Christhindumas, First Installment.
Happy Christhindumas!
Spent the holidays deep in the steamy backroads and breezy ex-colonial cities of Tamil Nadu with the family, giving them quite the introduction to India.
After arriving 8 hours later than expected due to incompetent American Airlines personnel, getting stuck in London, rerouted through Dehli (which required leaving the confines of the international terminal, upon stepping into the Dehli heat braving the wild animal pack of taxi drivers lunging at their suitcases, negotiating a reasonable fare to the domestic terminal, escaping near death driving in chaotic traffic, etc etc), they arrived in Bangalore to find their checked luggage never made it, and worse yet- no one claimed to know of the bags existence. It was gone, all gone… including the American foodstuffs for me (jolly ranchers, instant mashed potatoes) and my parents' entire wardrobe for the trip.
After picking them up at the airport and swinging by the hotel, allowing an hour to regain consciousness after 30 hours of high blood pressure traveling, I whisked them off to Forum, one of Bangalore’s beloved crown jewels – huge shopping malls. Hilarity ensued as 6’3” dad and brother stumbled through rows and rows of neon colored polos and my mom freaked out that no pants came in her 34 inseam size. The stress levels were climbing…
But once my dad’s eerily GPS-accurate McDonald’s radar kicked in, sublime happiness soon followed. I couldn’t believe that within one hour and twenty seven minutes of landing in South India, they had not only found the only McD’s in hundreds of miles, but already evaluated the French fries in comparison to other foreign McD’s (Hong Kong’s were much better) and sampled the featured green pea McAloo burger.
As we toured the rest of the city, I got to kick back and observe what I must have looked like my first 24 hours in Bangalore. Scary.
I had forgotten how terrifying the kamikaze-like attitude of some drivers and the ability of everything on the road (cows, mopeds, dumptrucks, autorikshaws) to completely ignore all proper traffic direction and line markers can be. And overwhelming physical expanse of the city, whose population recently ballooned to 6 million, can definitely be intimidating at first to suburbanites. We gazed out the windows of the 1994 Toyota Qualis at the many, many streets and back alleys teeming with shopkeepers, school children, day laborers… Then after 2 days we left Bangalore to explore Karnataka’s neighboring state, Tamil Nadu.
Many days of spicy food accidents and name pronunciation problems... Many days of my Dad worrying about me wandering around unlit back alleys in fear of the (nonexistent) pickpocketers... Many days of traveling breakneck speeds down potholed backroads, slamming into the window or collapsing into the aisle (a ride truly unrivaled even by The Rattler rollercoaster at Fiesta Texas Six Flags)... Many days of wondering if Santa could find us in the middle of south Asia... it was Christmas in Madurai, India!
Hundreds of photos to come, as my mom and brother documented every movement of the family vacation with the adorable temple monkeys.
Since then, The Job has been AMAZINGLY busy. There is a huge event this weekend I've been working on for months... and its in front of hundreds of VIPs. Awesome.
Also, GOA for New Years = Hippie Ridiculous.
Spent the holidays deep in the steamy backroads and breezy ex-colonial cities of Tamil Nadu with the family, giving them quite the introduction to India.
After arriving 8 hours later than expected due to incompetent American Airlines personnel, getting stuck in London, rerouted through Dehli (which required leaving the confines of the international terminal, upon stepping into the Dehli heat braving the wild animal pack of taxi drivers lunging at their suitcases, negotiating a reasonable fare to the domestic terminal, escaping near death driving in chaotic traffic, etc etc), they arrived in Bangalore to find their checked luggage never made it, and worse yet- no one claimed to know of the bags existence. It was gone, all gone… including the American foodstuffs for me (jolly ranchers, instant mashed potatoes) and my parents' entire wardrobe for the trip.
After picking them up at the airport and swinging by the hotel, allowing an hour to regain consciousness after 30 hours of high blood pressure traveling, I whisked them off to Forum, one of Bangalore’s beloved crown jewels – huge shopping malls. Hilarity ensued as 6’3” dad and brother stumbled through rows and rows of neon colored polos and my mom freaked out that no pants came in her 34 inseam size. The stress levels were climbing…
But once my dad’s eerily GPS-accurate McDonald’s radar kicked in, sublime happiness soon followed. I couldn’t believe that within one hour and twenty seven minutes of landing in South India, they had not only found the only McD’s in hundreds of miles, but already evaluated the French fries in comparison to other foreign McD’s (Hong Kong’s were much better) and sampled the featured green pea McAloo burger.
As we toured the rest of the city, I got to kick back and observe what I must have looked like my first 24 hours in Bangalore. Scary.
I had forgotten how terrifying the kamikaze-like attitude of some drivers and the ability of everything on the road (cows, mopeds, dumptrucks, autorikshaws) to completely ignore all proper traffic direction and line markers can be. And overwhelming physical expanse of the city, whose population recently ballooned to 6 million, can definitely be intimidating at first to suburbanites. We gazed out the windows of the 1994 Toyota Qualis at the many, many streets and back alleys teeming with shopkeepers, school children, day laborers… Then after 2 days we left Bangalore to explore Karnataka’s neighboring state, Tamil Nadu.
Many days of spicy food accidents and name pronunciation problems... Many days of my Dad worrying about me wandering around unlit back alleys in fear of the (nonexistent) pickpocketers... Many days of traveling breakneck speeds down potholed backroads, slamming into the window or collapsing into the aisle (a ride truly unrivaled even by The Rattler rollercoaster at Fiesta Texas Six Flags)... Many days of wondering if Santa could find us in the middle of south Asia... it was Christmas in Madurai, India!
Hundreds of photos to come, as my mom and brother documented every movement of the family vacation with the adorable temple monkeys.
Since then, The Job has been AMAZINGLY busy. There is a huge event this weekend I've been working on for months... and its in front of hundreds of VIPs. Awesome.
Also, GOA for New Years = Hippie Ridiculous.
posted by Laura | 7:23 AM
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