Whirlwind Week in HYD

Right after coming to Hyderabad, my cousin’s wife Clara and I went with her kids Melissa and Aaron to the lake in the center of town where there is a very large statue of Buddha. It’s on an island in the center of the lake actually, and I’d seen it on previous trips; however, I had never taken a boat ride out on the lake. (Actually, I had been unaware that the island was even large enough to walk on, much less visit as though visiting the Statue of Liberty. The neat thing is that we went on the last boat of the day, around 9pm, so it was dark and the Buddha statue was lit up. It was really picturesque. Melissa and I had fun “picking up” Buddha.

My cousin Prashu is a real estate developer here in Hyderabad. He’s working on a project called Jayanthi Residency right now. They just started breaking ground this week. We went to the site to have a look. When I was here in 2008, we went to see one of his first projects, Shantha Residency (Shantha was our grandmother’s name as well, and Prashu is actually short for Prashanth).

It’s interesting here in India because my name is quite a bit more common than it is in the US. In fact, I find I have to stop myself from turning around a lot because I’ll hear my name called and realize it’s not me, but another Shantha someone is talking to!
Prashu also took me to visit his father’s gravesite. His father, my dad’s older brother, passed away just over a year ago, and had been the Uncle I lived with in the village when I stayed in India as a child. His tombstone is quite nice, with a picture engraved on it, and the graveyard is right next door to Melissa’s school, so it’s quite convenient to visit and very picturesque. I also saw some other family members’ graves who had been buried there. Although this isn’t the ancestral village, where my grandparents and others are buried, it’s nice to see some of the family still together in one area. I’m not sure why that matters to me. I do believe it’s good to honor our ancestors and remember the past.
I’ve gotten a few things accomplished, business-wise here in town: fixed my SIM card, picked up a few items from the store, that sort of thing. I’ve also seen a lot of malls – more than I’d have liked, I fear. For one thing, malls in India are air conditioned. Also, there are movie theatres in them and usually arcades/game zones for kids to play and many of my cousins’ kids like going for the play zones. But my family keeps taking me to malls because they want to buy presents for me. Please don’t misunderstand, I am very lucky in that my family wants to give me gifts. Unfortunately I simply don’t have space in my suitcase for a whole bunch of stuff. I must say I am happy that my family at least takes me to the store now and lets me pick what I like, though. It used to be that they would pick something out and it would be a color or pattern that I did not like (at all) and usually didn’t fit. Now, we go and I am able to select something I like, at least. I feel very ungrateful, arguing with my generous family all the time not to get stuff for me, but I don’t really need anything! Nonetheless, I’ve picked up a couple of extra tops than I had before I left home. One cousin wised up and gave me a necklace set. Small, portable, lightweight – brilliant!

I’ve spent the rest of my time here in HYD running around from family member to family member, trying to see and spend time with many. Sunday was Clara’s birthday. Saturday night, she and I went out dancing without the hubby and kids. We had a great time – it was something we’d never done together! On Sunday, after church, everyone came over to her house for a meal and prayer. Her mom Grace and sister Beulah even came to town from the other side of the state, which was great! I really enjoy both of them.

Monday was Indu’s birthday, and everyone gathered at her house for dinner and prayer. Her hubby Venkat was back in town, so I got to see him, and it was an enjoyable evening. I stayed late a bit and my cousin Ajay gave me a ride home in his big SUV, which he was awesome enough to let me drive back that night! It was super fun, and reminded me a lot of my Durango that I sold (oh, Elwyn!) just before I left. Way cool.

The next day, I had made plans to visit my god-sister Mammu and her family. Luckily, it was a holiday, so she had the day off from school, where she is a lecturer. Her parents were my godparents. Her mom Raji passed away quite some time ago, but her father Roosie passed away in November of 2010, so this was the first time I’d seen her since then. I’ve been missing my Uncle R a lot. I’ve seen a couple of people here that reminded me of him quite vividly since I’ve come to India already. Last when I came in 2008, I visited him in Guntur, where he lived. He brought custard apples home to Sherry and Kenny (Mammu’s kids) and I – a fruit I’d never had before! We had a great time.

At Mammu and Armstrong’s house on Tuesday, I was able to have lunch with the whole family. I also got to speak on the phone with her brother Lullu, who is living on the other side of the state, running the rural Sunday School program my godparents set up. I hung out with the family in the afternoon and then took a train with them back into the center of town (they live on the outskirts of HYD) and met back up with Clara, her cousin John, and the kids at a park called NGT gardens. It’s an amusement park where Melissa was very excited to go because we could get Mehendhi (henna) on our hands, which I had promised to do with her. I was super excited to take the commuter train with Mammu et al. because I enjoy riding trains, and Aaron was super excited in NTR gardens because there is a toy train that rides around the park, so he got to ride a train too (we all did).

The next day, I was able to meet up with Lizzie (Chinni) and her husband in the morning. Chinni’s mom Sadhu is my first cousin and her sister lives in the US with her husband and three kids, but I hadn’t seen Chinni since 2008. Unfortunately, her two girls were in school and I missed seeing them. After brunch (the best dosa I’ve had in India!), Lizzie’s husband gave me a ride to Ajju’s work in the tech center of Hyderabad.

Ajju is in charge of all of the restaurants and food service for an entire IT park with something like 9 restaurants and huge cafeterias. He showed me around and I was amazed and the number of places he had and the types of food they provided. There were cafeterias, sports bars, lounges, all kinds. It was pretty cool.

Then, we met up with his wife Suma and their two kids Achala and Akhil for lunch. The place we went, on a nearby campus was quite cool. It was set up like an old village. It had dining areas like old shops – a cloth shop, a tailor, a general merchandise store etc. And a buffet with so many types of food. There were a couple of auto-rickshaws (the bigger ones) that had been hollowed out with tables inside. Akhil loved that we sat in one of those – and we got to since Ajju is the guy to impress! It was really enjoyable.
Then we met Clara and kids at the mall and we ladies shopped while the kids played at the arcade. Ajay joined us again after work and we had pizza. All in all, a long but successful day. I leave in the morning to go across the state to Rajahmundry by train…details to come!