crazy.
That's about it. My other post will be short and sweet. I'd like to just share a few of the pictures as I got some really nice shots with my XT.
Hope all is well with ATOTers.
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