A lot to be thankful for

First of all, we wanted to say that we and Rutvik's immediate family are safe. We thank all of you for your concerned e-mails and thoughts. At the moment, we are happily holed up in Southern Thailand, on the island of Ko Samui.

Trouble seems to be following us a little bit. As we are sure most of you have heard, there is somewhat of a crisis brewing in Bangkok. The middle and upper urban classes believe that the current government bought its way into power. They also believe that the current government is a puppet of the former prime minister, Thaksin Shinawatra, who was thrown out of power on corruption allegations following a coup in 2006, when Kelli was here last. The anti-government protesters have had a few violent altercations with the pro-government side and have shut down both of Bangkok's airports. Their goal is to oust the government and hold fresh elections. After talking to people, the vibe we get is that their concerns are legitimate and that the protesters will not compromise until fresh elections are held. Luckily, this conflict is internal and is restricted to a few areas of Bangkok at this point. The only tourists that are affected are those trying to travel home through Bangkok. Even sitting at this internet cafe on the island, there are a number of people trying to find a way to fly home. We feel safe as this crisis is not a random terrorist attack but a legitimate dispute in a controlled area. We will continue to monitor the situation and change our plans as necessary.

The same cannot be said about the terrorist attacks in Bombay. The planned killing of unsuspecting and unarmed civilians is absolutely cowardly. Rutvik lived through the riots and then the bomb blasts that ripped through Bombay in the 90s. Important landmarks were damaged even then but somehow this current attack is especially jarring. We had visited three of the attack sites, The Taj hotel, Leopold Cafe (a backpacker favorite), and VT station only a few weeks ago. It really hits home when such attacks happen in your backyard, around your own family. We feel SO lucky that everyone is safe and accounted for. For those of you who have never been to Bombay, it is a very resilient city, and, just like before, it will recover in time. Our thoughts and prayers are with people there.

Lastly, we want to wish everyone a very Happy Thanksgiving. There is so much to be thankful for. We feel blessed to be safe, that our family and friends are safe, and that we have so many people around us that care. We also feel blessed to have the opportunity of this year to live our dream. As we celebrate Thanksgiving island-style, we will be thinking of all of you back at home. We hope you enjoy the holiday with your family and friends. Let's all pray for the victims in Bombay and for a swift resolution to these crises. Peace and love to all.

Assault on the Senses: Kelli’s First Impressions of India

(This entry was put together a while ago but in all of the craziness, we never got it posted. Enjoy!)

Greetings from India! We’ve been in India for nearly three weeks and have been so busy that we have completely neglected the blog. Sadly, we probably could have filled ten pages a day with thoughts and stories about our experiences here! Since Rutvik is busy finishing up his b-school applications and I’m the one that has been completely blown away by the newness of it all, I’m going to write this one on my own. Maybe R will edit out the bad parts :)

So the flight to Bombay (officially it’s Mumbai, but everyone here seems to prefer Bombay) from Dubai was only about three hours. I’m pretty sure that the Indian lady sitting across the aisle from me stared at me the whole three hours, including the two hours I slept! She’d be staring at me, I’d nod off for awhile, wake up and look at her, and she was still staring. This was the first of many stares I’ve gotten here. Sometimes it’s kind of fun to be the novelty (people want to take pictures with you and kids run up to shake your hand), but really, at this point, I just want to know what they’re thinking – Am I truly a novelty? Are they mistaking me for someone else? Do I have something on my face? Are they jealous? Are they actually making fun of me? How many white people have they seen before? I’ve really been surprised with how few non-Indian people I’ve come across here in comparison to my past travels, especially in Bombay. At first I had thought it was because I’ve been living with a family instead of at a hotel or touristy area, but this past week we’ve been traveling outside of Bombay and the non-Indians I’ve seen have still been quite rare.

