Hanging out in Hyderabad

Before coming to India, I had made it a goal of mine to find a host family to take me in so that I could experience Indian family culture as well as home-cooked Indian food with that special taste that only a mother’s cooking can provide. Thankfully, I found this and so much more in the lovely city of Hyderabad located in the state of Andhra Pradesh in Eastern India.

A common sight on commuter trains in India.

I traveled to Hyderabad along with a few friends I met in India on a 12-hour train ride. It seems traveling by train in India is quite a common form of transportation though it was incredibly different from any train I have been on in the US. Luckily, we traveled in the A/C sleeper compartment of the train. However, I took a walk towards the back of the train during the journey and noticed the conditions slowly get worse and worse until I reached the “unreserved class” of the train. The unreserved class is simply everyone who couldn’t get a proper seat on the train crammed into a tiny compartment which smelled of an unfortunate mixture of sweat, curry, and a dead animal. Afterwards, I understand now why on some trains people opt to sit on the roof of the train instead of inside the compartments.

The overnight train dropped us off in Hypuris which are basically round pieces of bread deep fried and then warmed on a skillet so that the pocket inside of them fills with hot air and makes the bread rise. On top of that, we had fresh cut chilled Hyderabad mangoes (which I’m told are the best mangoes in all of India) which melted in my mouth whenever I took a bite. After a hearty breakfast, we set our sails to begin exploring Hyderabad.

derabad early in the morning where we made it to our host’s abode just in time for morning tea and breakfast. The breakfast was a delicious meal of

Charminar from afar, nearby, thousands of people
bustle around in an exchange of money, food,
and endless noise.

Our journey led us to the district of Charminar which is named so because of a towering monument in the district-center which reminded me of the Arc de Triomphe in France. However, Charminar was built two hundred years prior to the Arc in France, so perhaps it was French who copied the Indians…Either way, Charminar (which just so happens to be the background image of this blog) is known as a local’s shopping stop with blocks of vendors hawking their items from all around. We ventured into a few stores which were selling the handicrafts for which Hyderabad is famous for; pearls, bangles, and textiles. You could almost see the money signs behind the vendors’ eyes light up as we passed by each of their shops and if we ever

dared to step into one, we were given the royal treatment.

Old men adding finishing touches to handcrafted silks
in the backroom of a textile shop.

I have to say, it was certainly a feeling I could get used to as I walked into air-conditioned shops where assistants brought me the comfiest chairs in the house to sit on and asked if I wanted chai tea, coffee, or anything else. Luckily for me as well, the girls who I was traveling with stopped into many of the jewelry shops where I wasn’t obligated to purchase anything. The proud shopkeepers were also happy to give us a behind the scenes tour of their shops where we saw people hand sewing the beautiful and ornate shawls and dresses that girls wear and whittling away at precious stones to make jewelry. I was surprised too to see that no kids were working in these textile shops as I had expected from my impressions of the numerous sweatshops which supply the infamous textile industry in Asia with cheap clothing for the rest of the world. Instead, old gentlemen with a steady hand and an eye for detail were all sitting around making clothes, chatting away, and listening to Bollywood music hits.  

My imitation of Buddha, I have a ways to
go before I can look as serene as him

The rest of the day was spent sight-seeing, visiting museums, and stumbling upon grandiose monuments including a 150 ft. tall Buddha statue standing in the middle of a lake in the heart of the city. We took a water taxi to visit the statue at dusk. While we were treated to an amazing view of the statue lit up with vibrant colors, the cityscape surrounding the island was absolutely breathtaking. Even from the ground, I could see the beauty of necklace road, named so because from the sky the road looks like a necklace during the night from the lit up businesses and streetlamps as it winds around Buddha’s lake.

Though I saw and visited many more places while in Hyderabad, it was these small and random experiences which have stuck out most in my mind. For me, the most authentic travel experiences are the ones which no tourists or guidebooks know about. I certainly feel like I got to experience many things off of the beaten path in Hyderabad thanks to the wonderful hosts I was able to stay with who showed me around the great city of Hyderabad. 

Coconut Oil, Camels, and a Run-In With an Australian

           This past weekend I journeyed to Jaisalmer in Rajistan, a state in north India. This city happens to be nicknamed the “Golden City” which I can only guess it is called so for the miles and miles of golden sand and dust that are all around. This is because Jaisalmer is a desert.

A narrow alleyway in Jaisalmer fort off of
the beaten track

            I have so much respect for the weather-hardened people who call Jaisalmer their home. Each day is so blisteringly hot that I often mistook the sand and sweat mixture that covered my body as the makings of my tanned skin in India. Alas, when I finally got back into a shower last night after returning to Bangalore I saw my “tan” washing all away and leaving only a reddened burned skin underneath.

