Finalizing Our India Trip

When I found out that my friend Amy's husband Sean was accepted into the US Foreign Service, I had promised to visit them wherever they moved to in the world. So far, I have seen Amy in New York, Colorado, Washington DC, and next Hyderabad, India!! I am hoping they will pick a South American country on their next tour in 2012.

Planning for India: Other than visiting the city of Hyderabad, I hadn't a clue on where I should go on my first trip to India. I knew nothing about India except from what I had seen in movies - think City of Joy with Patrick Swayze. I decided to do what I usually do when planning to travel to someplace new - I Googled the map of India and looked up each city that sounded interesting and used the Google satellite view to see if any particular terrain (greenery, mountains, desert etc.) tantalized my senses.

After much research and reallocating of funds, I figured out we could afford to visit 3 cities and have settled on Hyderabad (central), Varanasi (north), Mumbai (west). If we had more time and more funds, I would also like to visit Janakapur (and then hop a train to Nepal), West Bengal/Kolkata, Jaipur, Chennai and the backwaters of Kerala.

Instead of booking this trip through a travel agent, which is what a smart person would have done, I decided to book everything myself.....online. Ugh! After a nail biting, hair pulling few weeks of going back and forth on Expedia, Travelocity and other online travel sites, I've secured flights for myself and Kevin on Qatar Airlines, a 5-star rated airline, to and from India. For domestic flights while in India, I booked flights for us on Kingfisher only because their flight times suited us best.

On both our outbound and return flights, we connect in Doha, the capital of the state of Qatar, located in the Persian Gulf. Doha Airport is fairly new, small, and modern.  I have read that if you fly Qatar and your layover is move than 10 hours they will provide a free hotel voucher for you.  Travelers who wish to visit Qatar during their layover can apply for a visa at the airport and I think it's around $55 per person.  Our  layover each way is not too bad, only 2 hours or so.

We arrive into Hyderabad on Sunday, February 28, 2010 at 3:20 am and will be met by Amy's driver.  How cool is that??  Amy has a driver.  WTF? The only way I can come close to having 'a driver' in NYC is by sitting in the back of my dad's yellow cab....but that isn't quite the same is it.

Amy is kind enough to let us use her driver, Narsaiah, during our stay in Hyderabad.  Narsaiah works on salary, and his hours are 7:15am - 7:00pm, Monday through Friday. Anything outside that realm is considered overtime and would cost $1 per hour.  I don't know if we can afford him.

Holi: The day after we arrive is one of India's most festive holidays, Holi, the Festival of Colors, which celebrates the arrival of Spring. During this two day celebration, social restictions are loosened and people of all ages, status and castes come together in a fun bacchanal of sorts. Festivities the day before Holi consist of gathering around bonfires which symbolizes the burning of Holika. Embers from these bonfires are often taken by people and used to rekindle fires in their own homes. The morning after this is the start of Dhuledi. During Dhuledi, brightly colored powders, called Gulal, in colors like magentas, yellows, greens, colbolt blues, and metallic silvers are used to color and coat your fellow merrymaker. People walk around their neigborhoods exchanging colors by throwing small balloons loaded with Gulal at each other, coating everyone and everything in psychedelic rainbow techni-color. Colored water filled syringe-like devices are used to spray passerbys from rooftops and windows. 

Another tradition during Holi is the consumption of Bhang. Bhang Ki Thandai is a cold drink made with spices, almonds, milk and sugar. On the ghats (steps leading down to water) in Varanasi, India, bhang is often prepared by using the leaves of cannibus which are ground into a paste and mixed into the drink. Now that's MY kind of drink - bhang with a bang!