Rutvik’s whole family (including his dad “Uncle,” his mom “Aunty,” his brother Rushin, and his brother’s girlfriend Kaddu) picked us up from the airport. The first thing I noticed was the traffic. I had heard it was bad and it was somewhat comparable in Bangkok and Cairo, but India takes traffic (and many other things, as I’ve learned) to a new level! As Rushin drove through the chaos, I asked how on earth people learned to drive in this kind of a place, and Kaddu replied, “actually it’s pretty simple cause there really aren’t any rules!” Apparently that’s all there is to it. The only traffic rule I’ve come up with is don’t hit anything or anyone. Anything else goes it seems. Other than the crazy traffic, my first major impression was the sheer number of people, structures, and things going on absolutely everywhere. ALL the people!! There were people selling things, cooking, riding motorbikes, driving rickshaws, doing acrobatics to dodge other people, relieving themselves, yelling at other people, bathing their kids, knocking on the car windows, etc. And there were brick buildings, surrounded by huts and tents, with all sorts of coverings in between. People will find a two or three foot spot between two buildings and build a house there. Then someone will build a store on top of that. The whole city is just a patchwork of people squatting. It sometimes reminded me of building forts in the basement with my brother as a kid, where the primary goal was to cover as much of the room as possible. There are SO many people and such little space! In the few weeks I’ve been here, I’ve never quite gotten over my initial feeling of “ALL the people!” even outside of Bombay. I’ve always thought I loved the big cities and never realized how much I appreciate open spaces and a few square feet of my own. The other thing I noticed on the drive was that many parts of the city that they pointed out as wealthy didn’t strike me as such. Because of ALL the people, it’s hard for business owners to maintain their outside facades, and especially the surrounding neighborhoods, so often you find that what looks ordinary, or even dingy, on the outside is actually really extravagant on the inside.

When we arrived at the family’s flat in south Bombay, Aunty went in first and came out with some red coloring and rice to do a traditional blessing on my forehead. This was the first of many traditions the family taught me during the last few weeks. Then, when we entered, the live-in cook Ganesh, who has been with the family for years, bowed down and touched Rutvik’s feet as a sign of respect. I have to admit I have been kind of fascinated by the whole concept of live-in help because it’s so different from what I grew up with, but it’s pretty common here. Through talking with Aunty, I learned that she hired Ganesh through a reference from a neighbor upstairs, who had hired another man from the same village. Aunty had wanted someone from the specific region of India where Ganesh was from since they are known as honest and hard-working. When he arrived at their place for the first time, they didn’t speak any common languages. He not only learned both Hindi and Gujarati in order to talk with the family, Aunty also taught him how to cook… and wow, he is good! We were sooo spoiled living at the house! It was weird being able to ask for anything to be made at pretty much any time. My favorite things were fresh juices (like sweet lime and watermelon) and masala tea. I asked for so much juice that he eventually made it by the pitcher! Ganesh lives in the stairwell of the building on the same floor as the family. He works seven days a week but gets two months of vacation a year to return to his village. The family treats him very well. It was amazing to me how many “helpers” came to the house on any given day. In addition to Ganesh, they also have two chauffeurs, a yoga instructor, laundry people, people to clean the house, a milkman, and all sorts of other people. Between these people and the family and friends that dropped by, it seemed like the doorbell never really stopped ringing.

When we first arrived, there was a feast of food waiting for us. Aunty knew that I love “chaats” (Indian street snacks) from my visits to Atlanta, so Ganesh had made pani puri (lentil shells filled with chickpeas and potato curry that you fill with mint water) and some other yummy stuff that I can’t keep track of. We never went hungry. In fact, I’m pretty sure I didn’t feel hungry ever for at least the entire first week I was in India. There was always tons of food around and I couldn’t resist sampling all of the new things I hadn’t seen before. I love Indian food at home, but I can’t believe the diversity here, especially in vegetarian food! Restaurants advertise “veg” or “non-veg” and all restaurants have a plentiful vegetarian menu. There are even certain streets near Jain temples where it is illegal to serve meat. The number of choices for vegetarians is unbelievable. Even the McDonalds and Pizza Hut menus are primarily vegetarian. I have found a new love in McD’s veggie burgers and Pizza Hut’s veggie paneer pizzas!! I am absolutely enamored with the food here. Yum yum yum!

