I awoke the next morning to my 1-year old niece, who was quietly watching me as she was getting ready for a shower. I spent the day eating fresh mangoes and other tasty Indian food, playing with my 7-year old niece, and taking a long afternoon nap. My niece, who loves jokes and riddles, asked me dozens, including various knock knock jokes. We played Pictionary afterward for a couple of hours. Having being born and raised in India, she was fluent in English, Gujurati, and Hindi. We talked at times in all three languages.
My cousin and his wife, who run an architectural design company in Mumbai, went to work around 8 am, and my aunt left for work around 10:30 am, after preparing lunch for myself and her two granddaughters. Everyone returned home around 8 pm, and we ate dinner, made by their two servants, shortly thereafter. The dinner consisted of a classic Gujurati Indian meal: Rotli (bread), Daal (lentils), Bhath (rice), and Shak (vegetables). Alongside this we had Mango Ras (like a mango smoothie).
After dinner, the two girls went to sleep, and my cousin and I watched the latter part of a cricket match. The two teams playing were part of the Indian Premier League, the Indian cricket equivalent of the Barclay Premier Leagues for soccer in Europe. After the match concluded, we left to pick up Andy and Rachel from the airport. These two flew from the US to India together, and would spend the night at my cousin's place. We would then take a train to Baroda, India, the next afternoon, for our summer internship.
We picked up Andy and Rachel from the airport around midnight. Having never visited India, I was curious to see their reaction to the climate and overall environment surrounding them. They seemed to really be taking things in as they arrived. For one, they found the climate very humid, and were amazed by the traffic, noise, and overall disorder in India. A three lane road, for example, was really a six lane road, where none of the cars singly occupied the designed lanes. A road sign read "Ignore signals, invite accidents", but red lights were ignored by everyone. Policemen had no cars, and did not enforce the law whatsoever. Not honking was abnormal, and people crossed the streets whenever they desired, almost ignoring oncoming traffic.
All in all, I think were quite taken aback by the disorder among them, and they went to sleep after arriving at my cousin's place. They were definitely grateful for the A/C units.
My cousin and his wife, who run an architectural design company in Mumbai, went to work around 8 am, and my aunt left for work around 10:30 am, after preparing lunch for myself and her two granddaughters. Everyone returned home around 8 pm, and we ate dinner, made by their two servants, shortly thereafter. The dinner consisted of a classic Gujurati Indian meal: Rotli (bread), Daal (lentils), Bhath (rice), and Shak (vegetables). Alongside this we had Mango Ras (like a mango smoothie).
After dinner, the two girls went to sleep, and my cousin and I watched the latter part of a cricket match. The two teams playing were part of the Indian Premier League, the Indian cricket equivalent of the Barclay Premier Leagues for soccer in Europe. After the match concluded, we left to pick up Andy and Rachel from the airport. These two flew from the US to India together, and would spend the night at my cousin's place. We would then take a train to Baroda, India, the next afternoon, for our summer internship.
We picked up Andy and Rachel from the airport around midnight. Having never visited India, I was curious to see their reaction to the climate and overall environment surrounding them. They seemed to really be taking things in as they arrived. For one, they found the climate very humid, and were amazed by the traffic, noise, and overall disorder in India. A three lane road, for example, was really a six lane road, where none of the cars singly occupied the designed lanes. A road sign read "Ignore signals, invite accidents", but red lights were ignored by everyone. Policemen had no cars, and did not enforce the law whatsoever. Not honking was abnormal, and people crossed the streets whenever they desired, almost ignoring oncoming traffic.
All in all, I think were quite taken aback by the disorder among them, and they went to sleep after arriving at my cousin's place. They were definitely grateful for the A/C units.
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