The Motherland

Hmm I’m not quite sure how to write this post. I went to India for almost two months and it would be impossible for me to try and write down everything that has happened in that time.  So here is a brief-ish summary

Let’s start with the plane ride. Basically, it was the worst plane ride of my life. A little over 9 hours of hell, it was painful. There was very little leg room which was made worse by the person sitting in front of me who had his seat pushed back completely. I pushed my seat back a little so I could have a bit of space but this was met by the person sitting behind me to constantly push my seat. I really hate people sometimes. The connecting flight from Bangkok was much better because the flight was pretty empty so we could pretty much sit where ever we wanted to. A lot of the relos were at the airport but we didn’t really get to talk to everyone properly then since it was late and all.

The first week or so was mainly spent visiting relatives places and I can’t seem to remember a lot of what else happened. It was quite nice seeing everyone since it had been six years since the last time I had seen a lot of them and seven years for my parents. My cousins from New Zealand were also there the same time we were so it was really good being able to see them too.

Two of my little cousins stayed the week at my ammama’s (grandma) place so a lot of my time was spent with them. The last time I saw them Rinki (whose name is actually Roshni) was three and Bunty (Chirag) (Yeah almost all of us have these nicknames, it’s a family thing) was one so it was so different seeing them now. They’re both completely adorable and annoying at the same time.
We went to a cake show together then just roamed around a shopping centre and went to this place called Empire for dinner. The food there is pretty great.

My new year’s eve wasn’t the greatest. We initially didn’t have anything planned so my parents, aunty and my little cousins went out to eat chaats but then we got a call from one of my other aunts and she told us to come to a restaurant so we went over after a while and she had invited a lot of my other relatives. A couple of my cousins were there too but I don’t really talk to them that much so i was basically stuck with all the adults and my niece. After the restaurant we went to aunt’s place and had cake and photos and I was wishing it had been more eventful.

The next day, Appu, Deepa (one of my NZ cousins) and Chintoo (actually called Chaithra who is Appu’s cousin), we all went to go bowling but the place was packed so we decided to have lunch first then try another bowling place but that place was even more packed so we just roamed around a shopping centre and went into this mirror maze which was fun.

A lot of what I did after this is a bit of a blur so I think it was spent just going to different shopping centres with my parents and going to relatives or my dad’s friend’s houses. One amazing thing is the books. Majority of the books are very cheap compared to the prices here so I was going a little crazy. There was a buy 2 get 1 sale at this shop I went to so I ended up buying the Casual Vacancy, 1984, Animal Farm and the Great Gatsby. There were so many more I wanted to buy but I decided to buy them another time.

Appu, Deepa and I went bowling and the shopping centre also had archery so we all tried it. It was my first time and I really liked it. I never went to one of those school camps where they do those activities so I got a little excited to finally try it. My first try was an absolute fail, the arrow didn’t even hit the target but went flying somewhere else but I did get one arrow on yellow so that was exciting.

There’s an amusement park called Wonder La which I have been to, the past two times I went to India. I went with my cousins, parents and an aunty. It felt like our time there wasn’t particularly long but nonetheless it was still fun. There was a ride called the mixer which I was pretty terrified to go on because I hadn’t been on an upside down ride in a long time but it turned out to be so much fun!  After the dry rides, Deepa and I sort of went off on our own to go on the water slides. My favourite one was one called the pendulum which was a two person water slide. The only downside of going there were the lines for the rides. There seemed to be several schools there on excursions so lines were quite long.
It was one of my cousin’s birthdays that day so after Wonder La we all went to a restaurant for dinner.

My face before going on the mixer. Laughing at myself 

My parents, my dad’s friend and his wife plus a friend of theirs (actually a family of three) and myself left Bangalore to go to Munnar which is a hill station in Kerala. We left at night so we could reach the place the next morning. The journey there was roughly 10 hours I think and it nearly killed me.  Because it was a hill station, the roads were windy and I just felt so sick the whole time and couldn’t fall asleep. Once we got to the hotel I collapsed into bed and didn’t wake up for a couple of hours. We then went to this mountain place which I have forgotten the name of. It was basically just like a view point but because I was still feeling sick I couldn’t climb up to the top. We saw some Nilagiri tahrs which are a type of mountain goat which are supposedly rare. Apparently lots of people miss out on seeing them, so it was cool that we got to see them so close up. There were also a few up on the mountains too. After that we headed back to the hotel because it was getting dark, I stayed in our room and watched tv while my parents hung out with their friends. 

The next day we had breakfast at the hotel and there seemed to be a lot of European people there (I don’t really know why that was important to write but anyway). We roamed around town and went to a lake for a boat ride which was nice. The rest of the day was spent around town and after lunch we decided to walk back to the hotel instead of taking the van. See it got dark there pretty early so once it was dark there wasn’t really much to do except stay in the hotel so I stayed in the room and watched tv. For dinner we ordered room service and ate together in one room.
The next morning, we left after breakfast and made our way to Thekkady (another place in Kerela). On the way there we stopped to take photos at the tea plantations. Oh yeah I should have probably mentioned earlier that Munnar is basically full of tea plantations so it’s quite pretty. Once we got to Thekkady, we went around the national park. It was a shame because we missed out on the boat ride which is basically the main attraction there. While we were in the park, this baby monkey walked over to where my ma and I were so my ma gave it food (even though you’re not supposed to and I told her off for feeding it) and it was so cute holding the food in its little hands. 

After Thekkady we made our way back to Bangalore. The journey back was much better; I think there were less windy roads. We stopped at this random restaurant for dinner which was on the side of the highway. It turned out to be pretty good; the place also looked pretty nice inside.

The next week was more house visits. One of my relatives, my mum’s uncle and cousin (who is only a couple of years older than me), they have a golden retriever called Simba who I fell in love with a little. He’s so adorable! It was nice being around him because I missed Scooby so much. 

We went to a restaurant called barbeque nation which was really good. It’s a buffet where you have a grill on the table and they keep bringing you skewers and other food. I wanted to go a second time but never got to.

Okay now north India week

Our flight was delayed due to fog , so we arrived in Delhi around 4 or so in the afternoon. We mainly just stayed in our hotel that night. The hotel we were staying at only had vegetarian food so one of the bellboys went out and bought dinner for us. Next morning we were on the bus (organised by the hotel) at 6. There were 20 other people on the bus (including the bus driver) with us so it was good that it wasn’t a massive group. Once we reached Rajasthan we stopped for breakfast then back onto the bus. There was a guide with us; I think he got on the bus while I was sleeping. The scenery on the drive for a while was really pretty because it was just fields of mustard so I kept thinking about one of my favourite movies (Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge (It’s an Indian movie)) and about how nice it to be to run in the mustard field and embrace the person you’re in love with, then break out into a song (you’ll understand if you’ve seen the movie which I’m guessing is none of you because out of the very few people who read my blog, none of you are Indian) (Also I should totally make my friends watch this movie). Moving on
We reached Jaipur and did like a mini tour around the city while still in the bus. Then stopped at a place called Jantar Mantar which is a place full of astronomical instruments which were built in the 18^th century (i think).  Because we had a guide, he explained everything to us and it was quite fascinating. I couldn’t possibly say everything he told us but so many interesting facts about it all. The place has the world’s largest sundials and there are all these other instruments which give you information on the position of stars and things. It’s amazing how they figured all this stuff out.
We then went to the city palace also known as Jaipur palace. We roamed around and learnt more interesting stuff then got back on the bus and made our way to a place called Amer.

Once we got to Amer, we had to take another vehicle to get to the fort which was situated on a mountain.  The fort and the whole town itself were so beautiful. It’s amazing how big the place is and there are all these secret rooms and courtyards everywhere, and just learning the history of it all. Although we spent quite a while there, I would have liked to spend more time there but couldn’t. It was cool because if you’ve seen the movie Jodha Akbar, a lot of the scenes were shot at Amer fort so it was cool walking around and being like ‘hey that was where that scene happened’.  Amer fort was probably one of my favourite places. 

I should have taken better photos of the fort itself

Next stop was a temple in the city which was pretty. Oh and behind the temple, there was this palace sort of thing that belonged to a princess. The palace isn’t open to the public but it looked cool from the outside. After this we went to our hotel in Jaipur and our guide bid us farewell.

Next morning we were on the bus at 4 in the morning and our first stop was a place called Fatehpur Sikri. It’s kind of hard to explain the place but it’s basically this huge area which contains a palace as well as the areas where meetings between the kings and other people used to take place. There’s also a tomb and a huge courtyard and there’s a surrounding gate, with one of them being the second largest gates in the world. Once again, it was fascinating learning about the history of the place and just roaming around and seeing everything (Oh yeah a new guide came with us for this part and he got off the bus after this tour). 

