Hello from Hyderabad!

Before I left some people mentioned that they'd like to see what I was up to in India; so here's my India Blog. There's a fuller description of my first few days underneath the photos (please don't feel like you have to read all of it!!!)

 The photo on the left is of the Charminar which was built in the 1500s to commemorate the end of a plague. Today, it provides a calm refuge in the centre of a bazaar which buzzes with street vendors, rickshaws, countless people, shops, cafes and stalls. The  photo at the top gives you an idea of this!

The photo of bangles is of one of the many bangle shops in Bangle Street; yes there really is a whole street just selling bangles!

The photos below are from a festival in a temple - but all this is explained underneath!

I hope this gives you a flavour of Hyderabad

Hi from India!

These first few days have been very action packed! Here are some first impressions of India.

Indian roads are quite an experience; every 6 inch gap is occupied by a lorry, car, bike, motorbike or rickshaw. Even on the dual carriageway style roads people often drive the wrong way up the street.

All the cars hoot their horns just to make sure that the person who their overtaking or undertaking, knows they’re there. Most of the lorries I’ve seen have on the back of them “Sound Horn Please”! It all looks and sounds so chaotic to the untrained eye, but there are surprisingly few accidents and everybody seems to get where they want to.

Crossing the roads here is the most terrifying experience! The advice I’ve been given is once you’ve started just keep going, even if it looks like there’s a car/rickshaw/motorbike heading right at you, which goes against any natural instinct! If you cross on a zebra crossing (I did find one) the traffic just continues as normal and hoots at you. So crossing a 3/4 lane road (it’s pretty hard to tell how many lanes there are supposed to be) truly is a heart in mouth moment. Another thing which makes walking here a bit more challenging is that there are no pavements so you have to walk in the road, trying to avoid the traffic, rubbish and street vendors.

The first rickshaw ride I took the rickshaw stalled every time it went up the slightest gradient, so seeing as I was going to the other side of the city it was quite a long journey! Another rickshaw journey I had a policeman jump into the rickshaw and pull it over to one side. Then the rickshaw driver had to get out and push the rickshaw backwards over the intersection of two main roads (they have no reverse gear) where upon to much confusion he was fined and I and my friends were put in another rickshaw.

At the moment it’s monsoon season. There’s been less rain than I expected, but when it rains it really does rain! Tonight after work I went to a local shop. Within 15 minutes the roads were completely flooded, the drains spurting out water rather than draining it away. Having waited for the rains to die down a bit I had to wade home along the roads which,  since my entry into the shop, been converted into rivers of up to 6 inches deep.

I’ve met lots of people working in NGOs and who are doing various projects out here. Whenever we go out anywhere there are always photographers taking our photo, it feels a bit like the paparazzi are following us. I asked one of my colleagues why they were taking so many photographs of us and she said that one of the local newspapers has a weekly photo montage on page 3 of life in Hyderabad. So apparently I became a page 3 girl too! Our non British friends didn’t quite get this!

Something I didn’t think I’d be doing much of in India was going to 5 star hotels, it feels somewhat wrong. But this weekend there were a couple of events which my friends wanted to go to. So added to my lists of firsts this week I’ve see a Dutch beat boxing band, and went for Sunday lunch and swimming at the Marriot Hotel! Having seen extent of the poverty around us it did feel very strange.

 On the way back from lunch we passed a temple which had loads of flashing lights, brilliantly coloured flower arrangements and wavering candles, and loads of people spilling out onto the road. So we decided to stop and see what was going on. We were ushered through the crowd blessed by their priest, photographed just once or twice, and had flower garlands placed around our necks. Word got around and very quickly the head of the temple came out to see us and have his photo taken with us too. There was a huge mound of rice which was being given as an offering. In it were small terracotta pots filled with candles illuminating the whole scene. The lights, colours, patterns and smells in temple were amazing.

The photos don’t capture it at all but here are some to give you an idea.