As mentioned in an earlier blog – Nelius and I joined the Hyderabad expat trek to Aurangabad.
(Hyderabad is known for being the best in India for a few things, but two lesser known facts are that it has the best airport in India and the best expat society!)

It was an incredible journey of exploration, that departed from the Secunderabad station in Hyderabad. Roughly 60 firangi (foreigners) taking the 10 hour train ride to Aurangabad.

The train ride was a long interesting experience – good conversation and red wine flowed while delicious snacks were consumed. We also enjoyed a biryani train meal and marvelled at the bathroom with a hole that drops straight onto the tracks!
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The oscar studded movie – Slumdog Millionaire is making its way around the globe.

It is a good movie, with an entertaining story filled with emotion. It shows some of the best and worsts sights in India and it evoked a lot of different reactions from different corners of the world.

Don’t worry – this blog won’t spoil the story for those of you who still haven’t seen the movie. (But seriously it is time to go see it!).

My first “encounter” with Slumdog Millionaire was when I picked up a newspaper while in a plane in India. I saw an “ad” that covered a third of the backpage titled “Don’t go see Slumdog Millionaire”. It was written by an influential columnist in India and he expressed anger about India being “exploited” for the entertainment of the west. As with a lot of things in India – the ad accomplished the opposite of what it intended – it convinced me to go and see the movie (this was long before the Oscars) to find out what the fuss is all about.

So here is my review and critique:
The movie is an enjoyable one and I recommend it. The scenery it shows (including the slums) are not over the top at all and probably quite close to the truth. Nothing in the scenery or background shocked me, on the contrary I felt quite “at home”. The one thing about the movie that did “upset” me a bit is the way in which poor Indian people are portrayed. They are basically shown as dishonest, untrustworthy people that will rob you at the first opportunity. The movie’s concept of a “real Indian experience” irked me a bit… (Maybe I’m putting it a bit strongly, but I would appreciate your thoughts on the matter – please leave comments on this post.)

I have a completely different perception and after living in India for more than a year now, completely different experiences as well. There are exceptions to every rule, but if I had to capture my view on people in India (especially the poor) in a few words – I would say they are friendly, honest people. They will invite you into their homes and share the little food they have without expecting anything in return. I have always felt save, even (/especially) when walking through poor areas with an expensive camera and a full wallet. Read the rest of this entry »

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Order in the world (and in my heart) has been restored. After 2½ months I have been reunited with my beautiful wife.

I have a number of blog posts that are stuck in my head, but I simply haven’t found time to get them onto the blog. My apologies, especially after so many people nominated the blog for the SA blog awards. I will try to catch up over the next couple of weeks. (I just need to sort through a few thousand photos!).

I was very fortunate to not be completely alone in India – I had a visitor for 2 weeks. (Enter Nelius stage left …)

My colleague / friend Nelius visited India to assist us with the implementation of actuarial software and it was quite entertaining to re-experience India through someone else’s eyes. Some of the really weird and wonderful things in India have become “normal” for me and it was great to rediscover how unusual India is through the “are you serious?” expression on someone else’s face.

Arrival in Mumbai

This was Nelius’ first visit to India so I armed him with a few “travelers tips” for India. I was in Mumbai for a conference, so we decided to meet up in Mumbai and travel onwards from there.
I think he was happy to find a familiar face outside the airport in Mumbai:

I had a day to show Nelius some of the hot spots in Mumbai, and he had one day solo to explore the rest of Mumbai and the Elephanta island and caves.


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I had a delightful visit in Delhi 2 weeks (which has just flown by) ago.

I attended a workshop with my colleagues in Delhi and stayed on to do some wandering (or “ghoomna” as the locals would say) in Delhi. I’ve heard interesting and colourful stories about the narrow streets of Chandi Chowk in Old Delhi. It is a very old part of town, but with an overwhelming number of colours, sounds and odours intertwining to create a unique place.

Accompanied by Gerhard (my colleague from SA who is based in Delhi), Jolene (his wife) and their guests as well as the architect who is working on our Delhi office, I was ready explore what Chandi Chowk had to offer. Bad planning meant that my camera battery died just as I arrived there, but my bad luck soon turned into a golden opportunity as Gerhard handed me his Nikon D80. I fell in love both with Old Delhi and the camera soon after that.

I drifted through the narrow streets feeling like a hybrid between a paparazzi and a National Geopgrahic photographer as I aimed at the locals and sights.

