Electricity nahi hai...

...meaning, no electricity. This was one of the first things I've learned when coming first time to India. We use to reach the office in the morning, and the hot weather was taking over the entire building because...there was no electricity, therefore no AC. Not only that, but after some time, I realized even when you stay at home, there are hours when electricity is simply stopped, most probably to save energy, we think :) Zahraa, my friend, did not have such situations in Bombay, so the same thought came into our minds, why do they do this?

Imagine I was in Nagpur, one year and half back, alone at home in evening, in my bathroom, taking a long bucket shower and suddenly, with my hair full of shampoo and eyes closed, I opened them to see...nothing around, complete darkness. For an instant there I thought maybe I went blind and I was slowly starting to panic. Then I've noticed some small lights outside the window and realized that I can still see, just that electricity is...well...on a break. Then I got used to it, I even had candles prepared and my laptop fully charged all the time, in case of any lights drop off. Oh and how many candle light dinners we had, and how many early sleeping night because of this.

Well it seems in Hyderabad the situation is the same. You don't want to know how much it took me to write yesterdays article because, electricity went down during day. So while this is happening, you just wait patiently, in the heating room, with no internet, no TV, no fan, no NOTHING, so that life comes back in your house. Thank God this is a hot country and they don't need heaters in the house, otherwise...I don't want to imagine.

Oh boy how dependent we are to these modern things. What would we do without them?

Indian babe

Someone told me that dreams come true only...if you're living in a dream. Of course I refuse to believe that because I am now, for real, living whatever I was dreaming about. Because dreams do come true, but only when you really believe in them.

So here I am, after one year and a half, back in India, the place that I loved the most from all my journeys till now.

I landed in the city called Hyderabad yesterday morning, here to visit my dear friend Zahraa, who was anxious like a baby to see me again...just like me actually. I flew with Emirates (duh), and as expected I had a great flight, with goodies and nice atmosphere and friendly faces there to serve you anytime.

Hyderabad is a quite big city, bigger than my old Nagpur anyways, all green (comparing to the deserted dubai :))) ) and as I expected, very crowded. Dust is everywhere, cows walk freely on the streets, people walking on the sides of the road, just like I knew it :)

So my Indian adventure started with a long walk in the city, looking guess for what, a damn exchange house. If you can easily find exchanges in any place of the world, here we had to go 30 minutes with an auto ricksha and another 20 minutes walking. Can you imagine! Colors everywhere on the streets, women in sarees walking around, fresh fruit at every corner, fried Indian snacks all the way and lots of cars and bikes. I was just walking around, breaking my neck to catch every part of the world around me, to see every move, every shop, every person passing by. The lovely but tiring day ended with a shopping session in an open kind of park-bazaar and fresh fruit. But the most adventurous experience was the way back from the open market, traveling in the auto ricksha. The traffic went crazy by evening, so besides not being able to bargain to get a good price till home, we found ourselves "squeezed" between ten of cars, bikes, and a huge buss who was about to squish us for a couple of times. Amazingly this never happens, because the ricksha drivers, as crazy and as illegal as they move around, they never get stopped or have accidents. Or at least I never witnessed one, thank God :D

Irrespective of whatever people say or think or imagine about India, I know that this is a place where I will always love to be. And this came clear to me now, when I found myself here for the second time.

Tomorrow new adventures await for us, and after a traditional romanian lunch with polenta and cheese and onions today, and Zahraa wearing traditional romanian clothes (IE), we are ready to go out there once again!

See u laters alligators!