India trip - day by day

American Airlines AA 292 - 6th Aug
The Chicago (ORD) - Delhi (DEL) flight was supposed to depart at 7:05 PM CT but took off only at 7:42 pm. The flight was relaxing as I had an exit row seat :). I couldn't do anything but sleep for atleast 10 hours in the 14 hour flight. In the 4 hours that I was awake, I watched Inside Man, I had all my meals and thought about India - can't help it! What I really about AA non-stop flight is that it is non-stop and so I don't have to get off at some airport in Europe like Frankfurt, London etc and then wait until the next flight. Once you take off from Chicago, you will land only at Delhi, not somewhere in Europe! Also, they serve Indian food as a part of their vegetarian meals course... too bad they don't offer Indian non-vegetarian meals, like Butter Chicken or Tandoori Chicken :(
The flight landed at 8:30 PM IST (Indian Standard Time, not Indian Stretchable Time!). When I got out fo the airport, I didn't get the heat wave because it wasn't hot in Delhi! The IGI airport sucked as always and that made me feel like I was in India right away :). Immigration took less than 10 minutes and for the first time ever, I got my bags pretty quickly and was out of the airport in less than 1 hour :)

Arrived at home around 10:30 pm. I first checked my e-mails, had dinner (Butter Chicken :) ) , and then went to bed around 1 am. Got up at 5:30 am and the first thing I said to myself was "Damn train ko bhi abhi jaana tha" (Why did the train have to go now and wake me up), but the interesting thing is, there are no trains around here and I am back from US! It took me a second to realize that I got up because of jetlag and not the trains that didn't let me sleep for 10 weeks this summer...

7th Aug
So I got up at 5:30 am, and had nothing to do until around 1 pm. I went to Gurgaon to meet Abhijit around Metropolitan Mall area at 2 pm. We then went to his home, had lunch together, talked about studies, our boredom etc etc. Then we went to DT Mega Mall. It was kinda deserted because not many people come to this place, which is probably because it is not on the main "Mall Road". It was good structure, nicely built and overall a decent place to hangout. We just bought a frappe and sat in the food court just talking etc. We watched the movie Cars, the 5:25 PM show at DT Mega Mall cinema Audi #2. We had aisle seats in the 2nd row from the back, and tickets were Rs 175 ($3.8). The cinema was good, spacious etc (Compare this to $8 cinemas in US which are more like gaon ke cinema). We then went back to his place and did what we are expert at - nothing - just kill time doing random things ;) . Weather was good - not too hot, maybe lower 30s C (upper 80s F) and it rained for a while. That was basically the end of day. Had a good time.

8th Aug
Nothing special about today, just at home. No plans... just relax at home and talk to friends etc. Well, I watched V for Vendetta and that's about it. Bad time bad time

9th Aug
Had plans with a few friends to meet around PVR Anupam Saket or PVR Priya area. However, today's Rakhi and high traffic is expected... so we had to cancel our plans for today :( - Damn Rakhi or Damn Traffic? Not sure yet. So one more day of doing nothing. Not so good times.
Planned with a few friends to meet tomorrow sometime - not sure as of 11 pm what to do and when - tentative plan to meet at PVR Saket at 11 AM and then go to Palika, but Aman's not sure about it, so we don't know yet- that's how things are for us all the time.

10th Aug
9:30 AM and we still weren't sure if we were going to meet at PVR Saket at 11 am or not. I checked my mobile and had a SMS from Aman confirming that he's ok with 11 am. Called up Abhijit to tell him I was going to be at PVR at 11 AM. He was still not ready, so we planned on meeting at 11:30, and I called up aman to update him. I am out, not really on my way to Saket (first getting other things done, like meet Doctor etc), and Aman's at PVR at 11:25 am. I told him I was gonna be there in 10 minutes (Doctor's place to Saket = 15 mins actually, but it's ok). I got at PVR Saket at 11:45 am (I wasn't late, I was on IST - Indian Stretchable/Standard Time), and we still don't know where Ashi is. Called him up, and he claims to be stuck in traffic. We are just waiting and roaming around and talking. It was good to see aman again after almost 7 months. Ashi arrives at 12:30 pm, and we are trying to decide if we want to go to Palika Bazaar (Wikipedia description: Palika Bazaar is an underground, air-conditioned market located below the inner circle of Connaught Place, Delhi, India) or not. We did. We took DTC 500 from Saket to Palika. Took about 45 minutes, and it was fun - specially because we got a seat. DTC ride was fun - took one after 2-3 years. Got there and had fun in Palika and then once we got done there (in about 1 hour), we went to Inner Circle shops. It was very humid and we were sweating like never before. Temperatures were not that bad, being "only" 104 F (40 C) with about 70% relative humidity, so tried not wasting time etc. We planned on going to CCD but couldn't find one in Inner Circle - one of the most shocking things ever! When we couldn't find a CCD around, we decided to go back to PVR Saket as me and Aman were thinking of watching Pirates of the Carribean 2 - the 4:20 pm show. (Yes, we still haven't watched it) We took an auto at 3 pm from CP and got there at 3:30 PM. However, we being what we are, we weren't sure until 4:15 pm if we wanted to watch the movie or not, and at 4:16 PM decided to watch it tomorrow - maybe an excuse to meet up :D - Ashi left at 4:30 PM and then I went to Aman's house where we just killed time, playing games etc. FUN FUN FUN DAY - Had a good time.

