Rajkot

I have a good friend in London who has been here about two years. When I told him I was going to Gujarat, he quickly suggested I see his family. A mutual friend had gone out for his brother and sister’s wedding last year, so I had already heard a bit about the family. Thankfully his brother speaks English very well. It was admittedly intimidating travelling around trying to translate Hindi and Gujarati script. His brother took me back to his house, I met his sister and parents, had tea and then we went out to the city. His cousins joined us on their motorcycles. We went to the zoo, saw the dam, fed some pelicans and got some local food. It was nice to talk with them. Meeting a friend’s family and friends always allows you to get a fuller picture for who he is. They told me stories of him growing up and little habits. It felt good to laugh with them. They took me to one of the major temples, we entered, sat for a while and then left. Each temple I’ve been to has been different in some way. That may sound obvious but it reinforces the diversity within Hinduism. Being in India, the heartland, I paid more attention to the details and being an outsider allowed me to ask questions more freely. After the temple, his brother and I went shopping for a kurta, which was harder than we thoughts since places were closing. I ended up finding nice, cheap yellow short kurta.

We came back late, I met his cousins family and had dinner around 11:00. We had some sugarcane juice and relaxed on their roof. The next morning I enjoyed learning to play cricket. Seeing that England has such a bad team, it was a good thing to learn from Indians. Cricket is by far the most popular sport. Throughout my time there I saw kids playing by whatever means necessary. I saw kids use rolled up paper for a ball, a branch for a bat, bricks for the stumps in dirt patches, rooftops, market streets, ghats…it reminded me of how desperate kids in Mexico were to play football. I had fun bowling, fielding, batting in their front yard. Though I’ve played baseball, cricket has a different technique. Anyways, after lunch he took me to the station and coordinated with my friend in Ahmedabad. I am so glad I only had a backpack this whole time, it made me a lot more mobile.