This was my 6th or 7th trip to India ever since I first went when I was about 1 and a half years old. I gotta tell you, every trip to India is an AMAZING experience.
This is my 3rd trip to India since they started implementing economic reforms and started moving towards a first world market economy. And each time I’ve gone the changes have been remarkable!
At the rate India’s economy is growing and creating wealth it will blow pass the US in 10-20 years from now.
No joke.
This time around I saw the biggest changes yet : the infrastructure has dramatically improved, especially the roads and the airports.
The airports are just as good as the US, and extremely fast, efficient, and yes, air conditioned, a far cry to what they used to be in the last eighties when I remember spending 8 HOURS at the Mumbai airport because someone had stolen our luggage.
The roads have also improved, I remember going to India in the past and having to hold on tightly while riding in a taxi or a car, if you didn’t your head would hit the ceiling every time you hit a pothole – which was about every 3o seconds!
Now the roads in Mumbai (my first stop) are just as good as Boston roads, and sometimes better-you know what I’m talking about if you’ve ever road down Commonwealth Ave.
LOL
Air quality has also improved in the cities now thanks to the widespread use of unleaded gas and natural gas. Now the major problem is all dust resulting from a lack of landscaping, but even this is improving in cities such as Vadodara in Gujarat.
It’s amazing how entrepreneurs can transform & uplift a country when they’re freed from draconion government controls and protectionist thinking, something our government seems to have long forgotten, but I’ll get into that later!
Anyhow, let me tell you more about my trip…
My wife and I had the pleasure of taking business class on Lufthansa airlines.
If you’ve never flown business or first on a long haul flight before you’re missing out! It’s an awesome experience. Gourmet food + a fully reclinable seat makes for a virtually stress free flight. If you have the cash this is one area NOT to be stingy in, pay the extra several thousand and fly in style.
The only thing that sucked was the whopping 7 hour layover at Frankfort airport.
Our trip started in Mumbai where Shilpi and I were staying with Bhaveshbhai and Sejalbhen. Shilpi and I were blown away by their hospitality. They provided us with one of their 2 bedroom and fed us so much food we could barely get out of our chairs.
If that wasn’t enough they coordinated our whole stay in Mumbai, sightseeing and all.
Bhaveshbhai actually gave us a tour of Mumbai by car. We saw a number of major sites, museums, homes of Bollywood actors/actresses, the Gateway of India, and we also had a chance to see some of the new modern buildings and developments coming up in Mumbai …very cool.
Here’s a picture of myself and Shilpi with my parents, Sejalbhen (next to Shilpi), Seryabhen to the right, parth (Sejal’s son – holding on to Sejal), and Ishan (Serya’s son – between Sejal and Serya) :
Here’s another picture that includes Bhaveshbhai (green shirt and glasses) :
Also check out the gateway of India :
Another thing I love about Mumbai is the food.
Every time I come to Mumbai I always indulge in a South Asian delight call Falooda. You can read all about it here.
It’s amazing, and you can’t get it in the US.
Overall, I have to say that the people, the culture, the hospitality in India are simply amazing. Oh yeah, my mom and my wife also had a blast shopping!
I can’t wait to tell you about the rest of my trip in Part II.
So stay tuned…
Great pictures thanks for sharing, India is very interesting country.