I am also enamored with Rutvik’s family. They are so warm, welcoming, generous, and a ton of fun! Uncle is a doctor and has established his own franchise of clinics around India as well as a medical tourism business that brings people from Tanzania and the Middle East to India for treatment. Aunty helps to administer Uncle’s business and also runs a blood testing facility. Rushin has completed medical school and is training to be an internal medicine doctor. His girlfriend Kaddu works with Aunty to support Uncle’s business. They all work long hours but managed to get away from the office to spend some quality time with us and show us around the city. The whole first week that we were there, our social calendar was pretty much booked solid. I’m pretty sure we met upwards of 60 people during the first week, including family, friends, and business colleagues. Everyone I met (not a single person excluded) was so warm and friendly. Each time I met a new person, they gave me a “cover” with rupees inside as the traditional welcome. It was slightly overwhelming! Between our special treatment in Dubai and these covers, I’m pretty sure the trip has been a money-making venture to date, which is pretty nuts. Most people speak some English, in addition to Hindi and other local languages, so I haven’t had much of a problem communicating, though I lean on Rutvik for translation, especially with drivers and outside workers. It is funny though, sometimes, because Rutvik tells me that they switch from Gujarati (a local language) to Hindi, thinking that I’ll understand that better. I have had a blast getting to know the whole extended family and am finally getting acclimated to ALL the people. At least I can say it’s ALL the kindest, most welcoming, caring people :)

Our First Stop: Dubai

For the backpackers we claim to be, the trip started off pretty lavishly! In Dubai, we had expected to crash at a family friend’s apartment. Instead, we discovered that he put us up in a swanky Sheraton and gave us full access to his chauffeur and Mercedes to boot. Yeah, tough life, we know! If we got this treatment everywhere, we’d “backpack” forever!

Driving into the city, we could see Dubai’s developing skyline. Each skyscraper had a unique architectural theme, and with all the construction projects we felt that nearly all of the world’s cranes had descended there. It was easy to tell which pockets of the city had been opened to foreign investment (massive skyscrapers and heavy construction), and the few parts of the city that were completed were pretty impressive. Every car in Dubai seemed to be white in color, as if the government had passed a law that every car be white – the locals we talked to were impressed by our observation and told us this is mainly due to the hot desert environment. Apparently, white even has a higher resale value over there! Not surprisingly, gas was under $2 a gallon and this was definitely reflected in the number of SUVs on the road.

We spent our few days in Dubai walking the souqs (old markets) and exploring the city. Some of the highlights:

• Mall of the Emirates and Ski Dubai (indoor): Only in Dubai can you see Muslim women shopping for uber-expensive revealing dresses that they never wear in the outside world. And definitely only in Dubai can you see a -3°C ski slope complete with chair lifts inside the mall in the middle of the sweltering desert heat. Suffice to say that they had thought of everything unique you could ever see in a US mall and put it all in one place.
• Sitting by the Dubai Creek at sunset, watching the abras (boats), doing hookah, eating amazing Lebanese food… need we say more? Very chill.
• Afternoon Tea at the Burj-al-Arab: Kelli had made reservations to celebrate our one year anniversary with “tea” at the Skyview Bar at the seven star Burj-al-Arab hotel, which is shaped like a sail. You have to have some sort of reservation to even get on the property, so half the fun was people-watching and taking pictures. From the bar, we had a birds-eye view of the palm-shaped islands and the 300 islands that make up The World taking shape. Rutvik expected a cup of tea, literally, but along with his tea they brought out a seemingly endless number of yummy sandwiches, pastries, and chocolates. Good times.
• Tour of the Jumeirah Mosque: This is the only mosque in the UAE that non-Muslims are allowed into and they had a very interesting talk and Q&A session about Muslim culture that dispelled some of the prejudices that many people have against Islam.

Overall, Dubai seems to be a modern melting pot of nationalities with an embarrassment of riches. People are extremely friendly and between English and Hindi, it was pretty easy to get around (well, that and the chauffeur!). Lots of one-of-a-kind things to see and do, especially if you have money to blow... we'll be back someday!

Obviously we are quite late in posting this and are catching up as quickly as possible! We have been busy :) We'll post about India soon!