Traveling India with Mom
Okay, it has been a while as usual. At the moment, I am with my mom, Nancy, in Thekkady, Kerala. We have been having a great time.
Our hectic shedule looks like this:
Nov.14 - Mom arrived at 2am. We got luggage, got back to Pune in a taxi by 6am. Breakfast with Nalin and Leah.
Nov. 15 - visiting friends in Pune. Lots of eating.
Nov. 16 - fly to Delhi, did some quick sight seeing, got stuck up in Old Delhi traffic. Met up with some friends of a friend (Christina Files and Richard English and their kids Nolan and Emmett) and stayed with them a night.
Nov 17 - Met up with my friend and fellow Rotary scholar, Daphna Dror, and her dad Michael and went off to Agra where we saw the Taj Mahal, Agra Fort and Fatepur Sikri (Victory City). We also were hassled more thoroughly than either of us has ever been hassled in our lives by the touts and beggers outside those places.
Nov. 18 - to Keoladeo National Park - very cool wetlands and birds sanctuary. Great place to go. We got a guide and rented bicycles and checked it out.
Nov 19-20. - In and around Jaipur, Rajastan. Saw Amber fort, the city palace, had a heck of a time at dinner while Michael had a long and determined dicussion about the authenticity of the "lentil" soup which he ordered. He makes it everyday at home apparently, and the restaurants stuff was not up to snuff. It was really was like tomato soup with rice. He went on and on with the waiters, manager and even spoke with the chef. It was pretty damn funny.
Nov 21 - 24 - parted ways with Daphna and Michael and flew to Udaipur - a beautiful place. Had a great hotel overlooking the lake and lake palace. Mom came down with Delhi Belly so we took it easy but still managed to see a lot. Crazy rides in rickshaws and on motorcycles were some of the highlights of this place. The city palace was pretty cool too. And had an amazing Thali (a type of food with so many different different kinds of food dishes on one plate). We were shown around by some friends of one of my friends back in Pune. Great time.
Nov. 25 - Flew to Kerala. Have a great taxi driver, Ramesh, who is also our tour guide. We spend one night in a crummy hotel, one night on a private, bamboo houseboat - very cool - and one night in an amazing resort - mom's treat, thanks MOM!!! Saw some great celebrations at a local town where a mosque, hindu temple and christian church exist in close proximity. Pilgrims come from all around to visit the temple then the mosque. They just where a dress, no shirt, put all sorts of colored power on each other and dance and play the drums as they parade down the street to one final temple. - dont't worry, as a gift from my mom, dad and older brother Brian, I am documenting all this with my new sonay digi camcorder. Oh yeah!!
Thanksgiving has passed and we are in the Blue mountains, seeing nature reserves, spice and tea plantations, and really enjoying ourselves.
Good enough for now. Hope to go catch a local dance show. Amazing stuff.
Hi, my name is . . . .
Yes. I went around Pune telling people in the local language of Marathi that my name is penis. My friend Sonal bought me a Ghandi topi - (Ghandi hat) - These hats look just like what the employees of In-N-Out burger would wear, only they are light purple. So she gave it to me because I really wanted one, and I went around wearing it. The locals loved it. Then, Avinash, a Maharashtrian from the hostel, taught me to say "madzu now Babu Rao a hai" = "My name is Babu Rao." I first introduced myself as Babu Rao to the security at the hostel and they laughed. I then introduced myself to the guys who run the canteen outside my hostel. They laughed. "Hey, they really like me out here with this Ghandi Topi and my rudimentary Marathi phrase," I thought.
I went around for the next 2 days or so to shops, my favorite internet cafe and to Marathi-speaking friends, introducing myself as Babu Rao. I asked Avinash about it - "Who is Babu Rao?," "Oh, he is a local comedian," I was told. Okay, that makes sense. Well, Babu must be funny because the locals love it.
Then, a week or so later, a friend from Delhi finally let me in on a little secret.
Babu Rao is a famous person... BUT it is also slang for "penis." I think this slang came out of a movie so not everyone knows it, but some people no doubt did find it funny to hear me say this because the recognized the term.
Ewph. That hurts. Damn. Jokes on me. Avinash got me good this time. Ouch.
Good one though.
