Wed February 8 and Thurs February 9 – Hyderabad to Mumbai, Mumbai to the US

There was much excitement this morning over breakfast.  Lakuma brought her husband Giridhar and son Mittu to meet us, all the way from Chennai.  She was wearing a beautiful red and gold sari.  We sat on the terrace for quite a while chatting and getting to know one another.  Mittu, only 12, is understandably shy.  I don’t think any 12 year old enjoys meeting new adults but the ice was immediately broken when Cliff unzipped his “murse” (man purse) and pulled out an iPad.  Cliff gave Lakuma the iPad as a gift as has been coaching her for the past few days on how to use it.  The strangest thing is that Mittu immediately seemed to know how to use it without any instruction.  He’s particularly interested in learning to play the guitar so Cliff focused right in on the Garage Band app.  Mittu had the program changing instruments from keyboards to drums to guitar in minutes.

After breakfast we took a tour of our hotel, the Taj Falaknuma Palace.  Given its current glory, we were all curious to know the property’s history.  Turns out the Falaknuma is named for the hill upon which it sits.  It was built by the Nizam, the hereditary ruler of Hyderabad, as a palace to house guests only.  He had his own (bigger, better) palace is in the city which we will visit it later today.  The property had fallen into terrible disrepair and the Taj chain purchased it 10 or so years ago and restored it to glory.  We toured the magnificent public rooms including a dining room set for 100 guests, plus the Nizam!

Falaknuma Palace

Falaknuma Palace

After the tour Ferris and I checked out of the hotel (sigh).  Our next evening will be in Mumbai for a brief layover before our flight to Frankfurt and then on to the US.  But best not to think of all that now.  Cliff and Cathy will stay on in Hyderabad for another night before heading to Mumbai for a few days and then home.

We drove into town (yes, 45 minutes) to tour the Nizam’s own home, the Chowmahalla Palace.  While extremely grand and lovely, I think I prefer the siting of his lowly guest house, the Falaknuma Palace.

Chowmahalla Palace

Throne Room

You are Commanded by His Highness the Nizam

Afterward we took tuk tuks through snarling traffic and noxious fumes deep into the heart of old town to see the Charminar (four minarets).  Cliff, Giridhar and Mittu climbed to the top while the rest of us waited below, enjoyed the crowds and watched samosa-sellers carrying enormous, heaping platters on their heads outside the entry gate.  Oh to have one right now!  But I held back.

Charminar

I think Lakuma wanted Ferris and me to enjoy a little last minute shopping so she insisted (honestly I did not) that we go to one more shop before heading to the airport.  Getting anywhere is an ordeal, not just because of the traffic, but because no one really seems to know where anything is.  Even when locations and addresses have been procured, when you actually arrive there – after 45 agonizing minutes – the place just isn’t there.  So this happened to us today.  Lakuma had a shop in mind that she wanted to take us to but apparently they’d changed locations.  We waited in a strange alley until someone on a motorcycle came to lead us to the new location, which, without a guide, we would never ever have been able to find.  The shop was on the second floor buried deep in a shopping arcade.  I’m not convinced that without a motorcycle guide we’d have been able to find it. 

By the time we’d finished looking – and never finding that illusive gold necklace – it was time to head to the airport.  I did snag a couple of strands of tiny emerald beads, which supposedly come from Ceylon, thanks to Cliff and his pencil sharpener. 

Fortunately our drive to the airport was speedy on the strange highway to nowhere and we were able to wave goodbye to the Fish Building one last time.  Our flight left for Mumbai at 4pm and was uneventful.  However once we landed in Mumbai it was not the easiest thing to get from the domestic airport to our layover hotel.  We had a very nice car and driver from the hotel pick us up.  But traffic was snarled and it took us 15 minutes just to get out of the airport parking lot.  The traffic in suburban Mumbai was not much better so he took us on a detour in hopes of getting to the hotel faster. 

By this time it was dark and a beautiful full moon glowed over us.  We drove through backstreets that were straight out of a movie.  I don’t know when I’ve witnessed a scene that lasted about 30 minutes that was more surreal.  Here we were in a nice car, a kind of bubble, driving on a one-lane road through a primitive part of town.  It was cold outside and to Indians the weather is positively arctic.  People were huddled over makeshift fires wrapped in blankets.  We could see into each tiny one-room building that lined the street.  Some were shops.  Some were food vendors.  Some were just one room houses.  People sat on the ground eating and talking.  The street was busy with people walking and he had to pause many times to let people and other vehicles pass.  It seemed to be a typical evening, full of activity and the struggle for survival.  I’m not sure what made it seem so surreal.  Perhaps it was how narrow the street was.  How close this tiny strange world was to us, shielded in our bubble.  I kept thinking about the full moon and how it had hung in the sky as we drank on the patio at the Taj Falaknuma Palace last night and now how it hung over this scene in a slum on the outskirts of Mumbai.

45 minutes seems to be the number for this trip.  After 45 minutes of driving from the airport we finally reached our seedy, no-tell-motel, the Koh-i-noor.  I guess that’s what you can expect from a hotel that rents a room you’re only going to stay in for a few hours.  

Ferris and I did some last minute luggage organizing before taking a shower and trying to take a brief nap before heading out again.  By the time we got to the Koh-i-noor we only had 3 ½ hours before we had to leave.  The topper is that when I went to shower I found that only a weak hand-held bath was possible.  Why don’t I check these things before unpacking? 

Left at 12:30 am (now 2/9) for the international airport for our 3 am Lufthansa flight to Frankfurt.  We arrived in Frankfurt at about 6:30 am their time, had something to eat at our now-frequent haunt the Goethe Café, and hung out in the Lufthansa lounge. The last leg of our journey was a Lufthansa flight at 1:30 pm to Newark.  There is a terrible cold wave hanging over Europe at the moment and we could see that everyone in the airport was bundled up.  Even our flight had to be de-iced before takeoff.  We were fortunate enough to be able to use frequent flyer points for our flights so all were lovely and in Business Class.  Ahhhh.  Landed safely around 4:30 pm New York time and despite all the spices in my duffle bag, I had no visit at the baggage carousel by the agriculture beagle.

By the time I rode into Manhattan from New Jersey it was dark and the same beautiful full moon shone bright in the evening sky.  Is it possible that just a few hours ago this same moon looked over Hyderabad and Mumbai, and me?