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India - Back to our roots

Letha

10+ Posts
As promised, starting a new thread here for our upcoming trip to India for four weeks, followed by two weeks in the Massif des Bauges in France -- will start a separate thread under France for that.

A little background for those who don't know us from ST. Hubby Oscar and I hail originally from India but our families have been part of the massive Indian diaspora for three generation in Oscar's case and two in my case. So going back to India is going back to our original roots. Our parents and most of their generation have passed on, but we both still have siblings there. I am going to India after a 5 year break; Oscar went back in 2015 for a quick visit to see his sick Aunt/Godmother who has since passed away. In India Oscar traces his roots to the former Portuguese colony of Goa, while my family hails from Kerala aka 'God's own Country' . Recently Rick Stein's did a series in India searching for 'The Perfect Curry' and had based himself in Kerala. (Shown on BBC World here) . Both Goa and Kerala have their seats at the 'popular tourist trail' in India now. Amongst the places our family has grown roots in their migrations are, Malaysia, Kenya, Tanzania, and Qatar before we came to roost in Fremont, CA that we now proudly call home.

Planning a trip time India is a lot more challenging then our two or three weeks stints anywhere in the rest of the world. While India may have found its seat at the global high tech table, it is still very much a developing country and fortunately retains a lot of its rural charms. We leave on Tuesday the 18th of April--Lufthansa via Frankfurt, leaving San Francisco at 3:00 pm and will reach Mumbai at 1:00 AM Thurs early morning. And then we start the challenges of maneuvering the system, which is a interesting mix of the bureaucracy left behind by the colonizers, mixed with the poverty that still remains, the affluence that comes with the new 20 percent intellect cum rich, and a government that is trying to get it out of its developing country status. As an example, whenever we leave India, we keep some Rupee currency with us to cover us when we just arrive esp since we always land in the wee hours of the morning. So we usually have a couple of Rs. 100s and Rs 500 notes with us. Last November, while we were in Australia, we read that the government had just announced the it was discontinuing the 500 and 1000 rupees, with a short window and provisions for residents to exchange old notes. So we now have only some 100 rupee notes, our 500 being worthless; by the way, 500 rupees is about $7 so it is not a huge monetary loss but we are wondering if what we have left will be enough to get to our hotel! We are told there are ATMs at the airport now so we will see. First night at the hotel and then we move to an Air B&B close to my sister's place. Oh and getting a SIM card is also not so simple though we hear that now 'foreign tourists' which is what we are now can get a transit SIM card at the airport. We also have a special status called OCI (Overseas Citizens of India) since India does not allow dual citizenships.

More as we go along.......off to pack now for India where temps will be well over 100C in various places and then the French Alps!
 
Letha - wishing you and Oscar bon voyage - and look forward to hearing more about your adventures.

Judy
 
Letha - Bon voyage! But I hope you will not be experiencing temps over 100C, since that would be over 212F (literally boiling).
 
We are here at SFO all checked in and at the gate, feeling very pleased with ourselves because we were able to take the BART from our backyard (poetic license here) the new Warm Springs BART station. Oscar dropped me and the bags off there and drove home, parked the car, and took a brisk walk back...took him 20 mins without me slowing him down while I sat and read 'The light between oceans' .

Roz thanks for pointing out my slip...now I am saying oh only 100F which is a lot better than 212 F
 
On the ground here in Mumbai. It is 6:30 am here, Thursday morning. We had a good flight and impressed at how Lufthansa still maintains a standard of service in economy class that one has learnt to not expect. While doing our booking, I noticed that they had a lot of choices for special meals including 'Hindu non-vegetarian' and 'Asian vegetarian' . The former seemed a bit of a oxymoron since a vast majority of Hindus identify as vegetarians, so I decided to explore that further by requesting the Hindu non-vegetarian meal. The added caveat is that you get your meals first. On the SFO to Frankfurt leg we got a rice pulao and vegetables which were very tasty but vegetarian. Then on the Frankfurt to Mumbai leg Oscar got a pulao and meat curry while I got a pulao and vegetable curry. Both were good but I think Lufthansa is confused about what this category entails. For anyone who likes Indian food this is a great choice.

