My trip to India started on the 28th of Oct about 5 AM. After a long car & bus trip I reached Tallinn. The next destination was Helsinki where I reached by cruise ship Baltic Princess. From that point foward I was not alone any more as I met Estonian trainee Killu who I came to India together with. From Helsinki airport we had our flight for 6-7 hours. The plane landed in Delhi about 6 AM (29th Oct). Some AIESECers were supposed to pick us up from the airport but we could see none. So we kept waiting inside the airport. We observed the people and tried to figure out who is the person responsible to meet us at the airport. After 2 hours I got a call that someone is waiting for us outside the airport. We went out and saw Yatin. He has been waiting for us outside the airport for 2 hours.. a bit stupid situation as we both were waiting. Waiting inside the airport was rather funny for me and Killu. If I had been alone waiting there... it would not have been funny at all...
The first day Yatin helped me and Killu with establishing in India. I had my home stay at his place as well. Indian hospitality is really huge. If you are a guest they do take a lot of care for you. They keep on serving some food even if you are already full. That time when I arrived to India the weather was quite hot. And of course you dont need that much food when it is hot. Just water. I was taken to some places in South Delhi. It was a Diwaly period (a holiday in India that is as important as Christmas for us). The streets were bedighted with lights and some kind of decoration. One could see fireworks outside.
The same day I met two more trinees who just arrived - Marieke from Netherlands and Sunny from Hong Kong. All 3 of us are working in the same company.
During the night me, Yatin`s brother and his friend Sagar explored the night life in Delhi. There were some nice pubs but they were about to close quite early. Later I was experiencing some really crazy driving.. about 120 km/h on the roads of Delhi.
The next day I was dropped to Gurgaon. It is a sattelite city of Delhi which is about 20-30 min away from capital. Many bussinesses have their offices here, it is a big agglomerate of office buildings. There were nothing about 5 years ago. It was a plain landscape and some kind of fights were held here. Now some say this city is the fastest growing city in the world. Officially the population of Gurgaon was ~200 000 in 2001. The unofficial number might be around one million by now. The city is really dusty. You will never see a blue sky and yellow sun. This is hidden by dust. There is a lot of contrast in Gurgaon. Beautiful towers and slums. Rich and poor. Nice cars and cows.
I am living at U-59. It is a trainee house in DLF phase 3. I am sharing a room with Marieke. We have a medium sized room with a kitchen, bathroom and balcony. In the beginning I was afraid of cockroaches in our room. I started a strategy of touching them and now I am absolutely fine with cockroaches.
There are more trainees at U-59. The Polish people are dominating (btw tonight we are having a Polish independence party at the rooftop). Some Indians are also living there. The rooftop is a commonly known place for parties or just for gathering. U-59 is here as a big family.. together you go out for a dinner, cook a meal, party, travel...
There is no India without Indian food. Before coming here I was kind of worried about the food here as it is spicy. But now I really like it. Dal makhani, paneer, nan, chabati (last two are breads) - these are really good. And the food is not hot spicy, it is just normally spiced. Anyway if you dont like Indian food you have here McDonalds, Pizza Hut, chinese food etc. You can find everything! Okay... maybe not Estonian black bread.. but you cannot find it in Europe as well.
The weather here right now is perfect. It is not that hot and still not cold. I am walking along the streets without any jacket. Soon it is gonna be colder and I need some warm cloths to buy.
I am already working in the office (right now I am there) but I will make a post about my work the next time. Tomorrow we are having a family day at our company. So everyone brings their family along to some place in the countryside.
Lets enjoy the weekend now!
4 comments:
How much does fish cost out there?
German, I have not seen any fish until now.. but I have heard that it is availabe somewhere.
I can tell you later about the price once I come across it!
Chicken is the most common non veg option here.. ;)
Yesterday I was passing a market and I saw a fresh fish at the outlet. I walked near, asked for the price and it was Rs 60 per kg, that is about 15 EEK per kg. I could not get the name of the fish as he did know it only in hindi but the fish was a big one.. like pike (haug), not a small one like sprat. There were already died fishes as well as I could see the alive fish that was moving.
Anyway.. I did buy nothing.. as I have no cooking stove in my room right now.
thank you for sharing. I will be in mumbai india next month.
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