December 25, Day 4: The Proposal

Now the title for this section might surprise a few, as if who would be proposing, well….you’ll see. That morning when I was devouring that poor omelette on my plate my mother came along and mentioned something about visiting the place where my dad proposed to my mom. See the meaning of the title now? Apparently, my dad proposed in a parking lot (so romantic) and on April fools day (to which my dad says he did that in case he was turned down). So now we were all going into the car, not the same one there’s a lot of people, but divided I tuned out the world and looked at my surroundings. We were traveling to FC Road, remember the first blog post for the Indian trip I went to MC road? My kaki was giving me a little tour whilst in the car. While driving I saw a college COEP (College of Engineering), that my mother said is where she went to college. Supposedly the school’s 100 years old, to be completely honest, it looked like it. We also drove past Sancheti hospital, the hospital where my kaki’s dad (my grandfather, which for some people is crazy because they don’t address their aunt’s family as anything since the aunt married into the family, THAT’S NOT HOW INDIAN FAMILIES WORK) lost his leg in a medical accident. I’ve always held a grudge for the hospital since.

We went to a really popular South Indian restaurant, I ordered idli which is like this savory rice cake that literally melts in the mouth, and shared a dosa with my kaka. Dosa is like this nice, fluffy, savory pancake. Idli normally comes along side chutney which is a sauce and sambar which is almost like a soup you eat it with (or typically poured on). I also had this amazing coffee with it, I have no idea what the coffee is but it was amazing. We were at the restaurant to meet my mom’s college friend, and it was really cool because he works in Cybersecurity and I absolutely adore Cybersecurity.

After eating lunch we did go back to the mall from the previous blog which why not? After that though it was a pretty chill day, but I was getting restless. I always get bored if I’m doing nothing, I have to be doing something. Especially because I’m back to a country I haven’t been to in a long time. I always have to try something new. So I went with my kaki and mom to go vegetable shopping. It wasn’t bad, only bad reason was there’s no grass so a lot of dust was going into my nose and I was sneezing non stop. Even though Pune is a city, my family lives in the more “town” side. I say town in quotations because it’s so big with skyscrapers and everything but it’s not the main city part.

Then for dinner we had another very very famous and typical Marathi street food, that again we didn’t get from the streets but a restaurant. We got pav bhaji. Pav bhaji is a sweet bread roll coming along with a nice vegetable curry that you eat together with. I didn’t take a picture because my family did absolutely devour that meal, and by the time I was eating everything was almost gone. Then before going to bed I talked with my sister and cousin and laughed at my sister who was panicking because she put hand cream on her feet.

December 26, Day 5: Travel Day

No I’m not traveling back to the USA, this is the day were we started the trek towards my aai and baba’s house in a city called Satara. Now Satara compared to Pune, it’s not a busy city with skyscrapers, see Satara is more of a scenic and historically rich area. See this is the area where Shivaji Maharaj, the king Maratha Empire, had his forts. Maratha Empire are people of Maharastra. We are also referred to as Marathas or Marathis.

Waking up at 5:30 is not desirable. However traffic in India is BAD, and we needed to beat the traffic. So for breakfast I just had some milk (which is weird because it’s sweeter then American milk) and Ladoos (which is like a sweet ball, like grits but roasted in ghee and then coated in a sugary syrup and then shaped into a ball). We did beat the traffic which is good! So we got to Satara at 8:00 because it’s about a 2 hour drive from Pune. The car ride wasn’t bad and then it took a twist. I forgot I drank milk and didn’t use the bathroom before we left so the last 30 minutes of the drive I HAD TO PEE. We found a really clean bathroom but you guys, I’m AMERICAN and I CAN NOT squat and pee. It’s not POSSIBLE FOR ME! So I held it in. After using the bathroom I ate some breakfast over there and then headed out with my dad and my grandparent’s driver to explore a fort owned my Shivaji Maharaj. Breakfast was Sabudana Khichdi, which is tapioca pearls, and sheera which is like an Indian pudding.

To be continued