We landed in Mumbai at 1:30 AM (yes AM!) . The Mumbai airport is very impressive now, on par with most 1st world airports and immigration etc a breeze. We were out in less than an hour with a prepaid taxi to the hotel about 10 mins away. Could not see too much in the dark but these are Oscar and my old hunting grounds...we met when working in Mumbai and the hotel is close to where we used to work. A lot has changed into a swanky we Metro line that we plan to use this morning. But a lot of the squalor still remains and we could recognize a lot from the days we walked around here. The hotel is actually pretty good and a steal at $37 including breakfast, the first time I have booked something in India through bookings.com. The booking said that we could pay at the hotel and that they take visa etc. but when we got here, they said they take only Indian credit cards, but were totally ok with us getting them cash this morning. Oscar and I still have a bank account here in Mumbai left from our days here with some cash (we had a flat we sold here several years ago) so off to the new Metro now to get to the bank to get cash. We will then move to the Air B&B we have booked for the next 4 nights close to my sister's place.
 
Sounds like you are off to a good start -- how nice for you that the Warm Springs BART station opened! Keep on posting!
 
Two days here in Mumbai and we have fallen right back into the rhythm. On Thurs morning The whiff of fresh Indian filter coffee (coffee plus chicory) and hot Parathas (Indian bread) greeted us as we repacked our things. I then recalled that our stay included breakfast and set out to explore. Opened our room door to discover much activity and aromas right next door .... the kitchen ! The young man who had helped us with our bags the night before now had his chef hat along with two other young lads and we were told that hot breakfast will be served within 15 minutes to our room. And how delicious it was.

We then headed out to start our day with a ride in the Metro. The station was a 5 minute walk away. There first thing that hits you is the unimaginable mass of people, vehicles, broken side walks and cocaphony of sounds and smells with food vendors on the broken side walks too. For a minute I must admit I hesitated wondering if I could handle it. The easy way out would be to get a car and driver .... both Uber and a local counterpart Ola are popular and cheap but I wanted to see how much of a challenge it would be. We survived and by the end of there day we had fallen right back into Mumbai rhythm including crossing major streets weaving between cars!

We got our bank work done, checked out of there hotel, took an Ola ride to our Air BB checked in (on a scale of 1:10 for Air BB this one was getting only a 5 to start with), more on that later. Off to the bank and once we had the finances sorted out, the next business at hand was getting a SIM card. We had checked at the Airport and was quoted Rs. 1000 ($15) for a basic card which included all India roaming ... did sound like a steal but we wanted to get a better sense. Two major carriers here Vodafone and Airtel. We had used Vodafone previously but were told that Airtel is now very competitive. We went to the closest Airtel store, which looked like any AT&T store back home complete with youngsters ready to help. The young man discussed options with us and we settled on a card plus a 30 day plan for with 1gig of 3G data and Rs. 40 worth of calls for Rupees 280, yes just over$4! Now for the tricky part. Ever since the Mumbai bombings and now with the new government, everyone has a Adar card similar to our social security card and this is required to get a SIMcard immediately. Alternately we could submit our passports etc and it would take 2 to 3 days for verification etc before they could activate the SIM card. In the past, I could just give them my sister's address but this time they said they need to see her physically with her card. She obliged and we got our phone activated immediately. We had an older iPhone4 that we had opened back in USA but when we tried to use it in Australia, it had not accepted the SIM card. This time it worked in India so we did not have to swap sims in our current phones! Just incase anyone is reading this and think it is complicated, they are introducing a new system where tourists coming in with e-visas, also recently introduced, can get a SIM card immediately with the e-visa serving as a back ground check also. We are not on a e-visa as we have a 10 year visa that is still valid. So now we were all set. Image attached of the Metro ... amazing and on par with other Metro's across the world.

