Day One

My friend Will and I arrived early in the morning at the Rajiv Gandhi Airport with dreary eyes. As we walked into the airport I was shocked to see that there was NOBODY. Of course, it was 430 in the morning, but I expected to see at least a few people in a place the size of New York City. We went to immigration and the man behind the desk started firing off all kinds of questions at Will like, “What are you majoring in?” “What do you want to see?” and “Are you here for tourism?” We ended up being the last ones out of the immigration line and went through security, got our bags, met my mom, and were off to the apartment. Our driver, Prasad, had gotten up at 330 in the morning to pick us up. Even with that, he was happy to take our bags and put them in the car even though we said we could take them ourselves. It’s amazing how kind almost every Indian is to tourists.  The first thing I noticed as we walked out of the airport was the distinct smell of the Indian air. I don’t think a description of it would do it justice, but I’ll do my best to describe it. It is a kind of concoction of spices, pollution, flowers that creates a smell that is honestly quite addictive. We got to the apartment just as the sun was beginning to creep over the buildings of the city. Before the sunrise ended, I made sure to at least get a few shots of it. I peered out the balcony of our apartment and saw all kinds of different things. It was still very quiet because of how early it was, but the surrounding buildings were beginning to become visible. The only thing I could distinctly hear was the sound of a broom steadily sweeping. I noticed that just across the street from our apartment building were people living in plastic tents. It’s quite interesting that people with such different lives live so close together. I had my first meal in India, idlis with potatoes and poories, which absolutely hit. the. spot. The amount of different tastes in my mouth is another indescribable thing and made me wanting more once breakfast was done. After a long nap we went out to Golconda Fort, which is a beautiful Fort built first in the 13^th century and then fortified in the 16^th century. It takes many steps to reach the fort, which is good because I really needed some exercise. About halfway up a Muslim family asked us if they could take a picture with us. Will and I were surprised that a random person wanted to take a picture with us, but we said yes of course and they took the picture. This happened a few more times before we reached the top of the Fort. At the top, the view was stunning. You could see all of Hyderabad with nothing in the way, because there are barely any skyscrapers. I think that some sort of chain reaction occurred because after one person asked us if they could take a picture with us at the top, we starting to get hoards of people coming up with their cameras and asking for a picture. Will and I loved it because it made me feel like I was famous, but my mom told us that it gets old fast. Everybody was asking me questions like, “Where are you from?” “What’s your name?” “Is this man your brother?” “Is that your mom?” “Why are you here?” etc. etc. To sum it up, it was one of the coolest things I’ve ever experienced. It was kind of strange, though. I understand small children coming up and wanting to take a picture with these three white people, but I don’t understand old women and grown men wanting to take pictures with me.  For dinner, we went to an Indian restaurant (maybe I should just call it a restaurant from now on because we ARE in India…) called Moti Mahal Delux. My mom and I were able to get Will to eat Indian food and he absolutely loved it. We had naan, reshmikabob (which is chicken), butter chicken, and rotis. We came home and went to bed early to get ready for the flight to Chennai tomorrow. It was so great to be back in India for a few reasons.

1. Weather

2. The people

3. The food

Golconda Fort:

Prasad, our awesome driver: