India 2017, part 1 - Flight to Doha --> Pune

So it really has been over a year since I've posted anything on here.  Wow.  Okay.

Well, here's my attempt to resurrect this blog from the dead, and bring you something I finally feel like I'm qualified to do, since I left the country four times last year (2017) and I'm on my way to breaking that personal record this year (I think it's a personal record, at least it is pre-high school, where I switched countries so much people still don't believe me).  I'm going to turn this into a travel blog.  Woohoo!

I'm not setting out to make anything viral-worthy or anything like that, just write about the personal experiences I've had while leaving the country.  I feel like some people might actually want to read that, and if no one does, at least it'll just be for my own benefit, because hey, maybe one day I'll actually forget all this stuff or wish I still had that life again or something like that.  Living vicariously through my memories or something like that I guess.

So anyway.  I'm going to skip my trip to Spain in July, not because Spain is boring or anything, but because that was a whirlwind trip that was short for my standards (six days, one being spent traveling) and it was really a set up to the next trip.  India, three weeks later.  So to run this down, my favorite person in the whole wide world, otherwise known as my best friend whom I've known since I was thirteen, got married.  Making me feel like a loser in terms of life choices, but in all seriousness, she's my favorite person in the world and I love her to bits and I had to do everything I possibly could to share in her special day(s) so I went to Spain for a week for her Spanish wedding, and then three weeks later I was on another flight to India (by way of Doha, Qatar), to go to her Indian wedding, since she married an Indian guy.

So here goes.  I'm going to break this up into various parts, because it was a nearly-two-week trip filled with craziness and wonder that if I don't split it up I'll go crazy and you all who decide to read this are going to go crazy too.

Part one, of India 2017.  Flight to Doha, flight to Mumbai, and Pune.  August 3-6, 2017.


I bought these flights in March, as soon as I was able to find prices under $1000 (which didn't seem to be terribly hard to find given that most people don't brave India in August, and while I'm the kind of person who doesn't care, for reasons you'll find later, I can see why other people don't).  Flights were with Qatar Airways, recently ranked the best airline in the world, especially if you're a business traveller.  Added bonus?  I paid like an extra $20 to get "upgrade options".  So like, basically, there was a possibility of being upgraded to Business Class.  And since very few people would ever say no to that, I figured, it's $20 (for real), why not?  So I did.  And about a week before my flight, I get an email from Qatar Airways, stating that since I paid for these tickets, I was eligible for Business Class tickets on my Doha-Mumbai flight for an extra $200.  It took some convincing from a much more experienced traveler than myself to tell me to do it, so I did.

And hoo-boy.  When you get Business Class for a Qatar Airways flight, even if it's for only a 4-hour flight (No openings for JFK-Doha, but I can't say that's surprising, since it's a 15-hour flight and of course Business Class was full!), you get a Business Class flight with Qatar Airways.  Access to the Business Class lounge in all its goodness.

August 3

Before I landed at Hamad International Airport though, I got some sweet pictures flying over Iran, because that's what you do when you buy a camera with a balling zoom (Sony Cybershot HX400V, in case you're wondering what the vast majority of the pics you will see were taken with).

So yeah.  Pretty cool.

Then I landed in Doha.  Hamad International Airport.  And while I would have loved to leave the airport, I didn't have a layover longer than like 3 hours, so boo.

But I still got to check out the most interesting parts of the airport, like this little guy.

The Qatari Royal Family bought this sculpture by Swiss sculptor Urs Fischer) and put it in the main concourse of the airport.  Which is a pretty cool idea, I won't lie.  It's like the thing to see, and it's swarming with people taking pictures of it.

Then I headed off to the Business Class lounge, because what good are Business Class tickets if you don't go to the lounge, especially if you're in the richest country in the world (per GDP)?

Well.

The pool actually has little "jets" that splurt out water streams randomly to make the water keep moving, and it was so relaxing and OMG I never wanted to leave.

Suffice it to say, this was the best use of the $200 I paid.  Right here.  I didn't even take advantage of free stuff, because I had just gotten off a 15-hour flight and was exhausted.  All I wanted to do was get into the WiFi and let people know that I was living large in Doha, baby.  Yeahhhh.  For someone who spent a good chunk of her adulthood very broke and either not working at all or working a crappy job that made her feel like the utter scum of the earth, well, this was definitely a sign that my life was looking a bit better.

So I chilled here, until they came around and let me know that my flight to Mumbai was boarding soon, so better leave paradise and get back onto that flying box in the sky that will get me to my destination quicker than any possible other way known to Man.

Boarding was a breeze; Business Class means I got to board in a separate door than everyone else, at least for that flight, and sat down in my seat, and had more leg room than I knew what to do with.

And the Arabian "mezze" were incredible, because I love me some authentic hummus and babaghanoush.

August 4.

Here's the trip to Pune per Google Maps:

And then I landed.  Too soon.  Way too soon.  At two in the morning, Indian time, which meant I lost like 8 hours in the time change and I still had to get to Pune, which is a six-hour drive by normal Indian standards, and I didn't even leave Mumbai until three.  It's a wonder we made it to Pune, where the wedding was, at six.  Really don't know how that happened.  My best friend happened to be awake, so she showed me to my room, and let me just chill for a few hours until we went into the main shopping district to go sari-shopping for the wedding.

