Mumbai - Baroda

  Baroda, Gujarat, India
Sunday, December 28, 2008

An early start found us sitting, a little bleary eyed, on the bus to the domestic terminal at 9am.  What we didn't realise is that the domestic terminal is actually in a completely separate place to the international and so what had originally seemed tobe plenty of time to get the airport, suddenly didn't seem quite so plenty.

A hair-raising drive through Mumbai dropped us at the airport where after multiple security checks and line ups, we boarded the plane with minutes to spare.  The flight was an hour and we finally found ourselves in Baroda, Tanvi's home, which we've all heard so much about and which we were now visiting for the first time.

As Tanvi predicted, most of the passengers seemed to be in town for the wedding and there were a large contingent of buses and cars to transport us to the hotel.  The drive through Baroda was no less hair-raising than Mumbai, except perhaps a little slower.  People walk across the street with seemingly no awareness of the danger of the oncoming traffic; people on bikes and mopeds weave in an out without helmets, and it seems impossible that they avoid being knocked over by the aggressive drivers in their cars; men with carts suddenly stop in the middle of the road to begin selling their wares; and on every street, there is a cow, wandering along the side of the street, or sometimes across the middle of the traffic lanes - and everyone swerves, avoiding the cow, and the cow quite happily meanders on his way, oblivious to the havoc he is causing.

Next was a quick pit-stop at the hotel before we, once again, got onto the bus and headed for Tanvi's house where her family was hosting a lunch.  Here was our first taste of the 'real' India, although given the number of Westerners present, we could have been anywhere in Europe or North America.  But as soon as we tasted the food, we knew were were in India.

Our first 'real' taste of India

Sumptuous, rich plates of lentils, vegetables, soups, rices, smelling divine and tasting even more so.  Spicy is the key word here, but not so much that it overpowers the palate and renders your taste buds ineffective.  Just right.  We found out from Tanvi, that we were the guinea pigs at this lunch for the wedding caterer, as we are deemed to have more sensitive palates and so would provide a better idea if the food was too spicy or not.  

Saris

The girls then left the boys and headed upstairs where we picked out the saris that we are going to wear to the wedding on Tuesday;  beautifully woven fabrics that look too beautiful and delicate to be worn.  We also get to wear more informal Indian attire for the Mehendi ceremony tomorrow, which we also collected, along with the Indian tunics for the boys.

The beautiful bride to be

Tanvi looked beautiful in her sari - and surprisingly chipper and relaxed, given that she gets four hours sleep each day and is constantly entertaining and looking after hundreds of people on a daily basis.  Today, there were 100 people at lunch; tonight there will be 200 people at dinner; at the wedding, there will be almost 500 people.

I'm exhausted just thinking about it.  But it's unlike anything I've ever experienced and so I will join the others as they siesta, in preparation for the events that are to come.