Next stop was Agra fort, for which we had a new guide. It’s amazing because from the outside you just think it’ll be one building or something. But you go inside and it’s huge. From one of the places inside the form, you can see the Taj Mahal so I started getting really excited.

That thing in the distance is the Taj Mahal

After lunch was the Taj Mahal! Waiting in line was a massive bummer because of how long the lines were (it was mainly this long because we went on a public holiday so there were lots of people there). There were two lines, one for ladies and one for men, oh also foreigners basically get to go to the front of the line which isn’t fair, oh but they do have to pay extra. I forgot to mention, basically wherever you go, there would be different prices for Indians and foreigners, like a big difference between the two. So anyway, my ma and I got in after a while and we were waiting for my dad to come through which would take ages because the mens line was significantly longer than the ladies. He finally came through but we still had to wait for the other men from the bus (my dad told us our tour guy got him near the front of the line which is a bit dodgy but anyway). While we were waiting for the other bus people to come, my dad and I decided to just quickly go ahead and have a look at it. You walk through a gateway which a sort of arch and then it’s directly in your view and dear god. I can’t describe how incredible it was. It’s absolutely stunning, so so so beautiful, it was hard to look away from it. We walked back to where everyone else was, the tour guide told us how long we had to explore and let us go. After a round of photo taking, we walked up to the Taj Mahal, walked around it then went inside, which is where the tomb is. See the Taj Mahal was built by the emperor Shah Jahan, in memory of his wife, Mumtaz Mahal. Seeing the Taj Mahal, really was a massive highlight for me. I’d been wanting to go for years and I finally got to which made me more than happy. 

This is the entrance, you walk through it to get to the Taj Mahal

I've lots of other photos of it up close and things but I'm too lazy to upload them all

Back on the bus and we were off to a town called Mathura, which is said to be the birth place of the Hindu god Krishna. We went to the temple there and on the way back, when we were walking to the bus, I was walking with my dad and there were a few little boys selling things and it kind of got to me because, they’re so young and they shouldn’t be doing this for a living, it’s not fair. My dad didn’t buy anything from them but gave them all some money and there I was getting all emotional so I started crying. I really hoped my dad wouldn’t see me but unfortunately he did so I told him why. Completely embarrassing because he kept telling people about it when we went back to Bangalore. But really, the poverty in some parts of India really hit me this time. I mean I would see it in Bangalore but never to this extend. During one part of the bus rides, we drove past a big area of just slums and I had never seen one so big, first hand so it really got to me. I don’t know, it’s sort of hard to explain how I felt but yeah, anyway I’ll stop since I can’t exactly put my feelings into words.
That night we were back to the hotel in Delhi and slept in a little the next morning.

We had a hotel taxi which would take us to some of the touristy places, first up we went to this railway museum place, then to Iskcon, which is a Krishna temple, but we didn’t actually go inside the temple, we went on this virtual tour thing. Went back to the hotel for lunch then after a while, we decided to try the train. We couldn’t get on the first train because it was so full, the second one wasn’t a whole lot better but we managed to get on and my ma and I moved to the front carriage, which is a ladies only carriage, because it wasn’t as full. Got off at our stop and went to a place called Akshardham. The process to get inside this place was even worse than the Taj Mahal. First we had to wait in a massive line (probably shouldn’t have gone on a Sunday) to put our bags in the cloak room because you’re not allowed bags or cameras or phones. Then the line to get into the actual place, all in all, I think we were in line for about an hour, it was torture, especially when people would push in so I was in a terrible mood.  But once we got inside, it was wonderful. The place is really pretty. We spent a while walking around and looking at everything, then once it got dark, there was a sound and light fountain show. Once that was over, we ate at the food court and oh gosh the food was so cheap and it tasted pretty good too.

Since we weren't allowed to take photos, I'll show you what the place looks like thanks to the internet. 

Okay these photos don't do the place justice but I was lazy and just found these on google images. We actually did get one photos taken but I haven't scanned it so I can't put it on here.

The next day we had an arranged Delhi sightseeing tour. First went to Humayun’s tomb (Humayun was also an emperor). When we were there, there was this American lady and she was taking photos with one of the ladies who was on our van , because she was in a sari. I thought it was funny. My dad talked to her (because he talks to everyone) and she told us she was from Miami and stuff, she was nice.