Y'aaaaaall.  So many colors, so many patterns, so many fabrics!

We also stopped by this shop where they make the traditional saris worn in Pune/Maharashtra and the worksmanship was astounding.

Stunning work.

I was still super overwhelmed and jet-lagged, but I was a functioning adult still, and was able to take in everything just wonderfully, with all the Spaniards going "I just had an 8-hour flight and 3-hour time difference, you are a trooper!" and the Indians going "You must be exhausted!  Here, sit and relax!" at the mehndi party my best friend's in-laws threw.

The next day, this is what my mehndi looked like:

Left hand

Right hand.

Left palm.

Right palm.

I wish I could wear mehndi every day, no lie.

The next day, we had a walking tour of historical Pune, where jet-lagged me got to attempt translating from English into Spanish, and when my brain clearly showed signs of being far too fried, my best friend stepped in, even though everyone wanted her to rest since it was her wedding that we were celebrating the next day.  Oh well.

August 5

Pune is a fascinating city.  It's pretty big, even for Indian standards, and, without sounding like a Wikipedia article (I'll just link it here), is known for being an educational hub, as well as a cultural one for the State of Maharashtra as well.

The old section is full of these ancient communal houses, or wadas.

I'll be honest, one of my favorite things was seeing all the colors and the coconut palms that grow right in the middle of the street.  I'm don't have much contact with the tropics or even sub-tropics in my every day life, and have never been able to travel much to places where they're everyday run-of-the-mill trees, like elm, oak, and myriad evergreens are.  So my inner non-northern-European-ethnic self is very very happy when I get the chance to see them everywhere.

Too bad they virtually disappeared once I left Pune, because, sadly, nowhere we visited has the right climate for them.  Sad day.

I really, really love coconut palms.  They remind me I'm somewhere where it never gets cold.  And I'm writing this in the middle of a snowstorm on the first day of Spring in the Northeast US.

But really, one of the words that can always be used to describe India is "colorful".  Because even when the land is bare and not lush, there's always color to be found.  It's a beautiful thing.  In the clothes, on the buildings, on the road.

Color.  Everywhere.

It's beautiful.  I love it.

Which brings me to...

August 6

When my best friend was planning the trip, she mentioned to me that I'd be needed to translate the ceremony into Spanish.  She gave me a document detailing what was going on and how everything was explained for the non-Hindus in the audience, since this was going to be a somewhat traditional Hindu wedding.  It ended up not being completely traditional, because instead of the five days of festivities it was only one (except for the mehndi party, which was for a couple of hours), and instead of a five-hour ceremony it was only three.

I was expecting to sit at a table with my best friend's Spanish friends, basically her parents and a few relatives, plus a few other Europeans (I was the only non-European in the group, but no one really noticed or cared because they all considered me basically Spanish anyway, I was just missing the passport).  There I'd go over the sheet and follow the ceremony, explaining in Spanish what was going on.  Until I was told that since the bride didn't have a sister on hand (or any at all, and none of her female cousins made the trip), I got to play sister.  Which was a massive honor because she'd been my best friend since we met practically, I'd known her for over half my life, and despite living in different countries an ocean apart and going vast amounts of time without seeing each other, neither of us at all objected to me playing the sister, especially since all of the Indians knew my relationship to her.  It was awkward since I had no idea what I was doing, and I have no good pictures of me in the ceremony, but it was an incredibly beautiful experience and I really cannot express how it felt to actually be a part of her wedding, especially since I wasn't able to be involved in the Spanish wedding at all except as a guest.

Anyway, this made translating near impossible, and once my "role" as sister was completed, the priestess handed me a microphone and had me explain and translate what was going on, which sounds harsh, but I was not about to say no, and it was a crazy experience since I was basically translating from English, which was being translated from Marathi.  Which was another reason why it was not a super traditional Hindu wedding, because instead of Sanskrit (which is a dead language, but the vast majority of languages spoken on the Indian subcontinent are derived from it, and virtually all of them are influenced by it in some way) the wedding was done in Marathi, the local language, and then into English (because my best friend speaks no Marathi but is fluent in English), and then into Spanish.  Which is where I came in.  What made it really cool was that after the ceremony was over, and I had spent about as much time on stage as the actual bride and groom, the priestess thanked me for my work and was very appreciative of my work in translating what was going on.  I'm probably repeating myself when I say it was an incredible experience, but it really truly was.  I got to be in an Indian wedding and be a part of my best friend's special day, even for a small chunk of it.

After the ceremony, instead of a reception (before the food buffet), a troupe of traditional dancers in the Marathi style did some traditional wedding dances.

It was overall a beautiful day.

To finish up this part of the trip and this entry, here's a picture of me in the sari that I got for the wedding, which I still have, and am trying to find a use for so I don't have to tear it up or cut it up so I can wear it again someday.

This is probably the best picture I have.  I only have "mirror selfies", unfortunately.

Next up, New Delhi.