Onwards to mother's house
I go to Jamshedpur
I'm writing this after the fact, so my memory may not be so good here. We arrived in Jamshedpur on the 30th, and as I write this we're going back to Chandigarh. I hate the train system and the dodgy people who run it. Along with bad bookings, bribes, lies, hilariously late trains (over an hour at times), slow going, and bad hygeine, the fact that it soaks up so much time is the killer. We've spent perhaps 4 days of our trip so far on trains and in taxis.
One of the things you notice as you train through the country is that there's a _lot_ of arable land which is farmed. There are villages and cane and wheat fields all through the country. The villages still have houses made of straw. Visibility in these areas is good. The whole village probably smells like "gober":http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gober.
On the way up to Jamshedpur, we were continually fed. On the way back, we have to buy our own food in 2nd class. I'm sort of glad, because my habit of cleaning the plate means I ate way too much on the way over. I'm even more glad we don't get fed a lot because in second class, the toilets are completely unmaintained. No TP, and the seat is broken. I'll have to hold it for 30 odd hours.
Jamshedpur has a nicer city design than Chandigarh. It has fewer "city features" than Chandigarh, but the features which _are_ there seem complete. Sidewalks have grass on them as opposed to wasted concrete and bits of the old sidewalk. The nicest thing about Jamshedpur is the fact that it has hills, and the city _feels_ less like a grid city, although decent city planning is still not all there. This makes it _seem_ a bit like Sydney, but with more smog and crappier standards. The house we'll be living in at Jamshedpur is larger and better maintained than the one in Chandigarh, complete with a nice large garden and better watered house.
The relos here are from my mother's side, and they're pretty awesome as well. Each relative we go to meet we start off all "oh do we have to meet them?" and then we go and meet them and have a great time. My mum's sister looks a lot like my mum, and shares some of her habits as well. She pretty much treated us as her own sons. She's married to a doctor and has two sons who are in various stages of studying medicine.
Conversations aren't _quite_ the same as on my father's side, where a university lecturer who teaches medicine (ish) used _anal sphincter_ multiple times in conversation, _while we were eating_, but the chatter is still pretty good. We also have relatives who are of a similar age to me and my brother. They also seem a bit more "modern day" than my father's side, who's kids seem more traditional.
One of the things you notice as you train through the country is that there's a _lot_ of arable land which is farmed. There are villages and cane and wheat fields all through the country. The villages still have houses made of straw. Visibility in these areas is good. The whole village probably smells like "gober":http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gober.
On the way up to Jamshedpur, we were continually fed. On the way back, we have to buy our own food in 2nd class. I'm sort of glad, because my habit of cleaning the plate means I ate way too much on the way over. I'm even more glad we don't get fed a lot because in second class, the toilets are completely unmaintained. No TP, and the seat is broken. I'll have to hold it for 30 odd hours.
Jamshedpur has a nicer city design than Chandigarh. It has fewer "city features" than Chandigarh, but the features which _are_ there seem complete. Sidewalks have grass on them as opposed to wasted concrete and bits of the old sidewalk. The nicest thing about Jamshedpur is the fact that it has hills, and the city _feels_ less like a grid city, although decent city planning is still not all there. This makes it _seem_ a bit like Sydney, but with more smog and crappier standards. The house we'll be living in at Jamshedpur is larger and better maintained than the one in Chandigarh, complete with a nice large garden and better watered house.
The relos here are from my mother's side, and they're pretty awesome as well. Each relative we go to meet we start off all "oh do we have to meet them?" and then we go and meet them and have a great time. My mum's sister looks a lot like my mum, and shares some of her habits as well. She pretty much treated us as her own sons. She's married to a doctor and has two sons who are in various stages of studying medicine.
Conversations aren't _quite_ the same as on my father's side, where a university lecturer who teaches medicine (ish) used _anal sphincter_ multiple times in conversation, _while we were eating_, but the chatter is still pretty good. We also have relatives who are of a similar age to me and my brother. They also seem a bit more "modern day" than my father's side, who's kids seem more traditional.