Of course, I had inklings days before this that my skin had burned which led me on a wild goose chase for some Aloe Vera lotion which has always worked wonders for me with sunburns. However, Indians don’t use Aloe Vera because they don’t have to worry about pesky sunburns but they do use coconut oil for their skin and hair. Since oil was my only option, I lubed up well and hoped for the best. Two days later, I not only found my skin healed but it had this illustrious glow and softness about it that I have now discovered is typical of Indian skin. Their secret which I have now discovered is coconut oil.

Besides discovering the secret to smooth skin, I also undertook an amazing camel safari journey into the desert of Rajistan. Fortunately for us, just before we began the trip a torrential downpour prevented us from departing with the camels into the desert. Though the rainstorm only lasted half an hour, the entire valley and desert was flooded so much that we were able to take sandbaths and make “Mudangels” (the much dirtier cousin of the Snowangel) in the sand. Before long, the camel entourage departed into a much cooler desert as the sun evaporated the water all around.

Evening approached and I was treated to traditional Rajastani-style curries and flatbreads cooked over an open fire by the desert guides. The exquisite dinner was set against the backdrop of an incredible sunset over the sand dunes all around. Away from all of the sounds and pollution of the crowded cities that I had become accustomed to in India, I was finally able to appreciate the vibrant colors that permeated the sky as I watched the sunset. Only after recalling this experience with the golden sand dunes am I able to grasp why people call Jaisalmer the Golden City. Underneath a blanket of bright stars which crowded the night sky and left imprints on my eyelids, I feel asleep to the soft braying of camels around me. 

Sunset on a cloudy day in Jaisalmer Desert

Morning came quickly after a sound night’s sleep and with it another beautiful sunrise. After a moderate breakfast my friends and I broke camp and hopped on our camels in a race against the sun and the temperature as they crept ever with time. We made it back to Jaisalmer from the desert right around lunchtime and headed straight to eat and rehydrate ourselves. The previous day we had arranged at a restaurant to have a homemade Rajastani feast prepared for us upon our return from the nomadic desert life.

Me and my trusty steed ready to take on the desert

With a teaser of fresh-squeezed chilled mango juice, our chef walked out with our first course of Ker Sangri, a painstakingly difficult dish local to Jaisalmer which must be prepared by trimming hundreds of dried leaves by hand which form the base of the dish. An even greater sight than our food however, was the chef carrying it out. A barefoot, bare-chested short-short clad man in his sixties with a chest full of hair that would make even a shag carpet cower in shame. In the Indian desert, it seems dress codes in kitchens need not apply. When the man spoke, he revealed an eclectic mix of accents from his birth in India combined with his years spent living in Australia during much of his adult life. This resulted in his uncanny ability to use the word “bloody” in both a positive and negative fashion and often conveyed both meanings in the same sentence simultaneously. His first sentence was along the lines of “How the bloody hell are you?” followed shortly thereafter by “This bloody-good mango juice is just the thing to cure the bloody heat out there.”. I wish I was exaggerating about his use of the word bloody, but I’m afraid that wouldn’t be true.

Nevertheless, we were treated to an excellent meal and conversation by this Indian-Australian man. He turned out to be a devout Hindu with strong views about the prevalent corruption in Indian government. These beliefs combined into elegant pieces of wisdom such as “All Indian taxi drivers in this life will turn out to be mosquitos in the next life – they suck money out of people’s wallets, and next they will suck out the blood of everyone”. Or better yet, “You see all of those stray dogs roaming the streets? They used to be politicians, and now they must eat all of the trash they spewed out and created during their lives”. Of course, this wisdom stays in my head much better having heard it from an Indian-Australian accented man wearing short shorts and a shirt of hair covering his chest. 

A Love Poem to Diary-Uh

Dear Diary-Uh,

Many weeks have gone by since we first met

Little did I know our relationship would be so wet

You are my constant companion, always by my side

You’ve taken my intestines for quite a ride

I’m out of breath whenever you call,

For you’ve given me the runs to the nearest bathroom stall

Whatever I eat, you always have something to say,

For if I save money eating street food, it is my stomach that has to pay

Always dressed in unusual colors and consistencies with a new change of pace,

You have impressed me much in your versatility, if that is the case

During my sleepless nights you’ve called every hour to show your resilient might

Groaning, moaning, my intestines writhing in…delight

Though we connected on the inside, my experiences have always been out-of-body

We joke and play, though people cringe when they see we are so bawdy

Till we meet again, for now I must depart…

Have you come so soon? Or do you tease me with a fart?