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Hey
guys and gals!
Well,
it has now been over a month since I left and am now in
Dhaka
,
Bangladesh
visiting friends (in particular Nadia, for those that know her).
The trip here was long but eventful.
I left Mumbai on Thursday morning by train (Geetanjali Express) at
6AM
and the train left exactly on time. I
took the 3-tier AC sleeper class i.e. 6 bucks, 3 opposite each other in an
Air conditioned coach. Out of
the 32 hour train ride, I slept about 25 hours!
The rest I spent reading Lord of The Rings and listening to music.
The other 5 people included an older couple, young lady with 2 year
old daughter and some other man. So
we became a small family unit for the 2-year old girl. The older couple
became dada and dadi (grandparents), the other man and I became mama
(mother's brother - uncle). So
that was fun and we talked for some time and I explained my Canadian
lifestyle and travel plans! The
train arrived on time on Friday at
2PM
and I took a taxi straight to
Calcutta
airport. My 40 minute flight
was delayed by 3 hours so I killed 6 hrs at the airport reading, watching
a cricket match and the last hour of an Indian movie!
My friends in
Dhaka
picked me up from the airport which I can safely say has so far been the
longest most annoying immigration process of all the airports I have been
through in my life. So after
41 hrs I finally made it to
Dhaka
!
My
last email was written from Mumbai so I'll continue from there.
I had an eventful week. Spent
a total of 3 days visiting relatives all over Mumbai.
It was hard to say 'no' to so many lunch/dinner invitations and try
and get by with chai and snacks. It
was great meeting them and for most I had to introduce myself as Farah's
brother as she had met all of them during her travels in
India
. Two days were spent
attending a friend's engagement and wedding.
She and I went to school together in
Nairobi
and we have kept contact since then.
Fortunately the wedding party was in the same suburb as most of my
family so I was able to combine family visit days with wedding days.
The engagement was fun as there were 4 close friends of the bride
(including me) and we helped around a bit.
Met some interesting people at the engagement including a few from
Kenya
, with whom I conversed in Kiswahili!
After the engagement, cousins and friends from the brides and
groom's side went to a night club and I had my first Indian night club
experience at Mikanos. It was
a well set up club and I felt like I was in a Montréal club.
The music was techno/rave initially and then changed to rnb/hiphop.
So I had my groove on and enjoyed my self till
3AM
. After that we went out for coffee to the Taj hotel.
I stayed the night at an apartment rented for the bride and
friends. The wedding was just
as interesting, one part done in a Gurdwara (Sikh style) so I had to wear
a turban to enter the gurdwara (pictures to follow).
The second part in a hall - Hindu style.
While
I was in Mumbai, navratri was being celebrated so I managed to go for
dandia-raas and garba with my cousins and aunt and uncles.
There are tones of groups that keep their own garba-raas programs
in halls, apartments complexes etc. so we went to a family friend's
apartment complex in a suburb called Andheri.
The dancing was outdoors and I danced for a good 2 hours and
sweated like I have never due to the heat and humidity.
My blue shirt was a different shade at the end due to the sweat!
Later we went out for ice cream and I had my favorite fruit's
flavor (which I have never had before) - sitaphal (custard apple)!
My
experiences in Mumbai have included taking the local trains between
suburbs, eating at funky restaurants, hanging out at my uncle's bookstore,
walking around the streets, booking my train ticket to
Calcutta
, visiting family and eating lots of food and just enjoying being Indian.
It is amazing how many Indian things about myself I refrain from
exhibiting while living in a western society and now that I am here, they
are second nature to me and I feel very comfortable here.
Till
the next time,
Sameer
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