Venk's Indian Adventure Venk Chandran

Stay tuned to MyBindi as Venk will be sharing his experiences with us while travelling through India.

Frankfurt to Mumbai - Lufthansa flight 746

The antiseptic nature of Terminal B in Frankfurt doesn't do much for a hangover. Especially a hangover caused by the liberal libations provided by the good people of Lufthansa flight 746. After dozing off somewhere in the middle of the POW movie otherwise known as Chicken Run, I woke up to strong germanic accents informing me that Frankfurt was approaching. India was a scant 11 hours away. Oh god. A few pointers for those travelling to India and thinking about eating on the plane. Number 1. Don't. The concoction of mushroom curry (??), mutant purri/paratas and some weird paneer (or was it egg?) curry was enough to agree with the majority of people who think of plane food as the last vestige of the damned.

Mumbai - Customs Bag check

You are assaulted by the smell of diesel oil, heat, perspiration and always - chili's. It gets better as the heat slowly creeps into your tired body and the dust of the city attacks. Man. You feel like getting right back on that plane when you see the customs check. After the 2 hour wait (actually it could have been a hell of a lot worse) the real action begins! Get your luggage! Small Indian grandfathers will fight tenaciously against not only those around them but also with suitcases twice their size - in odd colors and twice their weight. It's a ruckus welcoming you to the motherland. I think I killed someone getting my luggage. I'm hoping no-one will notice.

Home. Back to Bom.

A thin layer of dust settles right around your skin as soon as you get out Santa Cruz airport. The dogs, the black and yellow taxis and my favourite - the cockroach on wheels: the almighty black/yellow rickshaws. There are 27 million people in outer Mumbai alone. 27 million collective people breathing, eating paan and spitting (you get good at dodging them again), yelling, driving, begging, and otherwise living.

My aunt and mother meet me at the airport and we head back to Andheri. I was born and raised for 4 years in Andheri. I can't even begin to tell you the changes - the whole area has been fighting the sea and winning. Once I used to live a scant block away from Juhu beach - just me, cousins, uncles, slum kids, and the beach. Land and the crazy amount of real estate development have pushed the sea back and installed a great barricade of slums and apartment complexes. Char Bungalows (4 bungalows) wasn't a splendid place to begin living - especially in an apartment with 11 + relatives at a time. Yes, it would be completely and utterly ghetto in today's Canadian standards. I'll send pictures. We drove back to the Lokhandwala Complex where my cousin and family lived. After rounds of "How much you have grown" and "Just like your father/grandmother/distant relative are you" comments - I passed out. Jet Lag is a bitch.

A few things passed my mind as I was asleep. There were Nortel Network ads outside the airport. A familiar Dominoes Pizza logo was labelled "Hungry Kya" outside of Andheri SV arterial road. I saw Ronald Mcdonald. Everyone had a cell phone. I think I saw a Hyundai Accent. Some people have been winning at Crore Pati.

Chalo hum kelta kaun banega.


Week 1: Arrival and Mumbai

Week 2: More Mumbai->Indore->New Delhi

Week 3: Delhi->Madras(Chennai)->Calcutta

Week 4: Fear and Loathing in Goa