 Then we went to went to Iskcon again but this time we actually saw the temple. Next we went to 

Qutub Minar, which is a sort of tower and it’s surrounded by ruins.  (okay I’m getting alittle sick of typing so I’m going to try and shorten this). 

Next went to this temple then back to the hotel. To be honest, that day was a bit of a waste because we didn’t get to India Gate, due to it being closed because of something and didn’t get to go to a few other places too for the same reason. At night, my parents decided to go out and look around, I stayed in the hotel room and watched TV.  My parents ended up being gone for a while and came back with a bit of shopping.

Next day we got a taxi and went to India gate which was luckily open. India Gate is a war memorial so the gate has the names of soldiers written on it. I thought it was pretty amazing there. 

Next up was the Lotus temple. 

We drove around to Raj Ghat which is a Gandhi memorial, we had been there the previous day but it was closed, unfortunately it was closed again because some ‘VIP’ was coming to visit so due to security reasons it was closed. We then went to the red fort also called Lal Qila which literally means red fort. We were waiting in line to go in and were talking about out tickets and the guy in front of us heard and he must not have gotten a ticket so he went out of line to buy one. When he was walking back, my dad asked me if we should let him go in front of us so I said yes (which may or may not have been because he was attractive). He thanked us and as usual my dad started talking to him and asked where he was from. He was from London and was in India on a holiday by himself. He would have liked to have come with his friends or his girlfriend (damn) but they either had uni or were working so he came alone.  We talked a bit and then he was asking about the history of the red fort and things. After a while, my ma and I got told we could go to a separate line so we did and ended up waiting for my dad. He came after a while and told me the British guy’s name was Oscar so I said hi again and he went “turns out we’re the same age”. He then told me my dad had told him I was doing science at uni, which made him go “you must be really clever” (HA). We talked for a little while and he told me he did politics and philosophy or something and he finished uni so he’s free until September which is when he starts working (you guys really didn’t all these details did you?). My dad took a photo for him and he took one for us then we parted. Once we went inside, we hired a guide who explained the whole place to us and again, it so really cool learning about the history of the place. We spent quite a while there, so once we were done, we went back to the hotel. 

The first is the entrance, there's a sort of tunnel there which leads to the rest of the palce. The tunnel place is full of shops and back in the days when it used to be occupied by the emperors, that tunnel place was called Meena Bazaar which was a ladies only market. The second pic is one of the rooms or sleeping chambers and the long groove at the bottom used to be filled with hot or cold water depending on the weather. It would be perfumed water during special events. Once again I'm too lazy to upload the photos of the inside of the place. 

This is the outside

At night we went to the night market where my parents had gone the night before. It was pretty cool, there were so many shops and street vendors, we walked around for a while and did a bit of shopping then back to the hotel.

The next morning we checked out of the hotel and got a flight back to Bangalore. The rest of our time there was spent doing more house visits and lots of eating. Seriously, so much eating. There was this one pretty awesome restaurant called The Village. The setting of the restaurant was like an Indian Village.  There wasn’t a massive variety of food even though it was a buffet but the atmosphere was so great. After a while, they had dancing and things and it was just so much fun. 

  We went to a wedding reception of someone related to us. I think it was my grandma’s cousin’s daughter or something. My parents were explaining how we were related to all these people there and it was bloody confusing. The place was outdoors and it was really pretty but the food sucked so I hardly ate and I was still hungry when we left. My dad and I went home in an auto because everyone else went in a car and there wasn’t room for us which was okay because I like autos more. My dad sort of started arguing with the auto driver over the price but after a while they both started talking and the driver was telling us about his life and stuff and I guess they sort of bonded. It was sad though because he was working so hard for everything and he told us about his son who is really sick and only has one functioning kidney and I was getting a little upset over it. By the time we got back home, all the shops were closed but my dad still drove over to Maccas to see if it was open, it wasn’t, so I went hungry that night. 

My aunty built a new house so she had a house warming thing which was a thing on one night and then another thing the next day. The one at night, one of my cousins was leaving to move to Perth that night so everyone else left early to go to the airport with him. 

There were more last minute house visits after this and people over feeding us.

