......India

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

So, I've been in India for 1 month now. Not only is this the one country I've spent the most time in, but it's also one that I can say is completely different from the rest of the world. When you go to places like Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, etc...there are always things that make it comfortable and enjoyable, whether it be finding English speaking travelers like myself or recognizing some of the faint traces of western influences such as coffee shops located every two blocks (not just an American epidemic). India though, exactly on the other side of the world, simply put....has no rules and the things considered cool here are just so odd (such as men holding hands, I will never get over this). There are times I wonder how India functions with all the chaos in the streets (i.e. traffic), absolutely no rules for how to stand in a line (don't expect anyone to stand in an organized line, everybody is always in a hurry. BIG pet peeve of mine) and spitting their paan in the streets (which sometimes get dangerously close to my shoes...would not be happy if that happened).

Now, I've been to India before. My extended family lives in Hyderabad, India and it is the city we always visit when we go to India. Outside of Hyderabad, I have been to a few other big cities in India, but only when I was young and that too with family. This trip was different in that I went to a whole bunch of different places....alone....and with my backpack. I have so much respect for anyone that backpacks in India because forget all the troubles you may have had in Thailand, Laos or anywhere else. Multiply that by 1000 and that is what India gives you. Now, with the amount of ugly I have just described, there is...an equal amount of beauty. I went into India knowing that great transportation or customer service were all not guaranteed, but I also went in wanting to find all the beautiful things India had to offer. When people say India is a beautiful country, there must be some reason, rigth? When India's main tourist ad campaign sports a slogan "Incredible India!", there must be a reason? So, I searched for it and can honestly say I found it. I found it within India's citizens, within India's rich history and even within the chaos I saw in the streets.

So, with my homebase being Hyderabad, I decided to map out the rest of my trip in India. Hyderabad is located in central India, although most in India would say it's in South India, I think its more central and an easy access point from anywhere in the country. My plan was to spend some time with family and then head to do a quick tour of North India and then return back to Hyderabad and from there do a tour of South India. That...is not possible. I learned that quickly when in North India, because first of all, you shouldn't have a plan. Nothing works according to plan, so why make one? I chose where I wanted to go the day before I left and had no expectations. With that mentality, here's a map of the cities I visited on my India trip.

Map of India including the stops I made throughout my tour starting from and going to:

1. Hyderabad

2. New Delhi

3. Amritsar

4. Haridwar

5. Rishikesh

6. Varanasi

7.Mumbai

Hyderabad

My main reason for spending a lot of time in India is to see the country where my ancestors are from (as corny as it sounds) and to spend time with my extended family. No number of family history projects or ridiculously annoying family tree diagrams were made (elementary and middle school), would equal the first hand experience I received by being in Hyderabad. While in Hyd, I visited my family, saw the village my dad lived in in his younger years, saw the schools my parents attended and even met some of their childhood friends. Hyderabad is a beautiful city, known for its rich history and its multi-cultural society (mainly a good mixture of Hindus and Muslims). Having been here before, I didn't do too much tourist type sight seeing, but I did see the Charminar. Built in the 1500's, it's more like a watch tower. The history of this tower is always changing, so I stick to the fact I know...it's a tower and you can watch from it. It's meaning literally is, Char - 4, Minar - minaret, so 4 minarets. Here are some pics:

Climbing stairs to get to the top of Charminar

 

Great views of Hyd from the top

  Mosque across from Charminar called Mecca Masjid. This place has almost 10,000+ people inside it on Friday's for Friday prayer

Video from the top of Charminar

I went to some other places throughout Hyderabad as well, but mainly took in the fact that I had a NICE, CLEAN AND AIR CONDITIONED place to stay. All these days traveling through all of SE Asia, hostels that were clean or had A/C was definitely not guaranteed. I'm lucky my parents have a house for me to stay at and I took full advantage of it. Not to mention, it's about 100+ degrees F everyday. Here are some more pics and vids from my time in Hyderabad.

 Attended one of my mom's families neighbors (from childhood) daughters wedding (I think..)

 Little cousin and I

En route to the village my dad was born in. These kids have the best seat in the house

On the way, I tried some Kallu. It's basically an alcoholic beverage created from the sap of a Palm Tree. It tastes like fermented milk or something. Not that strong anyways, but interesting.

bartender pourin a drank

Monkey's couldn't stand the heat as well

One day I decided to accompany my uncle to the butcher shop to get some chicken. Almost turned vegetarian. Almost.