First impressions and Coca Cola

After about 28 hours of traveling, we made it to our flat in Pune. I managed to sleep quite a bit on the plane (after watching two movies--we had about 350 movies to choose from on the plane, which, even for a 15-hour plane ride, is quite enough) and then on the 3-hour car ride from Mumbai. Our first day has been one mostly of relaxing, fighting jet lag, and starting to aclimate to the new culture, our rooms, and of course, the heat and humidity. It's hotter here than in Houston, and more humid (I didn't know if that was possible!).

We have internet and TV in our flat, so we're not exactly living poorly. Fortunately for us, we have the advantage of a nice exchange rate, so we can eat an upscale meal here in India for less than 5 US dollars. Of course, we have to be a bit picky about the sort of things we eat and especially about what we drink. Our medications only go so far fighting the lovely illnesses coming from eating or drinking the wrong thing.

So, first impressions of India. When we walked off of the (very cold) plane, we felt that instant blast of heat and humidity walking into the Mumbai airport. The smells can be overpowering at times (not always bad--just very different than what we're used to), and the heat is oppressive, even when we arrived last night in the wee hours of the morning. Then of course, there were people everywhere. The area where we came out of the terminal was lined with drivers carrying signs for their customers. Driving through the dizzying maze of Mumbai made me appreciate the civility of Houston drivers. After all, Houston drivers are aware of the fact that only one car can be in one place at one time. Mumbai, on the other hand, focuses on getting through small spaces as quickly as possible, avoiding contact with the rickshaws, motorcycles, and flatbed trucks--barely. Horns are an absolute necessity, and on the expressways at night, flashing headlights seems to be the universal sign of preparing to past someone (a sign that usually indicates the car in front to move over).

Today we went out to lunch with Ajay and Krishna, both from Virgo Engineers. Food here is very spicey, which will be quite a change for me, seeing as how I'm used to comparatively bland American food. However, some things don't change, and one of those things is Coca-Cola. All four of us ordered Coke's at lunch today, perhaps partly to ward off the more obvious effects of jet lag. However, even if french fries and McDonald's change by headed to Asia, Coke tastes just the same as always. I'll have more on the American influence in India in a later post.