Click above to take a bus ride with me!
As you probably guessed, I arrived in Hyderabad a couple of days ago after a six-hour bus ride from Raichur. As soon as I got off the bus I headed straight to Secunderabad, where my cousins Dominic and Keith live with their families, and have been enjoying wonderful hospitality since then. It has been great to just sit back, chat, watch the children have dancing competitions, and tease them when they get scared at a Hindi horror movie (the Indian equivalent of The Exorcist - you should have heard the screams!). But of course Indian hospitality, as some of you may be aware, can be a problem. Let me explain - I am probably one of the few people I know who can travel to India and actually gain weight, and right now if I am not careful I will return home fattened up for Christmas. Today I had yet another long debate with a cousin that I really did not need to eat. I had eaten a late breakfast only five minutes before at his brother's house, and yet he insisted that I now needed to eat a huge portion of chicken, potato curry and roti. The food looked absolutely delicious, but bearing in mind that if I burst out of my current clothes then I seriously will have nothing left to wear here or at home, I had to decline.
Because I am still investigating family history, today Dominic and I took a rickshaw to the cemetery with the family plot so that we could find out the date our grandfather died. To our surprise, it was today - the 25th November, in 1951. And so Dominic paid the caretaker to wash the tomb and bought flowers, which he arranged around grandpa's name. The caretaker, an elderly, bare-foot man called Brian, with leathered brown skin and fading eyes, told me it was lucky for him that we came that day. "I had full enjoyment," he said. Well, he made a few rupees.
Tomorrow we will head back to St Joseph's Cathedral in Gunfoundry (Hyd) to see if we can access the parish records. We did speak briefly to the parish priest, a young, good-looking Hindu convert; but he was clearly not pleased to be disturbed from his afternoon nap, and was not as obliging as we anticipated. As we left, I reminded Dominic of a family story that our great-grandmother (Cecilia Mary) was supposed to have slapped a priest. "Now we know why," I chuckled.
I could not have done any of this without the people who have helped me so far. Although years ago I spent a long time in Hyderabad and Secunderabad and knew the place quite well, it has now changed so much that I hardly recognise a thing. Some things will probably never change; for instance, as we took the rickshaw home the driver had to negotiate around a man who had chosen to lie down in the middle of the road for an afternoon kip. Driving the wrong way up a road is still fairly normal, and pavements everywhere are still splattered red with chewed-up paan. Although there are more cars on the road than years before, it is still common to see couples on one motorbike, with a couple of children wedged between them. As the city has become wealthier, it is the cycle rickshaw and cycle that seem to have disappeared.
The temperament is also different here; in Mumbai and Raichur it was more easygoing. For the past couple of days, for example, when I have come to the internet cafe that I am in now, I have asked if internet is available only for the rather shop owner to tut at me in irritation and shake his head in annoyance. I did wonder if it was irritation at the lack of internet but today, even though it is functioning beautifully, he is still bad-tempered. How dare I want to bother him and give him any business when he could be watching the world go by instead!
So as you can probably tell my mood has improved without the need for tea, and I am glad I made it here.
Because I am still investigating family history, today Dominic and I took a rickshaw to the cemetery with the family plot so that we could find out the date our grandfather died. To our surprise, it was today - the 25th November, in 1951. And so Dominic paid the caretaker to wash the tomb and bought flowers, which he arranged around grandpa's name. The caretaker, an elderly, bare-foot man called Brian, with leathered brown skin and fading eyes, told me it was lucky for him that we came that day. "I had full enjoyment," he said. Well, he made a few rupees.
Tomorrow we will head back to St Joseph's Cathedral in Gunfoundry (Hyd) to see if we can access the parish records. We did speak briefly to the parish priest, a young, good-looking Hindu convert; but he was clearly not pleased to be disturbed from his afternoon nap, and was not as obliging as we anticipated. As we left, I reminded Dominic of a family story that our great-grandmother (Cecilia Mary) was supposed to have slapped a priest. "Now we know why," I chuckled.
I could not have done any of this without the people who have helped me so far. Although years ago I spent a long time in Hyderabad and Secunderabad and knew the place quite well, it has now changed so much that I hardly recognise a thing. Some things will probably never change; for instance, as we took the rickshaw home the driver had to negotiate around a man who had chosen to lie down in the middle of the road for an afternoon kip. Driving the wrong way up a road is still fairly normal, and pavements everywhere are still splattered red with chewed-up paan. Although there are more cars on the road than years before, it is still common to see couples on one motorbike, with a couple of children wedged between them. As the city has become wealthier, it is the cycle rickshaw and cycle that seem to have disappeared.
The temperament is also different here; in Mumbai and Raichur it was more easygoing. For the past couple of days, for example, when I have come to the internet cafe that I am in now, I have asked if internet is available only for the rather shop owner to tut at me in irritation and shake his head in annoyance. I did wonder if it was irritation at the lack of internet but today, even though it is functioning beautifully, he is still bad-tempered. How dare I want to bother him and give him any business when he could be watching the world go by instead!
So as you can probably tell my mood has improved without the need for tea, and I am glad I made it here.
- Thank you all for your comments so far. Allison, today I saw the little lad who used to help out at Grant's house - but now he is easily 6'! He remembers you very well, as do my cousins. They asked after you :o)
Hi Ruth, I cannot begin to think how many miles I have travelled but the route was Mumbai, Raichur, Buddinni, Wandali, Hutti, Lingsugur, Maski Buddinni, Raichur, Hyderabad, Secunderabad. Guess what - I am going to stay put for a while!
Posts
2 comments:
I was thinking about that young boy that used to help out at Grants - in fact i have a photo of him that i will endeavour to scan. Please say hello to your cousins for me. Allison
Will do!
Post a Comment