I was invited to be the Best Man at my friend Ajay's wedding in India. I'm sharing my travel experiences with all my fellow Travel-Lovers.

Other than my Dad's car blowing a radiator hose on the way to the airport, my journey was, overall, un-eventful. Thats an amazing thing really. Everyone has horror stories of travel. Not this time. I slept most of the flight to Paris. Had only 2hrs to wait for the connecting flight, and it took an hour+ to go through Immigration/Security (twice) to catch the connecting flight. Didnt even have time to check email in the airport. Slept most of the flight from Paris to New Delhi. Good thing too.

I was unable to sleep at the hotel in Dehli. I chose a place very close to the airport, because at 6am I would catch another flight across the country to Amritsar. Could not sleep - just way too much traffic noise. All night. Blearly eyed I caught the flight and slept most of that flight too. Bad thing.

I got to Amritsar, Ajay (my buddy who is getting married), met me there. We were not even finished with the "Hello!" embrace before the phone was ringing with his family asking if I had arrived. "Put him on the phone" they demanded. I was passed round to all the family with a very warm and very enthusiastic 'welcome back!'. I was previously here 4 yrs ago, and once prior to that. They asked eagerly "what would you like to eat? You must be hungry - tell us"
"Sab kuch" I replied - hindi for 'all/anything is good'. Wow did that make an impression.

I got quite a hero's welcome here. Last time I was here they introduced me to punjabi dishes and I particularly liked 'chipati', which is like a not-sweet pancake with various veggies (potatoes, onions, mild chilis). They loaded me up with chipatis! And I wolfed them down. Meanwhile we caught up on various things in everyone's lives, and they quizzed me about the hindi words they previously taught me. Lots of good laughs and good fun.

I puppy-dogged around Ajay all day. We ran out for chores and errands here and there, sat round bs'd, and eventually we went out to get a hotel room. He went in to negotiate rates, I fell asleep in the car. Had I gone in, the rate would be 2x.
Long ago they had asked if I would stay at their home, and being a westerner who likes western toilets and long hot showers, we decided it was probably best to crash at a local hotel instead. I think this made everyone happy. The plan was to grab a scnooze in the afternoon then meet up again for dinner. I slept a good 4 hours. I awoke at 8pm and sheepishly called AJ's house. They laughed and came to pick me up.

So far I've got to ride on a motorcycle several times, and in a car. I kinda like the bike. Traffic is CRAZY here. There are no rules that I can make out. Except with regard to a horn. Use it whenever you change direction, speed, or your mind. Beep freely, beep frequently. Beep for no reason.

We had dinner, a most excellent vegetarian meal [hardcore veggies here - no eggs allowed!] and sat round chatting till 1am. Back to my room and tried to sleep. Remember me saying "bad thing"? I did not sleep at all - I sat here watching TV in hindi. I know only a couple key phrases, and watching "The Empire Strikes Back" in dubbed hindi just doesnt work. Neither does "Godzilla 2000", although I think making it incomprehensible improved it somewhat.

The accomodations here are, somewhat sub-standard compared to what we expect at home. For example, my hotel room is costing me $13/day. For that, I get a queen sized bed, marble floors, a bedroom that is substantially larger than my apt, and a marble-laid bathroom that is nearly half the size of my apt. There's an AC in this room that could freeze a meat locker (it was so strong I had to shut it off - even 'low' was too strong). A TV set that is better than what I have at home - I am considering how difficult it would be to steal it. Did I mention that that the shower is a bucket of hot water? Ah yeah. Since the bathroom is marble-laid, there is no tub, no shower curtain, nada. Just splash yourself silly all over the floor. Really. Kinda neat.

Taking a bucket-bath requires some adjustment. But, its not too bad, so long as you are not in a rush.

