"Eagle has landed"

I'm here!!

I arrived in the wee hours of the morning at the Mumbai airport to the stifling humidity and constant noise of Bombay. Hiral's dad was waiting as planned and he dutifully whisked me off to their lovely flat where I met Hiral's mom and tried to down the overwhelming amount of juice and sweets they plied me with. Then came sweet, sweet repose-- sleeping in until 1pm to recover from all the travel. And recover I did. The journey to Istanbul was a terrifying one, involving some severe turbulence, a 45 degree rolling jolt to one side and then another as the pilot over-corrected, and then a sickening, spiraling nosedive for about 4 eternal seconds - in which time, the nice Iraqi gentleman beside me said "relax!". I grabbed the seat in front of me and watched while my life flashed before my eyes... On the second flight, from Istanbul to Mumbai, things went a lot more smoothly. The plane was half empty, the in-flight service was nonstop and very friendly (I downed about of a litre of that cherry juice, Frances), and the seats could easily have been from the first class of any other carrier.

My first day in Mumbai began the way my previous night had ended- with persistent overstuffing by Hiral's parents. I woke up to a full lunch prepared by Purvi, her mom. Puri, aloo gobi, daal, pickled carrot thingies, and little bhaji crunchy thingies were served until I could eat no more. Then we went out on a driving tour of the city. I got to walk around the Gateway of India area, took a boat cruise around the seafront, and saw the World Trade Centre Mumbai buildings (they've got their own twin towers, albeit not as striking as the NY ones used to be) and the Taj hotel-- still being repaired folowing the attacks last November. Then we took a ride around the stock exchange and financial district where Hiral's dad, Kirit, works and Mumbai University where Hiral studied. We rounded out the afternoon with a sunset pass down Marine drive overlooking the Arabian Sea, a look at the Oberoi hotel, and dinner at Cream Centre- a vegetarian haunt with a global reputation for chana masala (my favourite-- although theirs wasn't as good as Hiral's... which is making me seriously consider her idea of us opening a restaurant)

This morning I woke up a 3am in order to get up and out to the airport for a flight to Bangalore followed by a bus ride to the city of Mysore. The city is smaller than Mumbai but no less humid and crowded and lively. It harbours a Raj-era palace and a famous market that I'll be taking in tomorrow.

So far, India is making a great impression on me. I came here prepared for Egypt levels of heckling and pestering, but aside from the rickshaw touts, I haven't experienced any harassment or badgering. People are wildly helpful. Moreso following a tip of 50 or 60 rupees, of course. But I'm finding my way and learning to let go of the constant planning and just going with the flow and making decisions on the ground instead of weeks in advance online.

I'll try to post some pictures from the first few days next time.

Ciao!