Dolly and I went to Vijaywada over the Diwale holiday to visit her aunt and to make a side trip to Hyderabad to retrieve the rest of our luggage. Vijaywada seemed to be a very nice city. It has about 2.5 million people, and was very clean. I don't think I saw any litter, and not even any cows in the city limits. The roads and autos were also much nicer than in Bilaspur, but I think thats more a reflection of the state of Bilaspur than of Vijaywada.
We did not get much good sleep. The first night was on a train, where we arrived in Vijaywada at 3AM. My shoes were stolen by a begger during an afternoon nap. We spent the next 2 nights on buses to and from Hyderabad. The two nights after that were spent at Padama's (Dolly's aunt's) house where the first night we were bitten by bugs. The second night we decided to sleep on the floor, so Padama could have the bedroom, but she insisted on sleeping on the floor as well, and snored loudly, so we returned to the bedroom. The last night we woke at 2:30 AM to catch a 4AM train home.
Dolly's aunt is very punctual with regards to food. Breakfast is at 8AM, lunch is at 1, and dinner is at 8PM. She would wake us up at 8AM, "Babu, babu, black tea, black tea. Dolly, Dolly, coffee, coffee". She would then insist on us showering after breakfast. Other than that she didn't care what we did, and let us nap whenever we wanted. She is also an excellent cook, and prepared us many delicious curries and sweets. The topic of conversation was always the next meal, and I don't think she even bothered to figure out what had brought us to India. Punctual meals were what was important.
I didn't end up with a good sense of what Diwale is about, except that it is the "festival of lights". I also know that its to celebrate the return of Ram from exile, but nothing special was done in the house. In the evening, the city celebrated by setting of firecrackers, to a degree that I had never seen before. It sounded like a war zone, with loud noises coming from all directions, including rooftops and balconies. When we took a walk, every other store and house had a group of people setting off bombs and rockets, from little firecrackers to big glittering explosions in the sky. There was a thick layer of spent fireworks on the side of the road, but amazingly, the next time we took a walk it was all cleaned up.
We did not get much good sleep. The first night was on a train, where we arrived in Vijaywada at 3AM. My shoes were stolen by a begger during an afternoon nap. We spent the next 2 nights on buses to and from Hyderabad. The two nights after that were spent at Padama's (Dolly's aunt's) house where the first night we were bitten by bugs. The second night we decided to sleep on the floor, so Padama could have the bedroom, but she insisted on sleeping on the floor as well, and snored loudly, so we returned to the bedroom. The last night we woke at 2:30 AM to catch a 4AM train home.
Dolly's aunt is very punctual with regards to food. Breakfast is at 8AM, lunch is at 1, and dinner is at 8PM. She would wake us up at 8AM, "Babu, babu, black tea, black tea. Dolly, Dolly, coffee, coffee". She would then insist on us showering after breakfast. Other than that she didn't care what we did, and let us nap whenever we wanted. She is also an excellent cook, and prepared us many delicious curries and sweets. The topic of conversation was always the next meal, and I don't think she even bothered to figure out what had brought us to India. Punctual meals were what was important.
I didn't end up with a good sense of what Diwale is about, except that it is the "festival of lights". I also know that its to celebrate the return of Ram from exile, but nothing special was done in the house. In the evening, the city celebrated by setting of firecrackers, to a degree that I had never seen before. It sounded like a war zone, with loud noises coming from all directions, including rooftops and balconies. When we took a walk, every other store and house had a group of people setting off bombs and rockets, from little firecrackers to big glittering explosions in the sky. There was a thick layer of spent fireworks on the side of the road, but amazingly, the next time we took a walk it was all cleaned up.
