December 17, 2008 - Pune, India

As I have been in India for a week now, I figured it was about time I wrote a blog post about my experiences thus far. My trip from the United States was long, but comfortable, as I was fortunate enough to travel in Business Class for the long legs of the trip and was spiritually hyped from an amazing Baha'i conference in Portland the weekend before I left. When I arrived in Mumbai, my flight was over an hour late and it was the middle of the night. Customs and immigration were a breeze and I was soon exiting the airport to the awaiting mass of people, only I did not see the people who were meant to meet me there. After much searching to no avail I positioned myself near the exit next to a European man who was also waiting. After some time waiting in the humid night air, I spotted Nicole's fiance, Vikram, amongst the people waiting. I rushed over relieved to have found my party. We made our way to Pune from Mumbai, which is a good 3 hour drive. We are now staying in Pune at Degra, Vikram's sister's, apartment in a beautiful apartment complex, or society as they are called here, on the out-skirts of town. So far we have been kept relatively busy, mostly enjoying the amazing food and shopping for outfits for the 3 wedding events. The food is so amazing that I could speak of it for hours and hours and I have been fortunate enough not to fall ill to the sickness that most people connect to India, most likely because Nicole and Vikram have only let us drink sealed bottled water and have only taken Emily and I to restaurants they know are clean. We spent a full afternoon in a sari shop, sitting on cushions and drinking tea and being presented fabric after fabric until we found the perfect one for each of us. It was an excellent experience and I felt like a princess. Emily has fallen sick to the flu, though, and has unfortunately passed it on to Nicole and Vikram. This has prevented us from doing much these past few days, but I have been fortunate enough not to catch it as well. Emily and I have purchased tickets to Delhi to visit the Baha'i Lotus Temple for next week, but first Nicole and Vikram and two of Vikram's...interesting...friends are taking us to a beach town far from here for a few days, where we will be residing in cabins on the sand. I am looking forward to these two trips very much, as we will be taking a famous Indian train to Delhi and will be taking a sleeper bus (yes like the Knight Bus in Harry Potter) to the beach town.
Some interesting facts about India that I have learned here are as follows:
-each state has a very different culture and native language
-India contains the most motorcycles in all the world and the most motorcycles in India are in the town we are in currently, Pune
-every 30 seconds there is 1 death and 3 injuries due to motorcycles or scooters
Some things I have noted about India are as follows:
-there is still a very strong British influence, such as spelling and pronunciation of some words and the driving on the left-hand side of the road, yet there is also somewhat of a hatred towards the British and a denial of its influence
-the beggars are the most aggressive that I have ever seen
-the famed Indian accent is just how everyone who speaks English, which is a majority of the population, speak and they even bob their head while they talk
-men and boys hold hands and pinkies in the streets and it is not considered homosexual in any sense, and in fact homosexuality is very much looked down upon.
-there are rickshaws everywhere (which are tiny three-wheeled vehicles that are used as taxis) and they are incapable of reversing.
-there has recently been a large Reggaeton influence on the music from India, especially in the Bollywood music and music videos
-there has been a complete degredation in Bollywood and much of it is Western corruption and influence - there never used to be even any kiss scenes or much skin shown in Bollywood movies, but now there are skimpy clothes and even sex scenes