First impressions of India

Hi Folks,

Ok, so here I am in Mumbai. I have been in India for about 28 hours and I have already been absolutely bombarded with impression. This place is intense. I will try to document my time here thus far.

I land in Hyderabad Saturday morning at 08:30 after a 3 hour journey with only about 1 hour of sleep. Hyderabad airport is clean and modern. There is somewhat loud and dramatic mood music at customs, which is pretty cool. No problem getting into India, even with a somewhat generic address written onto my entry slip (Adress: Banjara Hills). I am tight on time and my bags arrive amongst the last and need to be scanned. They scanning man asks me to come around and explain what it is he is seeing on the monitor. I look somewhat puzzled as I don't know much about looking at X-rays and generally leave that to my brother. Eventually when he mentioned the word lenses I realise we are looking at my camera and I assure him that I will be taking it with me when I leave. I meet my new colleague in arrivals and after a hasty intro we dash off to catch our flight. We show our passport to get into the departures area, but no ID to get boarding pass, get through security check or to get on the plane: good thing because they misspelled my name. :-)

So 10:00 and we are on the plane and 10:15 we are taking off to Mumbai. Flying over the hills each of Mumbai was stunning but flying in over Mumbai has to be one of the most stunning things I have ever seen. You come in over a body of water and then green marches/forests. As the plane lets lower and lower you come in over the settlements. Packed together on all the land available, right to the edge of steep drop-off slopes, with roofs in various intersecting hights it was visually stunning and soul-wrenching at the same time. The areas are huge and numerous.

We touch down and the warm, wet air quickly envelopes you. Outside the terminal I meet another 2 colleagues and we get into the car and set off into Mumbai traffic. I am not sure words can really explain what this is like. Through my entire time here I have not seen anyone use the indicator. I mean I believe they are under the impression that one of the stalks on the steering column is for ornamentation. People shooting in and out lanes, constant honking. There are traffic signals but there are just used as xmas lights because they are WHOLE and ENTIRELY ignored. The city just continues and continues and continues. Eventually we get to the expressway in our Toyota minubus that plays the “Lombarda” when you put the car in reverse: I mean, screw the beep from the parking sensor, play the song with which the forbidden dance belongs.

We curve our way up the mountains towards the city of Pune. We stop for food at a local freeway-side establishment for a bit of Dahl. yum yum yum. After asking for directions several times we eventually find our hotel where we will be holding a seminar. We talk and prep and I have a shower to freshen up after too many hours awake. I have a shirt ironed, dress up and get ready. After 4 hours of seminar, with dinner we are ready to head back to the big city. At this point I am beyond tired. I mean really beyond tired. I manage to nodge off in the car and wake up as we stop at another roadside establishment. It was so incredibly surreal. It's dark and warm and the whole place is lit up with fluorescent lights. People hanging out of cars, stray dogs, various stands selling food, loud Indian music and the whole thing run down. I could imagine this place on an acid trip and it would put Fear and Loathing to shame.

In advance I was told that Mumbai traffic at night is no problem: This is a LIE. Mumbai traffic at 01:30 is something similar to the worst Copenhagen traffic imaginable, except with total disregard for traffic rules. I shed a little tear when we arrive at the hotel. We check in and I catch my breath. What a day.

Today I went for a short walk. I walk into a nicer clothing shop and 7 attendants jump to attention willing to help. The people of India generally are incredibly kind and sweet but the service is almost too much. I have my first contact with begging children. It's pretty scary and frightening, but it is real and I have no desire to shy away from this very real fact about India. I think I will now go exploring a bit and perhaps meet up with my colleagues for dinner.

I leave you here for now