IMG_1496.JPG


It is Sunday morning now; oscar and I have spent the last days wandering and revisiting many of our old haunts here in North Mumbai. And of course eating our way through it all. Also visited with my sister and one of Oscar's cousins, with some nice family time. Another cousin came to visit us last night. Today we head to South Mumbai, Colaba, Fountain, Churchgate and Victoria Terminus, now renamed Chatrapati Shivaji Terminus after one of the famous Indian warrior king from the 1700. The international airport is also named after him. India has either been resetting or renaming a lot of places and streets to Indian names replacing the names that the colonizers had gives or renamed. This is a gothic Victorian landmark designed by British architect Frederick Williams Stevens. We have used the Terminus a zillion times when we lived here but not seen it since it was declared a UNESCO world heritage site, so we will go look at it with a fresh eye. South Mumbai is the touristy area. And we will also take the old local train system that still runs and continues to transport the majority of the commuters. Tickets are much cheaper than the Metro; for comparison a two station ride on the Metro costs Rs 20 while the ride from North to South Mumbai well over 15 stations cost Rs.10 on the local train (1$ = approx 65 rupees) in 2nd class and Rs.105 in 1st class.

Of course it is a lot more crowded. So far we have been up to the challenge of trying to do it like the locals most of the time and then succumbing to using Ola (like Uber) when we are tired. It is in the high 80s here but with a pleasant breeze and if you keep to the shade (fortunately lots of trees) , so we have been clocking about 3 to 5 miles of walking per day just getting around (so tells the iPhone!)
 
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Sorry I have not kept this up! It has been quite hectic through Goa and Kerala spending great time with family even if the temperature was always in the 80s and 90s. We are now in Delhi where the temperature is in 3 digits, reached 111F yesterday. We have finally learnt to pace ourselves and not try and do too much. This is the first time Oscar and I are spending exclusive time in Delhi and catching up with the splendor of its history which is closely tied to that of Turkey and Persia/Iran during the moghul time prior to the British. There is a concerted effort to revive/restore many of its monuments that are now being afforded World Heritage status. Yesterday we visited the Jama Masjid, also built by Shah Jahan as a precursor to the Taj Mahal. Here we saw piece of the Prophets beard hair and foot print which we saw previously at the Topkapi palace in Istambul. The historical connections are amazing. The day before we visited Humayun's tomb which was reminiscent of the Alhambra (this is the monument that Obama and Michelle visited when they came to Delhi). While the gardens are not in great shape now, the description says that back in the 16th century it was full of oranges, pomegranates, roses etc. We also visited the red fort , also built by Shah Jahan where we we could see remnants of the Peacock Throne where he sat with the Kohinoor diamond. The diamond itself is of course now part of the British Crown Jewels after being removed from India by the Persian invaders. It has been a crash course/refresher in history the last few days.

The food in India has been as diverse as its history and very different in Mumbai, Goa, Kerala and now Delhi. We have been quite adventurous and keep pushing the envelope on how local we can go with the street food without our system protesting... so far so good.

Two more days here and we have a few more spots to see. Also I have a facial scheduled for tomorrow to pamper by sun ridden face! Off to Geneva on Thursday night for 10 days in the French Alps
 
Moving this to the Other Countries Trip Reports forum and hoping Letha has time for more posts! I would love to go to India some day.
 
Do add it to your bucket list Pauline. It is the most wonderful place but really does challenge the senses in every way. We've had a couple of trips. One was a few days in Delhi followed by a week round the bits of Rajesthan the tourists don't get to after spending a month in Bhutan. The other was to Ladakh in the top NW corner of India beyond the Himalayas. I did trip reports for Slow Travel which I'll get round to putting on here at some time.
 

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