MAE.

India is crazy! 

Lessons learned…

— India doesn’t smell like Sundeep told me it does. It smells, but doesn’t really smell. Significant scent, not entirely bad. Unless you are in an alley near a trash can where cows are grazing right now, which I am.

— Everyone, everyone wants to feed you. All of the time. It’s one of the most exhausting things in the world. This morning I woke up and was dying for a Cinnabon, and not an idli, but I ate the idli anyways.

— I’m sort of annoyed Sundeep never taught me more Telugu or that I never picked up more. I want to impress people with my one liners…but once my one liner is out there it’s a trick that I know the language, when I do not at all. When people ask “do you speak?” and I say “kuncham” (little bit/small) that seems to make them happy.

— Beggars are far more aggressive. In Chicago one random homeless guy will stand at an I-90 exit with a sign, these people come right up to your window, knock on the window …begging. Very sad, yet very aggressive. 

— Motorcycles can carry like 9 people. 

— Everyday feels like a mini-circus. Wake up, eat something, go to someone’s house, eat there, leave go to the next persons house, eat there, leave, repeat. All day.

— I’ve been car sick once. I carry scented puke bags with me and Sundeep’s mom comes fully prepared with wet wipes and mints. Phew.

— Sprite and Diet Coke are much sweeter here. Sundeep tells me its real sugar.

— They have corn flakes and something similar to coco puffs, thank God. I need to track more of these things for my tough stomach days.

— People LOVE being barefoot. Everywhere. 

— Traffic is hysterical, traffic laws are hysterical. There are none. Literally you pick where you want to drive, which side (not everywhere, although it seems), and you create your own cross-walk.

— Last night we drove home from somewhere that was 7 mi away, and it took us over an hour. Car sickness makes sense now, eh?

That’s all for now. Reporting more later, xo.