A week of chaos ..

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That is India. It started with my brothers IST - that’s Indian Standard Timing - if you don’t already know what that means - basically there is an inherent gene that Indians seem to have - where all concept of time is lost on them…. Yup we were running very close to the line.

I arrived at Heathrow with 15 minutes to spare to bag drop and then 5 minutes to get through security. So image my surprise when once getting through - we were delayed flying off - IST of course 

We were staying in a city in the Punjab called Jalandhar, we have a place there so it’s great to be able to come and wind down. Sunbath on the roof in the late afternoons - nothing could be better. Trust me hotels in India are another thing altogether!

India to me sums up the food, noise, animals and the people. On the way from Delhi to Punjab (it was in the early hours we were traveling) our driver run over a stray dog - I don’t know if he made it or not but to them it was nothing to worry about, it was a bit of a shock to the system but from what I heard and later saw that there are millions of stray dogs around India left to roam around.

Taxi drivers in India are a world to their own - they seem to run on their own agendas - you want them to go fast - they’ll go slow - you want the AC on - they turn it off. Keeping the customer happy does not apply here.

Rickshaws are great - cheap and easy way of getting around a town - we used these practically every time we stepped out of the front door, ducking and driving through all the traffic. I don’t envy the drivers though - in the heat that can be quite hard work.

I love the food in India - nothing bets heading to the market and standing by the food stand having Glogabb(crisp shells filled with watered Indian spices and potatoes) - can never have enough of these. Also worth trying are dosa’s (southern Indian), the fresh juices - orange, pomegranate, sugarcane & Genva juice. Most people seem to lose wait when they go to India - I put it on.

During the week there we discovered that the neighbours daughter was getting married and we were invited. Indian weddings seem to start in the night - we arrived at 10pm and were told that it would last until the early hours of the morning. Infact it was until 4am.

At first it seems strange that they would pick such times but when you consider the afternoon heat, the evenings are a better bet.

We arrived to a massive marquee full of small food stalls offering up all kinds of Indian dishes, from chats, to dosa’s to tandioor paneer. No meat or alcohol though.

Unlike English weddings - the bride arrives first and waits for the groom. When the groom and his party arrive they are greeted by the brides family and offered drinks.

The groom was taken to a stand in the middle of the marquee and the bride arrived on a carriage from her room to join him. There the couple greet and exchange haries. Once this is done they are taken into the hall were the wedding starts. Much the same as an Indian wedding in the UK were you do the larma.

I heard Kylie was in India looking to attend an Indian wedding - didn’t see her at this one.

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Comments

[anonymous]

I know what IST means...hahaha.....Taxi drivers don't bother about anything and they always do opposite of whatever you say.. Hope you will have great trip!