After spending the night watching Hangover 2 and eating a little too many snacks, we started the day with some South Indian™ breakfast – Idli and Masala Dosa.

We spent most of the rest of the day roaming around Himayat Nagar. We made our way there on 2 bikes. No helmets, not much to hold on to and weaving around traffic. Good fun.

We stopped at a street side store called “Agrawala”. We had to keep to eating at places that had some form of hygiene since we weren’t used to the water yet (The street side carts have better “flavor” but also the bad kind of “flavor” if you are not used to it). We tried a few things in our visit:

• Chole Bhatura
• Pav Bhaji
• Vada Pav
• Dahi Vada
• Sapota Juice

The ride back to our “home base” (Uncle’s house in the suburbs) at the end of the day was in an auto-rickshaw. These things are 3-wheeler … boxes on wheels. Literally. They don’t have any real suspension and sit about 6″ off the ground. So you feel EVERYTHING. Every single goddamned pothole. And there are a lot of those. But they are cheap as hell and you will find them all over India. Most have a meter on them so you pay what you see on the meter. Some cities however go by an older system of basically bargaining around a base price.

We met up with our uncle and stopped midway to shop for some clothes. So I decided to end the day by walking around some more to buy a thing of bottled water and fall off a ledge in the process. Note to self: Falling on your shoulder hurts like a bitch.

Another “relatives” day. Did move around today though, so a few more outside pics.

Slow day. Most of the was spent at uncle’s. Managed to snap a few on the way there /on their rooftop.

The seatbelt lights came on along with the usual string of messages from the pilot and stewardess about how they enjoyed having us on their flight and how important every passenger is to them. On this flight however, these messages were followed by their counterparts in Hindi. We were getting closer. After an unhealthy session of in-flight entertainment, it was time for another round of helpful messages before the plane made a soft thud as the wheels under us suddenly remembered how much a British Airways jet weighed. We were here. Rajiv Gandhi International Airport. Local time is about 5:14 AM, +10GMT.

The population count of the India is immediately evident as you walk out the plane. More importantly, every single person here was Indian… except maybe for the flight crew. It was almost intimidating, but somewhat comforting soon after. After going to through immigration, we made our way out of the airport with our luggage (all 8 suitcases and bags). One of the airport porters guided us through with our luggage for Rs.200 (about $4.00).

Our receiving party came in the form of my uncle and nephew. Something more familiar was also around to greet us.

Yes, apparently McDonalds has a presence even here in the sub-continent. And it’s apparently a “premium” place to go. Ignoring crimes against humanity, we made our way to the parking lot where we met the third member of our welcoming party – a very under-sized Tata Indica. We made it to their home with my knees throughly acquainted with the dashboard. The seatbelts would probably have left scars… if I’d worn them.

First thing I noticed going around in the car was the traffic. I didn’t remember much from when I was here 11 years ago. There are a LOT more vehicles on the road now, and it makes for a very … entertaining ride.

Being part of a very residential area, the house we lived in didn’t (and still doesn’t) see much traffic or pollution. Add in a porch and some cane chairs and you’ve got yourself a relaxing morning.

The rest of the day was mostly spent meeting relatives and old friends from around the neighborhood.

The trip to India is finally upon us. It will be my first in 11 years. After the few days worth of packing, we were left with 2 suitcases per person… and a carry-on rolling bag… and a backpack.

I don’t think the full extent of the trip had set in just yet. In my mind, I was still flying to Boston… or Texas, or perhaps San Diego for a long holiday.