As I'd been told a gazillion times, the first thing that hit me was the heat. It's those first few seconds after you leave the airport where there is a sudden punch of WTF, that's not right, who's been playing with the thermostat?
Merely a few minutes later, I got over it, it wasn't so bad. It was hot, but there was a nice breeze too. I met with M who had come to receive me & we got declined an auto-rickshaw by the first driver we approached. Another agreed & took us on board. As we hit the roads, the abundance of stray dogs was notable, we scooted over to Smokin' Joe's pizza place where I had my first meal.
Pizza. Quite ironic, I know, but it was late at night and only a handful of options were going to be available really. Ah, I didn't mention the time before did I? Yep. It was 1am at least, oh, and that thing about getting over the heat. Yea' .. now that it's daytime, I take that back.
Anyway, back to the narrative: We'd put my luggage inside the pizza place & were waiting outside for the arrival of K. Once he arrived, he did suggest an alternative place to eat but with luggage already sitting in this place we decided to stay put. The pizza wasn't half bad. The cheese here seems quite different, not bad, not good, just different. If you'd offered it to me in the UK I would just think it's one of those cheeses people buy for their wine-tastings, not cheddar, not mozerella.
So, after fighting a mustard bottle to its death, discussing the philosophical integrity of whether mustard really even is mustard once it merges with other things, in time we left & got another Auto back to M's flat where I'm staying currently.
I was amused that halfway through the trip, the driver skidded to a halt & asked another fellow driver on the side of the road to give him a paan. The other guy shuffled about a bit. Our driver demanded that he was given a paan pronto, he was, upon receipt, he did the side-nod shoulder to shoulder thing & off we went again at 40 odd miles an hour. It was so random, yet cool.
During the journey I found myself smiling away as I took in the unique smell, that very smell I find in every official letter I've received from India. I can't describe it any other way but the smell of India. :)
Silent Salutes,
_ram-jaane'
Notes on the Auto front:
- Some will flat out refuse you any service
- Stray Dogs
- Paan
- 1.5x rate after 1am