11th Aug
Friday, but unlike in USA, it's just another day, after all life's interesting on other days too. Had plan to meet Aman at PVR Saket (basically now a central place for everyone in South Delhi) at 2 PM and then watch Pirates of the Caribbean Dead Man's Chest at 4 PM. However, we are what we are, and at 12:30 or 1 PM decided to meet at 3 PM - unless by 2:59 PM we decide to post pone it even further. So we decided to meet at 3 PM IST and got there at 3:20 PM (IST!). Then nothing much, just talking and chilling until the movie started. We went to McD and Indian McD are definitely better compared to the US ones - efficiency and service! Watched the movie, and surprisingly it was almost house full - probably people who thought of watching KANK couldn't get tickets - we had plans for POTC, so didn't have to care about it - we don't watch crap movies like KANK, atleast not unless someone pays us to watch it ;) . (POTC2 = Good one). Then just chilling around in the scorchy and sticky weather and just doing nothing. We definitely had a good time.

12th Aug
Did nothing important... at home playing Max Payne for the most part.

13th Aug
Had plans to go to bookvallas in Darya Ganj with Aman, but realized that because of I-Day security, it would be closed, so didn't go. Instead went to family friend's place to have lunch etc.

14th Aug
There was some hope of doing something interesting, meeting Aman. But didn't do anything. Played Max Payne instead. Went out with family - good South Indian dinner.

15th Aug
Independence Day of India. Played Max Payne. Done with it :)

16th Aug
Met Siddharth, Aman and his friend at Mocha at 12:30 PM. More people were supposed to show up, but they didn't. Siddharth called up his friend and we had a good time together. Talked about good old days when we used to have fun in school and realized all 5 of us were in the same league - Singles with no luck. Aman and his friend had to leave at 3:15 or so and the rest of us decided to go out somewhere for lunch. We decided to go to Culinaire but that wasn't open yet so we ended up eating at Anupam. Came back at 5. Then went to Temple in the evening for Janmashtami. Good time.

17th Aug
At home, just chilling etc.

18th Aug
Same thing, went out for sometime - had to get some work done. Then went out with family for dinner.

19th Aug
Stayed at home for the most part. Not feeling too well - cough and cold, and some weakness. Went out to some family friend's place for dinner.

20th Aug
Went to Darya Ganj with Abhijit. He bought a lot of books. I didn't want to buy a novel and didn't find any other interesting book, so didn't buy anything. We got there at about 1:30 and left at 3:30 or so. I just wasn't feeling well - had fever as I realized later - 103 d.F. So the rest of day was just rest etc. Had some family friends at home for dinner. Still not sure why I get fever a few days before travelling.

21st Aug
At home - can't do much - resting as i gotta get well before going back...

22nd Aug, 23rd Aug
At home...

24th Aug
Went to Gurgaon to meet Ashi at Metropolitan Mall. We watched movie called Click. I bought the tickets and had to wait for him so we could go to watch the movie. It was a 2:05 PM show, and we got in at 2:10 or so, missing first 5 minutes or so - we were not late, we were by IST... the stupid PVR guy started the movie early ;) . We then went to Coco Palms in DT to eat lunch. It's a good and reasonably priced South Indian Restaurant. We then went back to his place and did nothing. Some time later I went back home. It was a great day...

25th Aug
Best day of the trip. Was in CP to meet a friend when the medical students and doctors were protesting the quota bill. Saw the protest and we both had a lot of fun seeing all that. This was the first time I actually saw a protest. There was curfew in place, but the medical students didn't care about it and protested. The quota bill was deferred until winter session of the Parliament, and the protest and strikes really did their work. It was amazing to see so many people protesting and all the news channels were there to cover the story. It was just amazing to see it live and not just from the TV - it is just too different on TV. That was the best day!

26th Aug
Last day... packing and all, and at airport. Airport was a chaos. Getting in took like 25 minutes and then checking, immigration, security and boarding lines - chaos at the airport.

27th Aug
The flight took off at 12:47 AM IST and landed in Chicago at 5:18 AM CT. The food quantity is getting worse...

Starbucks coming to India

Good news for Starbucks' lovers, Starbucks has announced that it will be starting operations in India within the next 18 months :) :

Coffee connoisseurs can look forward to a new brew in their cups soon, with US-based coffee retail giant Starbucks Corporation set to open its outlets in India in 2007.

Starbucks is currently in talks with a number of potential joint venture partners and is in the process of finalising the locations for opening its retail outlets in the country.

I love CCD in India, but there should be a starbucks too:
1. Starbucks is also good
2. We need a revolution in Coffee retail market - Starbucks has been around for a while in the global markets, and they can really give CCD and Barista some competition... Good for everyone :)

Upcoming India trip

India trip coming up in two days... Gonna be fun again :)

Things I am excited about and what I plan on doing:

1. Spend time with Family
2. Meeting friends
   
3. Home cooked Desi food - OF COURSE!!!
4. No doing your own laundry etc HAHAHA :)
5. Chilling in Delhi's hot weather ;)
6. Excessive usage of Hinglish - Now mazaa aaying ;)
7. Movies at dirt cheap prices in good multiplexes - About Rs. 150 ($3)
   
8. Hopefully, Delhi Metro ride - something I always wanted to do, but never got time
   
9. Something interesting, like going around the city etc
10. Looking forward to some changes at the IGI Airport now that GMR-Fraport has taken over - OK, that's too much to expect
    
11. Will get to see random people more often in public places
    
12. .
13. .
14. .
    

And the list goes on....
This is probably my last post until I go back home, and I might not post while I am at home. But I do plan on writing about my trip, like what I did etc. once I am back - Ahh crap, even the thought of it makes me feel bad.

Some funny translations

Times of India has a list of funny English-Hindi translations:

Wall Street Crash : Deewar toot ke sadak pe gir gayee
Buddhist canon : Baudh dharma ka tope
Bridging the gap : Pul bana diya gaya

Even a name was Translated:
W W Hunter : W W Shikari

Funny, isn't it? :)