And so the chronicles of the akhela aadmi in Chandi Chowk begins:

First we stopped at Jamma Masjid (next to Chandi Chowk) to meet up with our friends and colleagues.
It is a great place to visit, but given that I have been there before I now only go to dress up:

We were also accompanied by Mr Mahesh who grew up in Chandi Chowk. He now works for Gerhard’s architect. I assume his English was not perfect, because when he found out that I could understand (some) Hindi, I got a personalised tour in Hindi!

So into the narrow streets of Chandi Chowk we went, weaving our way through pedestrians, bicycles, motorcycles, cycle rickshaws, hand carts, dogs and occasionally a cow or two:
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My friend Pieter points out that the blog has become very soppy and soapy.

Having covered romance, heartache, pregnancy, foreign languages and men dressing in women’s clothes – I think that all the core elements of a soap drama have been covered. So, let’s get back to talking about India.

One of the interesting things in India is “the man in the lift”. A large number of lifts do not only come equipped with buttons to select your desired floor, but also with someone to push the buttons for you.

I have almost daily interaction with the “lift man” because of the one at our office building. Unfortunately he does not speak any English or Hindi. He only speaks Telegu, so our interaction is limited to hand gestures, pointing and facial expressions.

Here is our “lift man”:
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Last year on Valentine’s Day, Marga and I were sitting on our bed in our house in Johannesburg looking at all the boxes into which our worldly possessions have been packed.

Our whole house (except for our bed) was packed and the moving company was picking up the boxes the next day. An unusual V-day (especially for us).

This year was another unusual one – firstly because we are literally worlds apart, and secondly because I spent the day with the wacky and wonderful expats from Hyderabad.

We had a picnic at Icrisat and enjoyed a day filled with good food, good company and some unusual activities. I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves …

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In May last year Marga was participating in the making of a Telegu film. She and other 2 expats (Linda & Hannah) were recruited to star in a short film.

They graciously offered to render their services for free, but were promised that they would not have to worry about transport, food, etc.

After just 1 day of shooting however the 3 co-stars realised that the promises are not being fulfilled and also a great deal of their time is being wasted and hence they pulled out of the movie.

Other than making 2 good friends, that would be that – or so we thought …

And the we saw this!.
Click on this to open the link.

The short film is really short (10 minutes) and worth the watch. Please feel free to contact Marga about the original dialogue that was replaced by music.

Meri biwi bohot super star hein! (My wife is a super star).

Here is a picture of the mehindi done on Marga for (and in) the film:

And a link to the original blog entry written by Marga. (The part about the movie is in the second half of the blog).

My jaldi bhi likhoonga, kyunki my akhela aadmi hun.

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I’ve been keeping busy the last week with 5 people from South Africa visiting Hyderabad.

The company (and distraction) is most welcome, but it does not fill the void to be “in touch” with the magic that is blossoming in Cape Town.

Via Skype, telephone and email Marga and I connect to keep in touch with “developments”.

Here are a few glimpses (26 to 27 weeks into the pregnancy) of how things are developing:

Otherwise Raju is looking well after his “sir” and is dishing up new weird and (sometimes) wonderful Indian snacks/dishes that he thinks I should experience.

Also Sajid’s wife (Rubeena) seems to be healthy again and her final test earlier this week seems to have given her the “all clear”. So all is well with “sir” and his gang.

I’m keeping busy and I’m counting the days until I can join Marga in Cape Town.

I’ll leave you with this line – if someone can decipher it post a comment.

Abhi meri biwi sirf mera dil me, laiken mujhko meri biwi meri jevaan me chaaiye.

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Monday was Republic Day here in India and it was a national holiday.

I had to be here early on Tuesday for a meeting, so I came a day early to see Mumbai all dressed up in the colours of the Indian flag.

Everywhere you could see that people are proud of the day with flags visible in and on building, cars and even motorcycles.
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Sajid’s wife Rubeena has not been very well the last month. She has been to the hospital a couple of times for tests and treatment. These medical trips were also accompanied by medical expenses and Sajid incurred a number of them while we were still in South Africa.

To finance these costs he borrowed money from a moneylender (at 10% per MONTH interest). When I found out, I “rebrokered” his finances by giving him the money to repay his high interest debt. This lead to a prompt invite to have lunch at his house. So, on Sunday I was promptly picked up and taken to his house for the lunch.

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