Musings of an Idiot

Hello Vijayawada

It is a strange feeling going to social events and noticing people judging you based on how you look. And in my specific case - people looking at you weird because I don't have much hair on my head. You see, in India, everyone is very particular about their hair - it doesn't matter if you are fat,unhealthy, arrogant, stupid or anything like that, as long as you have a full head of hair you are part of the crowd. And if you don't fit in the crowd then you are marked to be judged whenever you step into the public. 7 years back I would've been embarrassed by such social situations but now I can't really give a shit about Indians preoccupation with appearances and superficiality.

A trip to India is incomplete without a journey on Indian railways and that wish was fulfilled earlier this morning when mum and me took an overnight train from Hyderabad to Vijayawada. I must say that it has been an exhausting train ride and I've never felt this tired throughout this current trip - even if you include the 12.5 hour flight from Auckland to Hong Kong. We got berths in 3rd AC car so we could sleep on the overnight journey but the AC in our compartment was switched off for most of the journey in order to save money or something. What that meant was that the compartment was stuffy as hell and hot - which in turn meant that I only got 4 hours sleep in total - which is why I felt so tired after the journey. I've slept for the better part of the day and I am now feeling refreshed.

Vijayawada brings back memories and I have a love-hate relationship with the place. I love everything about it except the weather as I tend to fall sick when I am here and this goes back to when I was a kid - it might have to do something with the combination of the heat and the humidity. My first impressions about Vijayawada at 4.30AM were that the roads were heaps better than Hyderabad but that it was quite hot even for that time of the morning.


The best part about coming to Vijayawada is visiting the family. I love spending time with my uncle and aunt over here and they've always been supporting me ever since I can remember. They took me under their wings for an entire year when I was in 6th Class and got admission into a school in Vijayawada. It was my detoriating health due to the weather in Vijayawada that pushed my parents to take me back to Delhi and go through the tricky process of getting me admitted into a school mid-way through the year in Delhi {because of the different school systems in different parts of the country}. Besides that my uncle is the one who supported my independent film making efforts and I wouldn't be working on my third project without his initial support.


So far it has been a quiet day in Vijayawada - I caught up with my grand dad during the day ; went to a marriage bureau on insistence from one of our relatives after being woken up from an afternoon nap where I had a dream in which I found someone of my own {maybe this marriage thing is playing on my mind - more than I would give it credit for}; visited Vijayawada club to have a look around - courtesy of my uncle; and enjoyed some awesome home cooked food - some of the dishes that I haven't had in ages.


Nothing major planned for rest of the time and will see how the rest of the trip pans out.
Later,
Amit

* Mom's youngest brother, Raja uncle, got this photo of Veni and me taken when we were in Guntur {a city 1 hour drive from Vijayawada} - just before I was put into the boarding school over there -{I am guessing this must be around 1985 or something}. Apparently he got scolded for it because he took us to the studio on an impromptu plan and we never got dressed in 'proper' clothes. :-) I used to love Raja uncle's impromptu outings as it kept things interesting and a real surprise. When I was later in Vijayawada -he was the one who used to take us to heaps of movies and one of the earliest movies I remember seeing with him are Jackie Chan movies like Police Story, Project-A and also movies like Herbie goes to Monte Carlo and heaps more.

Labels: Travel, Vijayawada

posted by Amit @ 10:26 PM