Welcome to Hyderabad

April 3rd

We arrived at the Hyderabad Airport around 5:00 in the morning. Our flight out of Mumbai had been delayed by a few hours. Ganga told me this was pretty common within India – flights, trains, etc. running behind schedule. Immigration/customs was really quick and uneventful and my passport got its first stamp.

After this section, there was a large help desk where many women in full burkas were gathered. Apparently, areas of Hyderabad were under curfew because of some recent rioting between Muslims and Hindus in the area. We were able to bypass the helpdesk and were met by his parents, an aunt and his little brother – who’s not that little, he’s 28.

We took a taxi to our hotel. This was assuredly one of the most horrifying experiences of my life. In India, driving is like in England, on the left side of the road with the driver on the right side of the car. Of course “sides” are sort of nominal here. Most people just seemed to center their car on a dotted line and moved around, through, and between traffic in a horribly haphazard manner while honking their horn a lot. Mostly, I just closed my eyes and held on. I started to say a Hail Mary at one point, but then I realized I’m not Catholic and I have no idea what comes after “full of grace” anyway.

Our hotel was frankly creepy. The walls were dirty, the corridor lighting was low and the sheets seemed a little suspect. This was also my first experience with Indian bathrooms. I wish now I had taken a picture. There was a toilet and a sink (which I later discovered I should have been grateful for) and two taps coming out of the wall, a large gallon bucket and smaller pail and a drain on the floor. When Ganga asked if I wanted a shower, I said “where?” He answered in the bathroom and I said, “how?” Thankfully, he demonstrated the process of splashing water over ones’ self or I would have been dirty for a month looking for a “shower” and never finding one.

Around seven in the morning there was an hour long power outage. The outages vary by community – in Ganga’s hometown of Muchliputnem, the power is out for two hours every morning - I guess it must vary based on the usage and needs of the community. One of the most common questions people asked us was about power outages in the U.S. I can’t even imagine how much Americans would freak out over not having power for any amount of time during the day. We are awfully spoilt.

While in Hyderabad, we had some famous Hyderabadi biryani for lunch and dinner at a tiffin (which means breakfast or a light meal) restaurant. I had dosa which is like a thin pancake or probably more like a crepe. It’s eaten with chutney – in my experience usually coconut or peanut but I've also seen people eat it with tomato or spicy pickles as well.

Next post: The train ride from hell.