India Day 1

So, I finally made it to India this morning. It was a long trip and I didn't make it in until 5:30. I flew through Mumbai. The minute we got out the plane there was smell. I was warned that it would be like this. Bangalore is different in this way. It doesn't have that same smell. I rested most of the morning.

Today is the second day of an Indian Festival called Diwali. When flying into Mumbai last night, I saw a lot of the fireworks. This evening I went with the family I am staying with, to celebrate the second day. We went to the grandmothers house. They had a shrine set up for the prayer part. It was quite interesting. I even wore an Indian dress. It was quite fun and definitely a new experience.

My impression of India so far is that it is very underdeveloped and there is so much construction going on. There are many people around and I even saw cows on the streets. Bangalore is the IT capital of India, so there are definitely some "nicer" areas here. I put this in quotes, because nicer here is not what we would call nicer. I haven't seen many slum areas yet, although I have seen a few that looked like it. I have eaten a little bit of Indian food, and wow it is hot. I don't know how much of it I can handle. I have a pretty weak tongue. I am very interested to see what the rest of the city has to offer.

So far, very interesting, and a little bit of a culture shock, but not too bad.