On Matt's last day in India (I stayed 2 days longer) we went shopping. The most exciting place to shop is always in the market: there are lots of people and interesting things. On theother hand, it can also be extremely tiring and time consuming because aof all of the bargaining, curious people, and beggars. Luckily, Hyderabad doesn't have too many beggars, so that was not an issue on this trip.
I love the guys that sell food in giant piles on top of their head. Too bad I don't like samosas, there were a ton for sale in this market!
These guys were selling what looked like old, broken kit kat bars. Somehow, this looked revolting to me, although I am sure it tasted fine. It was really hot and dusty in the market, so chocolate left out in the sun is not an appealing thought!
There was a ton of delicious fruit for sale. I was in heaven! I ordered a lassi near here because I love them, but it was disappointing. I guess north India is a better place to get lassis. The lass I ordered inthe market had both water and ice in it. I drank it anyway and it was fine...but our Indian friends were shocked and told me it was too unclean! I gues they are right...I vow only to eat clean foods on my internship in India this summer. I have been spoiled by not getting food poisoning on any of my trips, but I think I have probably become too lax in my food cleanliness standards. (Or at least my water standards, I think cooked food is probably ok.)
I bought a whole bunch of bangles from this guy. He was funny here, I think he was embarrassed to be in the photo. His dad (the shopowner) was taking pictures on his cell phone and wanted him in the pic. I love all of the bangle shops in India cause they are so bright and sparkly. The problem is that it is hard to choose what you want because everything starts to look the same and look cheap. But when you see women wearing them, they look nice, so you just have to buy stuff and start wearing them. I think bangles look good from afar but not up close.
We also bought some metal tiffin carriers for storing food in. Tiffin carriers are what Indian people use to bring their lunch to work. I haven't used mine yet, but I will at some point. I like the way they look, so they are displayed on top of the hutch in my kitchen.
The tiffin shop owner was muslim, and he asked if we were from the USA. We said yes, and he starts railing on about how he hates Bush. Then he said he thought we should vote for Hillary because he loved Bill. He saw Bill Clinton once because Clinton came to give a speech in Hyderabad. He loves everything Clinton did but hates Bush. This was not surprising at all for Matt and I because every place we have been in the world, they always ask who we are voting and whether or not we like Bush. Sometimes I think Americans (Matt and I included) take for granted the power we have as voters. The rest of the world eagerly awaits the decisions of Americans and speculate about who Americans vote for, because the US has such an important role in world events. It is interesting to think that Kazakh nomads in the Xinjiang province of Western china and an elderly muslim tiffin seller in Hyderabad India think more about US elections and politics than alot of Americans.
No comments:
Post a Comment