I needed to have my clothes pressed after the flight. I called the front desk to ask if they had an iron to borrow, as most western hotels do. It took awhile to understand what an "iron" is - its called a "press" here. A few minutes later the bell-boy arrives - has asks for the clothes. (?) I didnt want to have someone else press them - I'm a cheap bastard. Twenty cents later, I had a freshly pressed set of clothes. I'm not a cheap bastard anymore. Its time for breakfast, I go round asking where the restaurant is. They give puzzeld looks and explain that its only room service here. The cheap bastard that I am isnt willing to pay outrageous prices for eggs in my room. Oh. Its only $1 for a Eggs/Toast/Chai [chai is tea, but, made more like coffee]. Bring on the room service!

I couldnt bear to be single and alone here in Amritsar, so I brought a "companion" to my room last night. Small little thing, slender, slinky and she's very quiet. Sleeps on the ceiling. Eats flies. Doesnt make a sound. Around 4am it got too cold from the A/C so the little lizard took off to find a warmer place.

Women are so fickle.

Amritsar is dirty. It is really dirty. Oddly, once you accept that its "just the way things are", you get blind to it. Its no dirtier than any other place in India, maybe even a little cleaner? But, it takes a couple hours to re-acclimate yourself to "its just filthy". Filthy like rubbish piles. Filthy like animal dung. Did I mention that the traffic is crazy here? Thats because the mix of trucks, farm-tractors, horse-drawn-carts, loose bullocks [think big cows], people, scooters, dogs, goats and whatever else doesnt fit on the sidewalk all crowd into the street. All at once.

The people are wonderful. Just wonderful. AJ's family showers me with warmth and affection - if it weren't for my family, I certainly wouldnt want to go back. His brother & sisters strain to remember their college-english classes so they can speak with me, and over the years I've noticed a serious improvement in their english. I strain to blurt out a few hindi words - they beam with gratitude, and burst out laughing at my mispronounciations and mis-usages. At one point, AJ quietly pulled me aside, "dont say that word - ok? we know what you meant, but, thats not what you said." Big ****-eating grin on his face.
"why - what did I say?"

Obscene gesture. Wink. Wink. Got it. Ooops.

Over the months I had been telling AJ about my breakup/divorce, as friends would normally do. I wondered what the family would say - last time I was here they were non-stop baragging me with questions about my wife and children and fawning over pictures of my girls... They have not asked a single word about mary. They asked about the girls of course, but, completely steered clear of any reference to her. The absence of any questions was clearly deliberate, and intentionally sensitive. I guess mary wont be getting a christmas card from them. Ha ha.

Today is the 1st of the 3day wedding ceremony. I will be accompianing AJ as he delivers some more of the wedding invitations. Its the custom for the groom to hand deliver a wedding invite shortly before the actual wedding - even though the persons have long since been invited/replied. We have been laughing while discussing how some of the people will respond when a westerner white-guy accompanies AJ for the deliveries. The word for westerners is "ghora", which means "white". It can be both derogatory, and complimentary. I am also going to be fitted for a traditional punjabi "best man" suit. Sort of like pajamyas. Should be fun!


Hit me with questions and comments - More in a day or so.

Ahh so thats where you are now, was wondering how come I haven't seen much of you. Enjoy the time there Mike

Hello Mike, aap kaise hain?: Reading your post has taken me back to a few journeys. All good stuff, chipati, delicious. I make them, I grew up in this culture, my grandfather was East Indian. So, can I ask, do you like Hindi films ? phir milte hai

BonnyMiss: You make chipati's ?!? I love you. Where do I meet you?

Yep, I also make pakoras, aloo gobi, tandoori chicken, kulfi, badam latcha, gulab jamon, barfi, dall tarka and rass moli.Indian foods is a large part of my culture. I can do a take out for you if you'd like

Hi Mike!!!
always a pleasure reading your post

Hello Mike,

Thanks for the post about your travels. I used to travel and I really enjoyed your post. Do come back and tell us more, and about the wedding. Thanks again. Donna

Hey Mike,
Wow...isn't it great being able to go to another place and experience that? Thank you so much for sharing your story..can't wait to hear more!!
I know when I went to the other 2 countries, I have kept diaries so I wouldn't forget anything. The pictures are wonderful also. Memories that I will treasure forever
Have fun and stay safe

Part II is now posted at:

http://www.justsayhi.com/topic/show/43091