No posts for quite some time here, so I just thought I'll drop a line to the Chandi-Blog. I had been in Chandigarh from Nov 2004 to July 2005, so that's quite some time ago. Does anybody remember Manimajra House? (MHA??!)
Anyway, I am quite late with this, but wanted to mention best/funniest/worst India experience. It's tough to fix it to a single one each, but in the end it really doesn't matter.
Best
We had just come back from a one-week stay in Srinagar and it had been at quite the end of my almost 9 month stay. At ISBT I jumped out the bus from Jammu, and I already had a sensation of coming back home. Packed with luggage I looked like they perfect prey, so it was the normal situation "Sir, where you go?" "Hotel? Cheap? Come!" and rickshaw guys pushing you in some direction. Over time I had begun enjoying those situations, but this time a guy topped it all:
From the rear part of the crowd he quickly stepped to the front through the other guys and proclaimed: "Ahh, Mister Hennes! Manimajra? Modern Housing Complex?"
I was so happy that I had almost hugged the guy. That really felt like coming home! I didn't even ask the price, and as far as I remember, it was the normal 40-60 Rs....
Funniest
Riding a cycle rickshaw was definitely unforgettable. I still remember the smile on the driver's face, sitting in the back next to Luisa and all the other rickshaw drivers shouting something and laughing. At the same time I have to express my respect to those cycle rickshaw guys, because after two sectors you clearly feel your load and the fun is turning into some real exercise!
Edited/added on August 6th: Actually at minute 2:20 of this video you can see that rickshaw thing. Btw, I uploaded the whole bunch of videos I cut, just go to the playlist.
Worst
Well, who would be stupid enough to put all (ALL!) his valuable belongings into one single backpack when travelling to Goa? I did, and that one got stolen from right above my head from the waiting deluxe bus to Delhi. It didn't only include digicam plus all tech equipment like CF cards, MP3 player etc., it also carried my diary and other personal stuff, which I think was even worse. Being in Goa without camera, a nightmare.
At the same time I got in close touch with Indian bureaucracy. That is, going to the police office at ISBT and trying to "fill in" (free-form!!) a report, which name I don't remember (maybe F.I.R. or similar). In fact, I had the choice between two versions, a simple missing report and another one, which would induce an investigation. That actually only Rahul from AIESEC could explain to me after he arrived at the scene (thanks again for that!!) Before that no one spoke any english, no one felt like explaining anything, and so I wrote that 2-page report 4 (!) times, because each time something was missing and could NOT be solved by crossing it out *sigh*
By the way, we could catch the deluxe bus to Delhi 2 hours later and also could catch the flight to Bangalore!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
5 comments:
I do actually remember MHA...such good times.
Some guy, I'm pretty sure, tried to steal my luggage in Goa. Except he did it by asking if he could take my luggage off the bus and inspect it. Right....
Way to go on posting to save the dying blog! Very interesting post too. That is very cool that the rickshaw driver recognised you and addressed you by name.
Hey Hennes,
Great to hear from you. I think i've bumped in here after a reallly loooong time and was glad to see a post from you.
And yes, I remember the MHA. How can i forget?? That's where... hmm.. ;P
MHA !!!! now who wud forgt d most amazin trainee house AIESEC chandi ever had...nt to frgt d amazin ppl who stayed dere !!
n yeh...fillin d forms 4 times !! ha..dats how Indian system works ;)
best regards, nice info » »
Post a Comment