December 23, Day 2: Shopping

The sun beamed from the curtains and into the room as little cracks. It was now morning, but I was super jet lagged so I woke up around 5:00 am and tried to go back to bed finally waking up to the light pouring out from the window. We had poha which is literally rice that’s flattened. It normally contains nuts and chev which is like a sort of chip to make it crunchy. Sometimes if you put lemon it has a nice tangy taste that’s just perfection. Today was going to be a day of exploring so I ate as much as I could so I could go and explore Pune. Before heading out to the Phoniex Marketplace, which is a huge mall, I played badamsaath with my little sister, little cousin, and my aai. Badamsaath means badam 7, I actually have no idea what badam means but the rules of the game is the person who holds the 7 of hearts has to play first, then once that’s laid everyone has to put cards done numerical order on that 7 of hearts. If you hold another 7 you can put that down to start another sequence of numbers.

After playing 3-4 rounds of the game and my mom and kaki (uncle’s wife, my aunt) came back from the fish market so we can have grilled fish for dinner. We all headed into the car to drive to the mall, we meaning my aaji and aajoba (my dad’s parents), my aai and baba (my mom’s parents), my cousin and sister, my mom and dad, and my kaka and kaki (my aunt and uncle). Whilst in the car and beginning to park a little girl approached our vehicle and held onto our door handle and wouldn’t let go. She was holding a tin bowl, my sister got a little scared but she’s not as used to the poverty difference in India then the little state of Arkansas that we’re from. She didn’t go for a good ten minutes, the thing is when someone approached your car with items to sell or just approaching your car all you need to do is look away. Don’t look at them. If you do they think you’re deciding whether or not you want the thing they’re selling. So just look away unless you want what they’re selling. I advise if they’re selling a fruit and your a foreigner in India don’t eat it, always eat fruits that can be peeled, apples, bananas, cucumbers, and so on.

At the mall we first stopped at Mac because my little sister really enjoys wearing makeup, she got eyeliner there that was waterproof which is cool I guess. We also went to a number of shops. I think my favorite stop had to be Starbucks though, there was a variety of different items and the iced chai was super good! Better then the Starbucks in America but India is home to chai so that makes sense. (Also if you say chai tea in India people will look at you funny because chai means tea). Even if they’re not drinking chai that Americans are accustomed too they’ll still say chai. For example, Earl Grey chai, etc. I also advise if coming to India not to eat ice because you might not know where it came from. I took the risk and got a slight stomachache but felt better after a while.

Coming out of the mall ready to get home to take a nap for the jet lag was hitting again I spotted a camel running down the street, so that was interesting. After that we grilled the fish that we brought over from the market to eat. It was pretty good but I have a pet peeve, I HATE fish bones because they’re so delicate that you can swallow them but it’s such an unpleasant feeling. Also there’s so many fish bones, like little ones that look like hair.

December 24, Day 3: Party

The third day was a very busy day for me, I wasn’t able to take as many pictures because today was the day that I was meeting all of my family on my dad’s side so we could all celebrate my Aajoba’s birthday. It was going to be a very busy day, last night we made diya’s (lamps) out of chapati dough so we could use those for the arthi (a type of way to worship someone). When doing arthi you light a candle, diya, or anything ignitable and then hold that thing and use it to make a circle motion. For breakfast, before going to the hotel where the party was being hosted I ate some appe, which is a sort of savory pancake ball made of rice batter and coconut milk.

A big oopsie I took no pictures of the party because I was too busy meeting people on my dad’s side for the first time. I always am able to see my mom’s side and my mom talks about them a lot. However, my dad rarely talks about his family, maybe because they weren’t super close. For my mother, she always was close with almost everyone in her family for they all lived next to each other, or she would stay at their house for sleepovers, or they would have parties all the time. I met my sister in law, which in India we address all of our cousins as sister and brothers, so it was my cousins wife that I met. We talked for a while and we got to know each other, so it was nice. I also met my baby cousin who was so cute.

After the exhausting party however I wanted to go for a drive to explore Pune at night, since I couldn’t drive but I was getting restless at home I tagged with my mom, kaki, aai, and baba who were traveling to a gold shop to buy some gold jewelry, which is crazy because it’s real gold they’re selling. The fact that so many people think Indians are all poor yet so many people in India are flocking towards gold shops tells something. Oh my the driving rules in India are so scary. First off, in America if you honk without reason you can get fined, however in India people love to honk. Honking is basically the indication to move out of the way, even though the cars there have indicators. Even if you did nothing wrong, someone will honk at you. Also motorcycles don’t like to use indicators, even though again it’s provided, they prefer to use their hand. (My dad when he was young liked to use his foot). Plus seat belts aren’t required, unless you’re the driver. Also most people driving aren’t licensed, but don’t worry even if you get caught you can BRIBE THE COPS WITH MONEY. WHAT???

While driving I felt like getting ” street food”, I say that in quotations because it came from a “restaurant” (more like a building making food really quickly but not necessarily fast food). You could get food poisoning from street food so I didn’t want to risk it so my kaki walked me to this building, again not necessarily a restaurant more like a food store with no front wall, meaning no door or wall that would normally hold a door. Does that make sense? We got Maharashtran street food, vada pav. I LOVE VADA PAV! It’s my most favorite native Maharashtran food. It’s literally a potato sandwich but with spices and chilies. I’m sorry for not showing the potato part of the sandwich. The potato part looks like a ball of fried potato which you then put inside the bread, squish it, and then eat it.

So far, my India adventure had been successful and fun.