INDIA
Trip in india
Neurotic iraki wife
Neurotic iraki wife
Trip in india
Our arrival in Mumbai was greeted by that rotten sulphur stench that everyone
warned us about. We were still on the runway, and I had to gag from that smell.
I immediately covered my nose with my shawl and inhaled as much of my perfume as
I can. The way to the hotel, we saw hoards of people living on the streets. And
I mean Hoards. They use the pavements as their homes, putting up some cloth to
cover that area they live in. Yet they pee, shit, shave, shower with water
buckets all out in the open.
Everytime the car stops on a traffic light, kids ages no more than 5 would tap
our windows and make gestures with their hands to give them money. Not one child,
but 4 or 5 just gather together and start begging. By the time we reached the
hotel, I was already emotionally drained. The traffic in Mumbai is so dangerous
that even the driver told us "to be able to drive in Mumbai, you need an
extremely good horn, an excellent brake, a brilliant eye sight and good luck".
Yup, and thats exactly true. The adrelanin rush you get just by sitting in the
car on the streets of Mumbai is amazing. My immediate thoughts went to my
colleague D, an American who loves to sky dive. D, forget sky diving, go to
Mumbai and you will have the best adrelanin rush ever.
from
jaipur to delhi
By the second day, HUBBY and I wanted to leave. We really did. The continious
noise of beeping cars, rickshaws, buses, bikes, motorbikes and whatever else
that was on the street made me crave for the helicopter noise that used to bug
the hell outta me in Baghdad. After discussions etc, we decided that we are
there, we might as well check out delhi, agra and jaipur. Delhi was much calmer
than Mumbai, I managed to enjoy it. By the 6th day in India, we were craving for
meat, not mutton as they call their lamb, nor dal or potatoes or lentils etc...,
but real beef. So as we passed a mcdonalds, we immediately jumped at the driver
and told him to stop. I could already imagine devouring that yummy big mac with
its sauces dripping down my chin.
The
cow and the motorbike
House and work in the street
We go in, and I tell HUBBY to get me a Big Mac. After five minutes, HUBBY comes
back with a tray filled with 2 veggie burgers. I became so mad and said "HUBBY,
I thought I told you I want a Big Mac???" HUBBY just looked at me and asked very
cooly, "Neurotica, where are we?" Huh??? what do you mean where are we? He asked
again, where are we? I said we are in Mcdonalds. No, which country are we in?
Country? I was like to myself, HUBBY has gone mad, what the hell do you mean?
Just answer the question he said. Ok, we are in India, and it then struck me,
but ofcourse, no beef in India. OH MY GOD. NO DAMN BEEF!!!!Again my thoughts
went out to my colleague D, who is a vegetarian. Yup D, I think India is heaven
for you!!!
We decided to go to Agra, the place of the famous Taj Mahal by car. The 5 hour
journey, we drove along camels, cows, bikes, rickshaws, motorbikes, cars and
people. You name it, it was on that street. A 2 car lane, was crammed with all
the above. Many times we thought we were gonna die. Driving in India is no joke.
The driver would keep taking hard brakes, and he beeped all the way long. Half
way through our journey, I needed to pee. Not sure whether its because of the
mass surges of adrelanin rush due to being in the car or simply because of the
tiny drop of water I had to take along my panadol extra tablets. We stop in a
place called a dhabba. A dhabba is basically a name they call Indian cafes along
the way. Food is known to be unhygienic and causes many cases of food poisoning.
But HUBBY was told by a good friend of his to go and try one, since you are in
India, you have to go to a dhabba. Umm yeah. The driver showed me to the
bathroom, which consisted of a hole in the ground, not a toilet but a hole. A
hole with flies all over, flies and coackroaches. I stood there, staring,
thinking to myself, there is no way, no freakin way Im gonna pee here. The
driver after seeing the shock on my face said "madam, you ok?" Now what am I
gonna answer this guy. I just asked whether there was another bathroom or a
hotel close by, he just shook his head. So basically its either now or in
another 3 hours. I succumbed to my misfortune and peed with a breaking record of
time.
Agra I have to admit was the highlight of our trip. The Taj Mahal was just
breathtaking. It made me forget about the outside for awhile and go back to the
time of Shah Jahan who built this seventh wander of the world. The structure and
architecture is beyond anything Ive seen. Yet the story behind it gives it even
more of a magical touch. Shah Jahan, the ruler of the Moghul Empire, loved his
second wife Mumtaz Mahal so much that he promised her on her death bed, that he
will comemorate her memory and let people from all over the world remember her
for eternity. And so the Taj Mahal was built. It took nearly 22 years with about
22000 workers. The grandiose of that place makes you feel sad, that his beloved
wife did not manage to see and live its magic.
We saw many amazing temples, Sikh and Hindu. We also managed to see one of their
famous Mosques. The architecture all in all, spoke a story of all religeons and
ruling eras. It spoke of wars and rich history. Yet you look at India today, and
apart from those astonishing monuments, you are only left with a memory of
beggars tapping your shoulders, or street vendors annoying the hell out of you.
The funny thing was, whenever they asked where we come from and we say Baghdad,
their smiles disappear and sadness overwhelms their faces. Then the obvious
words of Saddam was a good man and America is no good comes out immediately. As
the language is a big barrier, we tend to leave out alot of our opinions and
instead I would just say No Saddam was bad he kill many.
Haggling becomes second nature to anyone who goes to India. Once they see
tourists, they multiply their prices by 5 or even 6 times. We just slash them by
a third and see what they say. You get no mama, no baba, no good. This real
leather, this hand made, no please, price no good. We walk away, and they come
running after us. Needless to say we get what we want. In Jaipur, the pink city,
we managed to ride an elephant which was fun. But by the end of our trip we were
so so glad that it did infact come to an end. I think the poverty, the pollution,
the dirt, the beeping cars, the traffic, and the beggars, made us appreciate
what we had more.
Even funnier than all this, was in the airport in Delhi on our way back to Abu
Dhabi, I see sports bags with the words Iraq written all over them. I nudged
HUBBY and said, hey look. HUBBY then immediately approached them. A bunch of 5
boys maybe ages 17 or 18 were startled to hear us talk to them in Iraqi. Turns
out they were there for a boxing tournament and they won silver medals. Their
coach then spoke to us, and asked us what we were doing in India, I dunno why,
but HUBBY said its our honeymoon. The coach immediately looked at me and said,
you left the whole world, the whole wide world, and you didnt find a better
place to go to but India????And dont forget this is a man, who lives in Baghdad,
a man who gets showered with bombs and mortars on a daily basis. A man, who
lives by the sounds of suicide attacks. I asked, ok, between India, and Baghdad,
where would you choose. He laughed and said, even if they give me millions, I
will never come and live here.
India
