I actually just realized that I’ve got some of the details of my trip a little backwards in my head. đ On Wednesday night (my first night in India) Adam and I actually went out for dinner with our good friend Rajesh (not Umakant and his wife like I previously posted about) like I thought. Since the hour was getting late and Rajesh had some work to finish up after dinner we opted to go to a little Arab Indian place just a few doors down from Adobe. It seriously had some Amazing food – so good in fact that I made Adam take me back two other times during that week! I loved it. We ordered this amazing BBQ chicken that came with this awesome white sauce (sort of like yogurt) and brown gravy (which reminded me of hummus) and I just couldn’t get enough of it. So SO good. The best part though was just getting to spend time with Rajesh again and hearing about some of the good things that are happening in his life. He actually had several job offers at the time that he was entertaining and was just finishing out his last week at Adobe. I was so glad for the time we got to spend with him and we can’t wait for more adventures when we move to India.
A couple things to note about that night: 1) I received my first experience with outright STARING! Ha ha! As you can imagine being a white person in India means you stand out a LOT. However, being a white WOMAN in India who is super tall and obviously American makes you stand out even more. Apparently I am quite the novelty in India because man alive did I get some stares. There just so happened to be a table full of men next to us and at one point during our dinner I looked over and all three of them were actually TURNED around in their chairs, with mouths open, just gaping at me. Not talking, not eating, just staring! And they didn’t even look away when I made eye contact. They just continued staring like an insect can’t look away from a bright light. It was totally funny. Rajesh told me just to ignore them or tell them off, but I just smiled and waved, and eventually they smiled back and went back to their own conversation. It was pretty crazy though, but I learned after awhile just to ignore the stares or to just smile back and wave and go about my business. But you really do sort of feel like a movie star over there with all the staring and attention you get – and from all walks of life. I had children wanting to take pictures with me, Mom’s with babies, you name it. The stares came from just about everyone. But the people are so nice and so friendly and so kind and I just fell in love more and more with India the longer I was there.
2) Indians have a completely different time frame for eating. In American I would guess that most families eat between 5:00 to 7:00 pm. However, in India you can’t even find a restaurant OPEN until at least 7:00 pm, and that is super super super early for most Indians. The average time to eat dinner for them is usually between 8:00 to 11:00. No joking! And most nights we were eating dinner at around 9:00 or 10:00 pm. I don’t think there was a single night that we made it back to our hotel before midnight. It just always took us that long to eat dinner! From what I understand the biggest reason is that schooling in India is really competitive and so kids are usually studying until 9 pm in order to keep ahead of the curve. So most families just don’t eat until the kids are done studying. However, because of that, kids in India usually don’t go to bed until super late either. We were shocked to learn that bedtime for several of our friends kids (they both had 1 year olds or younger) was midnight or 1:00 am! Adam and I don’t even stay up that late. Just a very different culture. And one we aren’t sure how to manage once we move to India with 4 kids in tow! đ
3) Another thing I had to get used to was eating with my hands. Indians usually eat everything with their right hand only. This includes rice, the gravy’s you dip stuff in, everything. They are really good at eating that way too – but for us Utahns/American’s it takes a little practice! I so did love learning so many new ways to do things though. India is just awesome!
Anyway, Wednesday evening we had dinner with Rajesh, and then Tuesday we again spent a full day at the office and then later that evening we went out with Umakant and Jay for dinner. Friday though was house hunting day. Rajesh SAVED me and agreed to come with me house hunting and was awesome to help me figure out when prices were fair, when an apartment was nice, and when I wasn’t being ripped off. Adam again had to work so having Rajesh with me was such a tender mercy. I was really grateful for his help. Below are some pictures from our fun day looking at apartments.
I just had to throw this picture in here. This is an Orchid that was on our table at breakfast in the morning. I thought that they had dyed the orchid this color – but when I asked about it – they said that it was its natural color. Wow! Soooo pretty!
Waiting outside our hotel for our driver in the morning next to my favorite “No Horn” sign.
Our first stop on our list was to see at an Apartment I found online at a place called St. Johns Wood. It is only 3 minutes by car from Adobe and is in a gated community with 24 hour security. We totally lucked out and ended up loving the apartment (especially since it came fully furnished), and later Adam and I even signed a contract to secure it, but then we received the news from our real estate agent that the owners decided to back out after finding someone else that wanted a 2 year contract. We were so bummed. So the hunt begins. But this WOULD have been the apartment we planned to live in.
Later that evening (after the work day was over for Adam) we again got to go out for a scrupulous dinner with friends. Nagendra and his beautiful wife Raji joined us that evening and we went to an Italian place at the UV city mall. Once again I wasn’t disappointed with either the food or the company. I seriously loved the food I got (some chicken spaghetti dish in a garlic sauce) and Nagendra and Raji were so fun to be around. We had a great time getting to know their love story, and how they came to be married. Such GREAT people!
We had to laugh when we saw this sign next to a water fountain at the mall. So funny! I couldn’t resist a quick shower!
Nagendra and Raji. Love them!
After dinner, Nagendra and Raji invited us over to their home to meet their sweet little boy whom I’m happy to say bonded with me pretty instantly. He was so cute and would watch me from wherever he was in the room while he played with toys. He was amazing at throwing, and hitting balls with hocky sticks, and really just such a cute little boy all around. It was so fun to meet him. We also got to meet Nagendra’s Mom who was there visiting as well as Raji’s Mom. They all were such great people! We literally felt like family by the time we left. I so do love the people of India!
Another wonderful day in India!