Hotel breakfast
The day started off same as the last with a good breakfast in the hotel, complete with coffee and tea. Coffee here is very common of the instant variety. Instant coffee in the US has a bad rap for not having as much flavor, but when prepared with equal parts water and milk with some sugar added, it is delicious (more of a sweeter coffee, but that very much satisfies my sweet tooth).
More wedding shopping
We finished up the wedding shopping with getting my dad some leather sandals and Puji’s brother something to wear for the ceremony, and I finished picking out 3 shirt and pants combinations per Puji’s mom’s instructions. After getting the two kurtas for the wedding, Mrs. Bandi insisted on me picking out 3 additional pairs of shirts and pants. Her parents have been beyond great hosts, really treating us to an awesome time of showing us where not only Puji grew up, but where they and their families grew up and other interesting spots along our way as we come across. I don’t know if I’ll be able to compete with such an experience for when they come and visit Puji and I in St. Louis, but I can’t wait to show them the sights around the Show Me State and other nearby parts of the US to try to return the favor.
KFC!!!
After leaving the mall we were on our way to pick out some jewelry, but first it was time to grab some lunch. We did a round of everyone asking what everyone wanted to eat, and so upon being asked what I would like to eat I did what any good tourist from America would say while in India – KFC! I’ve mentioned before that there are several American fast food restaurants in India (McDonald’s, KFC, Burger King, TGI Fridays) and have heard that they tailor their menu to fit the tastes of their market. Seems like a logical business move, almost too logical to actually be true. In the mall where we did most of our shopping, the first sign for the BK Lounge (Burger King) advertised the Whopper, but available in vegetarian and mutton (goat), along with some changes in spices, too, I’m sure. Of all the restaurants making the decision to open franchises in India, KFC always seemed to get the highest reviews from our friends who have tried it in both places, so that is where we went.
The staple menu option was the same – fried chicken – but the combos and sides were all different. I ordered a 5 in 1 Rice Box, which is like a combo meal with a couple things inside a meal box, and on the first bite of the chicken I could taste the difference. As with other Indian foods, there just seems to be more spices and flavor. In the box meal I ordered was also a chocolate desert, basically a small moonpie, which definitely won my heart over. So I will say it here on the internets – I like Indian KFC better than American KFC. There’s also the surprising fact of just how cheap it was. For Puji’s mom, Puji, my dad, and myself the total came out to 827 INR (Indian Rupees). Converted to USD that comes out to $12.26. Talk about bang for your buck! Where were these sorts of deals when I was in college?
Jewelry Shopping
It is pretty common knowledge that there is a lot of gold involved in Indian weddings, so I wasn’t too surprised that there would be some of this involved, but was taken back by the amount that was available in the jewelry stores that happened to line both sides of the street. That is a hint that we had to cross the street, which was the most nerve-wracking crossing I’ve ever done. Luckily we made it, and I have the video to prove it!
It is customary for the bride and groom to present each other with a golden chain, so we purchased those along with a black-beaded necklace, called a mangalsutra, for the bride from the groom’s family. Similar to a wedding ring, this necklace indicates the woman is married. The necklace itself is very pretty with gold and diamonds, but I’ll wait to put up a picture until the actually wedding day (4 days away!!).
Shilparamam
After we finished the jewelry shopping, Puji asked if we wanted to get out and walk around a little at a site called Shilparamam that she always liked that had some culture to it. As tired as I was, it’s hard to say no to something like this. For several weeks leading up to the trip I kept saying how I wanted to have Indian street food, so when we parked and saw there was a stand with a guy leaning over a hot pan with ingrediants all around his cart that was further surrounded by other hungry customers, we quickly walked over and got in line. Here’s a video watching him cook which was fascinating, and the food was very good (there’s a theme with the food, I’ll try to use some different adjectives). We tried two dishes – dahi puri and chaat (which is a generic term describing a savory snack, typically found at street vendors. Wiki).
When our food was finished we found our way into Shilparamam (like a park/fair) to walk around. It was night time so we missed out on some of the sights, but it still had a good number of people walking around and enjoying the scenery on the park benches as we walked around. It reminded of Charleston’s Dogwood Azalea Festival with it resembling a permanent fairground complete with several vendor stalls, playground to occupy the children when their parents get tired of them, and even had an outdoor museum depicting life in old Indian villages (and life currently in more rural villages). Unfortunately, there was a vendor strike going on so we didn’t get to see all of what Shilparamam had to offer, but it was still impressive and a good call by Puji to stop and walk around.
Highway traffic
My dad and I were looking forward to the highway trip because of course it would be more open road and just cruising as opposed to dodging everyone else on the road and the people who just figure you’ll stop if they jump out in front of your car. Well we were sort of right. while it was more open, the horns were still used very common as communication to say “I’m over here” or “I’m passing you” or maybe even “get out of my way and do it now”. This was especially the case when we got off of the actual highway and onto a more rural two-lane road for the second half of the trip to Khammam after stopping for a late dinner. Here we had more twisty roads with people being much bolder on when they felt like passing someone than you’d see in the US. It wasn’t uncommon to see someone finish overtaking a car and getting out of your lane what seemed like 20 yards (if not that, it was well close enough to encourage me to have a firm grip on the handle of the door). Alas we survived and arrived at our hotel in Khammam, Hotel S Park.
An American in India 