This past weekend, I had a lot of fun at a home stay in Gurgaon (a city south of Delhi). Each person in our study abroad group went with a girl from the department that is hosting us, the department of Development, Communications and Extensions (DCE). My host, Suriti Sachdeva, is a final year masters students in DCE. She lives in an apartment with her mom, dad and younger sister (19 years old), Bhavya. We had so much fun together! It was so interesting to see how a family, quite similar to mine, functioned daily. Because they live south of Delhi but both girls go to college in Delhi, they have to coordinate rides to the metro or other public transportation. They make a 1.5 to 2 hour commute back and forth everyday! I could not believe it. When I came home with Suriti on Friday after classes, we took TWO buses and TWO auto rickshaws. These auto rickshaws were bigger, where 16 people fit in one vehicle! I don't even know how it was possible, but somehow everyone made it to where they needed to go.
On Saturday, I woke up around 8:30 and helped Suriti do the laundry. Everyone else had to go to work/college! I learned that for most people, Saturday is a working/school day. Crazy. After the laundry, we went to some malls. Gurgaon is FULL of malls. I mean this quite literally. At every corner, there are huge malls with every brand name you could think of. Of course, you also pay through your nose. After looking at the stores, we went to a grocery store that was very much like Meijer, then McDonalds. Yes! I, Sita Syal, actually ate at McDonalds!! It's quite good in India, I must admit. I had an Aloo Tikki burger (which means a potato-pancake-like burger-shaped patti). Yum!
That evening, we went to a family friends's home to have dinner. The family had a beautiful home and a golden retriever. It was SUPER COLD that night, so of course it was super cold in the home. The conversations were all in Hindi, so it forced me to listen carefully. I think I understood around 80% of it! It's crazy how fast people talk when they get excited...
On Sunday, we had a lazy morning, with a yummy brunch of makki walla methi ka paranthas (Indian bread made out of corn flour and spiced with fenugreek), then went to Delhi for the afternoon. First we went to Qutub Minar, a UNESCO protected heritage sight. Qutub Minar is a tall tower that was built by Qutb-ud-din Aibak, a Turkic king of India. There are also mosques and ruins of mosques around the area where the tower is. The lawn is lovely to walk around in! Here are some pictures:
On Saturday, I woke up around 8:30 and helped Suriti do the laundry. Everyone else had to go to work/college! I learned that for most people, Saturday is a working/school day. Crazy. After the laundry, we went to some malls. Gurgaon is FULL of malls. I mean this quite literally. At every corner, there are huge malls with every brand name you could think of. Of course, you also pay through your nose. After looking at the stores, we went to a grocery store that was very much like Meijer, then McDonalds. Yes! I, Sita Syal, actually ate at McDonalds!! It's quite good in India, I must admit. I had an Aloo Tikki burger (which means a potato-pancake-like burger-shaped patti). Yum!
That evening, we went to a family friends's home to have dinner. The family had a beautiful home and a golden retriever. It was SUPER COLD that night, so of course it was super cold in the home. The conversations were all in Hindi, so it forced me to listen carefully. I think I understood around 80% of it! It's crazy how fast people talk when they get excited...
On Sunday, we had a lazy morning, with a yummy brunch of makki walla methi ka paranthas (Indian bread made out of corn flour and spiced with fenugreek), then went to Delhi for the afternoon. First we went to Qutub Minar, a UNESCO protected heritage sight. Qutub Minar is a tall tower that was built by Qutb-ud-din Aibak, a Turkic king of India. There are also mosques and ruins of mosques around the area where the tower is. The lawn is lovely to walk around in! Here are some pictures:
After Qutub Minar, we went to Kamala Nagar - a market right by all the campuses of Delhi University. It was crazy crowded! I found a sweater for Rs. 99 ($2) and a scarf for Rs. 50 ($1). Love those prices! The whole market was such a different experience from the malls I had seen the day before....these markets are what I really think of when I think of Delhi - the rush of people, dogs and cows, the sales people in your face, food smells mixing together with car exhaust and dust, and of course the never ending honking of the cars trying to get through the small roads. While this over stimulation was amazing, it's was also wonderful to come back to their home for a nice, quiet dinner to finish up a great weekend.
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