Wow. I will never be fully prepared for this type of culture shock. I’ve been visiting India roughly once every 3-4 years my entire life, but I still am completely taken aback at stark contrast between life here and my life 36 hours ago in Seattle.
I had some excitement getting from the airport, as there was a miscommunication with my arrival times, and I found myself stranded at the airport staring at a crowd of 300 Indian men, all waiting for a friend or relative that was not me.
I felt very alone and vulnerable for a while, as I realized I didn’t even have the number of my family friend who was picking me up. I finally found a cab (the first guy to approach me offered double the price I ended up paying), and gave him the address of my Dad’s house in Bandra West. He didn’t know where it was, but I had already paid, so we took off, and after much confusion (he didn’t speak English) we finally found the church where my parents got married, and I was able to rake the streets and find the building from there.
So now I’m staying with my cousins for the weekend, and yesterday I managed to get a cell phone plan, bottled water, and visit a bakery. Tasks that took just about all day.
The crowds and traffic and dust are unbelievable. At one point I was crossing the road with Karen, and there was construction with a road barrier about 6 ft high. A full size bus came at me, and I got trapped between the path of the bus and the barrier. I assumed the bus would stop, as there was less than one foot of space for me, but the driver continued, and I plastered myself to the barrier, the bus missing me by literally about 2-3 inches.
My ‘your-life-is-being-threatened’ alarm goes off in my head about every 3 minutes while walking on the street.
I’m taking it in stride, and trying to adjust. Apparently Bandra is the quietest of suburbs, and the crowds in the trains I’ll have to take to get around the city make this place seem deserted.
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Nice photo you leech