just arrived (the discovery of India road trip)

Thursday, 10 December 2015

Arriving in Bombay was a bit of a disappointment. Aesthetically, the airport has been vastly improved, but come to the immigration hall, and there were only about a third of the booths occupied by officers, and the queues were simply chaotic. People going under barriers to get ahead, or simply walking past the queue and protests with a smugness writ large on their faces were annoying and disheartening. And, of course, the legend of the giant toilet bowl – one is treated to the aromatic treat of ammonia as soon as one lands in Bombay – continues! I had lived here long enough to know, and have visited a number of times since I first left for the Netherlands to experience a reverse shock. So I will write about the constant honking, visible plumes of smoke and soot, slums et al.

In the midst of it all, Tim, Fabian and I decided to go for a walk in the neighbourhood, but ended up walking more. We walked to my school, college, and some other places where I spent a lot of time in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Not all was the same, but even where the places looked different, the heat, the dust, and the smells took me back to when, for some seemingly inexplicable reason, I loved the searing summer heat. But it was not inexplicable anymore:

The road to India

Having discovered our compatibility in South Africa in 2013, Joline was excited to plan the next adventure together – preferably to India, my country of birth. I had equally enjoyed our African adventures, but was more anxious to get cracking on my doctoral thesis than intent on going for another vacation anytime soon. So, we decided to plan on travelling abroad only in the winter of 2016, when I expect my thesis to be firmly on track. Also, I was not so keen on returning to the country I had left for good. But by June 2015, it became clear that I was going to spend the better part of 2016, and the first quarter of 2017 in the US for my doctoral work, and a vacation before the end of 2017 was unlikely.

Salaam Bombay - a brief, bittersweet ode

Certain Uncertainties

Taxes are probably the second greatest certainty in life – death being the most certain – so, I am sure attending the 2014 IFA Congress in Bombay was quite an important event for humanity. But I would like to write about things less certain. Like traffic rules, and sleep in Bombay.

Haider

I was in Bombay for 10 days, 8 of which I spent in a hotel and a fair part of the remaining 2 were consumed by sleep. So I could hardly spend any time with my family and friends.  On Saturday, before I had to leave for the airport, my parents and I watched Haider at a cinema which is only about 7 kilometres away from home. But the traffic on the way back was so bad - the movie ended at 19:00 and we arrived home only at 21:00 - that gave us a scare that I might not make it to the airport in time. But the movie was so good that it was worth running that risk! 

Delhi

I think i have kind of started settling in Delhi. It is radically different from Bombay and it takes a while to come to terms with how this city functions.

With more than three thousand years, Delhi is the longest surviving capital city in the world.

Easter Greetings

Hope it has been a great Easter weekend for you guys. It surely has been a good one for us here in India. In fact, it has been more than just good for us. India, quite infamously has very many holidays as we have very many Gods! But alas, Bombay being Bombay, isn't quite always as fortunate. However, this Easter weekend has been a nice long one for us and that is a real rarity in our city, which races with time with steel wheels on iron tracks.

This year the Gods seem to have come together and smiled upon us - we've had four consecutive holidays – Thursday was Id-e-Milad, Friday was Good Friday, Saturday was Holi (Bombay mostly works on Saturdays as well), and then today – Easter. So, it has been a great mini vacation for us!

Hope you too have had a ball of a time.

Cheers!