Ugh oh lord. So my ma had wanted me to get this thing done. It’s hard to explain but it’s basically like getting dressed ep in a sari and having your hair plaited and it’s like traditional or something and all the girls get it done and I had been protesting from the beginning but she went around and told everyone about it and one of my ma’s cousins is like a hairdresser so she said she would do it for me. My god it was so embarrassing, thank god there weren’t a lot of people there to see it but ugh my dad has shown everyone the photos which is just as bad. What was the worst part was getting told I looked like a bride and all they had to do was find a guy for me now. It was torturous, it really was. Have I complained about the marriage talks yet? Nearly EVERYONE talked about me getting married and when I was going to get married and if it would be in India or here. It was so bad, and then there’s my ma going “in the next 2 to 3 years” making it even worse. Yeah ma that is never going to happen. I was so sick of it, the marriage talks and being told how overweight I am. You would think that I would get it after the first 10 or so times but no, at least one person had to mention it on a daily basis. My great great aunt was one of the worst, seriously every time I ate something she would go “she hardly eats anything but look at her” (okay it was a little meaner than that but you get it). It was beyond frustrating being told so often, I have looked like this for a very long time, I think I know how overweight I am, I don’t need to be reminded all the time and ridiculed for it. UGH
It was good to get that out.

Yes those sari photos will never be posted on the internet just because of how bad they are and I look so much older in them.

Getting back to what else I did. We went to this restaurant called Gufha (which means cave), which was set up like a cave, and all the waiters were dressed up like those safari explorers and they had fake flame torches on the walls and it was all dark and stuff. Pretty cool but next to where I was sitting was this fucking plastic spider which was big and disgusting and I would get terrified whenever I forgot it was there and would turn to see it.

The last few days were just spent at home, not doing a whole lot. Just hanging with my little cousins. My dad was sorting out this stuff with this land we own so he wasn’t home much. It was a bit of a bummer because I never got to do my last minute book shopping. Next time.

The day we were leaving was spent packing and one of my little cousins was sort of stuck on me. He followed me around all day and would just go wherever I was. It was kind of adorable but just made it a little harder to say bye to him and my other little cousin. People started coming over to say their good byes. I went with my little cousins and aunty to get dinner, which was just chaats from the street near us then drank tender coconut water, which I miss. My dad even more so, he would drink at least 3 a day and became friends with the man who sold them at the end of our street.
Once we got back, last rounds of photo taking and people crying and saying good bye and we were off to the airport. Three of my cousins and three aunties also came to the airport with us. When we went in we had an issue with excess luggage so we gave a bag back to the relos which was painful because it was most of the food we wanted to take over, so we only really got to bring back a small portion of it. Final good byes and that was it.

On our flight from Bangkok, John Brumby was on the plane, sitting three rows in front of us. It was bizarre. My dad said hi and asked him how he was, no one else talked to him. I ended up watching a Hindi movie (English Vinglish) on the plane and four episodes of the Mindy Project (because they only had 4), then slept the rest of the flight. It was so much more comfortable then the ride to.
We saw Brumby again when we were collecting our luggage and he said hi to my dad.
Got picked up by a family friend uncle and back home.

So yes that was my India trip. It was quite enjoyable, even if at times I really wanted to go home and at other times it got a little dull because I didn’t have the internet or tv. I don’t know if I talked about it so ignore me if I’m repeating myself but, the house we stayed it, we own it but my ammama lives there with my great great aunt (who I call awa which actually means grandma). So they live downstairs and there are two places upstairs for rent (they’re not internally connected). So we got one of the people upstairs to move out so we were staying in the one bedroom place which meant I had to sleep in the same room as my parents. At times it was beyond annoying because I think my dad takes pleasure out of torturing me. At night, he would put on his music really loud and do things like that which was annoying. But in a way, it was also nice spending so much time with them because when I’m here, I feel like we hardly talk. I’m always upstairs doing my stuff and we don’t really talk much so it was good just talking to them at times, even if most of it was spent complaining about things.
Anyway so the tv is at my ammama’s place but  because of my awa and her tv schedule it was hard getting the tv. Seriously the number of soapies she watches a day, and these come on 5 days a week.

Yes anyway, despite it not being the greatest at times and me getting sick of things and being a little homesick at times, it was still an enjoyable holiday. Hopefully I’ll be back there in a couple of years, won’t be leaving it to six again.

I swear that post was supposed to be a LOT shorter, and this was the very short version. 

I will hopefully update my blog more frequently now. Until then