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It amazes me just how much changes every time I go to India.  The country still has a long way to go when it comes to obvious signs of development such as infrastructure and pollution control, etc. but things are definitely getting better.  It had been three years since my previous visit, and with the trip only half as long from the UK, it was time for a visit.  I landed in Delhi the night of October 29th, which also happened to be the day of the bomb blasts in three of the local markets.  My brother landed two hours before me, coming in from Bombay and our poor mother was a wreck, wondering if we would make it out of there without incident.  Needless to say, my shopping trip had to be postponed and instead we woke up the next morning and headed to Chandigarh, which is about a 4 hour drive north of Delhi.  My grandmother was in a hospital there, and we were hoping to bring her home soon, as she had been there for over 3 weeks.  The roads were decent in the city, but I was reminded just how little life had changed once we reached the countryside.  We were fighting for our bit of open road with bullock carts, cars, trucks, cows, dogs, bicycles, and traffic coming from the other side.  As a result, a 250km drive that would probably take two hours on an open road in Texas takes half a day in India!  Anyway, we reached safely and headed up to my nani’s (nani is mom’s mom in Hindi) room to check up on her.  She was still fairly weak but doing better, which was a relief. 

With Diwali being the next day we decided to head home to Buria (my mom’s hometown) for the celebrations.  Another three hour drive later we were welcomed by my aunt, uncle, and cousins.  The haveli (house) had been decorated beautifully with lights, and I had a fleeting image of what it must have looked like when it was first built 250 years earlier.  It still has some rooms I haven’t entered and little nooks and crannies waiting to be discovered.  Most of the rooms in the 3 story structure have been shut for years.  My mom was born and raised in that house and has many fond memories of growing up there.  We went to the temple in the evening, came home and had a nice meal, and then headed out to the courtyard where my cousin wanted us to light the million fireworks he had purchased the week before.  We had fun setting off the sparklers, rockets and star shots.  The poor dogs were scared to death and huddled together at the back of the house. 

It was good to spend some time with our family and we hung out there for another day before heading back to Chandigarh to check up on nani.  We stayed up there just for the day, spent some time with her, and then my brother and I came back in the evening.  The next day we received some great news and nani came home with my parents to a big welcome home celebration.  Two days later it was time to leave again.

Chaitan and I headed back to Delhi to meet up with a friend of mine from London and all three of us headed down to Bombay.  That night Chaitan showed me around Bandra, the part of town he lives in.  We had dinner at a restaurant which was walking distance from his flat.  Dinner consisted of crepes, which were quite tasty…it had only been a week, but I needed a break from Indian food!  Everyone around us was in western wear, speaking in English, and probably in their 20s and 30s.  I was thinking, wow, this has really become a cosmopolitan city.  It was the first time in a week I was able to order a glass of water from the server and not have to remember any Hindi. 

The next morning I met up with Michelle and Parul, two of my friends from London and we headed down to Goa for a mini girls trip.  It was a nice and relaxing break, just what I needed after a hectic first week.  Our hotel was amazing, we stayed at the Marriott in Panjim, which is in central Goa.  It felt like a 5 star hotel in the US, and the service was so good we felt like movie stars!  We got there on a Monday afternoon.  We explored the local market that afternoon and hung out by the pool, which gave way to an amazing view of the sea.  In the elevator, a guy heard us talking and asked if we were American.  Dharmesh and Anish had English accents and looked to be about our age, but Dharmesh was visiting from the US.  We later saw them with their family at dinner.  The next day we hired a taxi for the day and explored north Goa, heading up to Fort Aguaba, on to Calangute, and then up to Baga beach, where we went for a swim in the ocean.  It was unbelievably crowded, and we were told it was the after Diwali rush.  We felt a bit strange getting into the water in our bathing suits.  Goa is a pretty laid back place, but with all the locals there, women were getting into the water with their full salwar chameez’s on!  We sat at one one of the local shacks on the beach and shared a lobster and toasted to a beautiful sunset.  Afterwards we went to a restaurant recommended by the hotel and enjoyed the Goan fare.  The seafood in Goa is amazing, we didn’t have a bad meal the whole time we were there.  Our driver took us back to the hotel and we crashed. 

The next morning, we hired another taxi for the day and went back to the beach side of Fort Aguaba which was really nice and a lot less crowded.  Once we were on the beach, we took a dolphin cruise on a speedboat which was a lot of fun.  We saw Fort from the water, and managed to spot at least a dozen dolphins, racing in and out of the water.  We hung out on the beach for a little while and then headed up to Anjuna to the famous market they have every Wednesday.  Talk about a whole different world!  I’ve never been in such a big market in my life, it seemed to go on forever.  Going down one alley just led to another one and another one until you finally ended up on the beach.  We spent a few hours there, buying gifts for friends and for ourselves!  They were selling everything from jewelry, clothes, wall hangings, etc.  We headed back to the hotel for dinner and then got ready for a night out on the town.  We figued we had to party at least one night in Goa.  We originally had planned on going to Club Cabana, as Wednesday was ladies night which meant free entry and free booze all night long.  Much to our disappointment, it was closed, apparently for political reasons.  So, instead we headed over to another club which I can’t remember the name of.  Entry was free but the booze wasn’t.  Oh well…we would just have to make the most of it as none of us brought too much cash thinking we wouldn’t need to buy any drinks!  We were on the dance floor when some guy approached us and asked if we were the ones they ran into in the elevator.  We recognized Dharmesh and Anish and met Dharmesh’s wife.  We hung out with the three of them all night and had a great time.  Anish lives in London as well, not far from where I am.  I never thought I’d meet another Chelsea resident in Goa of all places…such a small world.  There were so many Europeans at the club that it didn’t feel like we were in India. Of course the locals were fascinated by them and at one point it felt like I was watching an episode of MTV’s Wild On (I’ll just leave it at that).  We didn’t leave the club until after 4am.  It turns out that our new friends were going back to Bombay the next day as we were and we talked about meeting up with them there. 

We got back to Bombay to Thursday night and met some of Chaitan’s work friends for some South Indian food at Dosa Diner.  On Friday while Chaitan was at work, Michelle and I decided to do some shopping at the local markets.  In the evening we went to Saffron, a great North Indian restaurant.  It turns out that Dharmesh et al were staying at that hotel so we met up with them afterwards for a drink and then all headed to the club in the same hotel.  The next morning we headed over to the Gateway of India, and from there we caught a boat to go see the caves at Elephanta, which has been designated as a UNESCO World Heritage site. It took us about an hour to get there, but the water was quite calm, and there was a nice breeze blowing.  The caves were amazing, and represent a series of temples dedicated to Lord Shiva.   In the foyer is a huge carving of Lord Shiva in what appears to be a Buddhist pose.  It’s hard to imagine a more peaceful and serene sight.  I sat there and stared at it for a few minutes, and could feel my body relaxing and a sense of calm coming over me.  Definitely worth a visit.