Day 4- Vizag

This picture is from the day after we landed but it works none-the-less.
The flight we came in was delayed because of heavy rains (which was a foreshadowing of what continued to happen everywhere we went). Once we got there, only my mom's cousin, Ram Prasad mama was in the baggage claim area, everyone else had to wait for their guests and family outside. This showed what kind of clout he had in the area, but as I soon learned, he did in no way abuse it and does a lot for the community. Once we got into the SUV, the driver took us to his house, which housed 3 more cars, 1 more driver, and at least 5 servants.
A look back into the history and heritage of my mom. She grew up in Vizag from age 6 to 22 (when she was married) and the family moved there while it was sparsely habited. Now as we drove through it was jam packed like every other Indian city, and I'll go more into it's growth on the next day. In this city many of her cousins grew up with her and she always had a story about every part of town, including the apartment complex which her family used to own and live in, which is still erect.
Back to that day. That night, once we got out of the car I noticed a considerable difference in the environment. It was much more humid (even at 7 at night) and that called for the mosquitoes. We bought bug repellent before we came but didn't apply it recently because we didn't need it. But as we sat at the dinner table and were offered fresh fruits (amazing) and coconut water (had more of that than regular water all weekend) both me and Deepak ended up with at least 4 bug bites each- I had less, luckily my legs have more hair. Also, the whole 3 or so days we were there we were very well taken care of, the ammama (my mom's aunt) as well as mama loved my mom, and did everything that she liked and prepared everything she used to love. Back to the story, we changed into pants and then left to the Waltair Club (pronounced Voltaire, making crack a joke about being a philosophy club and then being abruptly corrected to understand it was a social club, catered to the social elite - by my mom). Another one of my mom's cousin - there are a lot of them here- was just elected the President of the club, the largest in at least the state with over 400 members, a mansion for a house, a gym, pool, basketball court, gazebo, and access to rooms for guests of the members. When we got there, we went straight to the meeting room where I met the uncles I never knew I had and was served lots of snacks and drinks before dinner. Me and Deepak were the only ones under 40 for some time, until a younger kid, pretty wild 20 year old he was, came in. We got into conversing, broken english, and got to know each other a little better, walked around the area, and learned a little more of Indian teenagers. The food was amazing, and it was nice to see all these uncles and aunties whose relationship I learned while there but promptly forgot on the flight back. One thing there that I noticed and is worth writing about is the attitude that many of them hold. All were quite wealthy but acted in 2 distinct sets. There were the more humble ones, like Ram Prasad mama, or the ones that flaunted it excessively, at least in my eyes. Another one of my uncles displayed the latter behavior, as and example, after taking some snack, kili I think, he took the toothpick and flicked it to the corner of the room, while in front of the waiter, while standing no more than 3 feet from a trash can. He didn't even flick it in the direction of the trash can, he sent it to the opposite corner. Also, instead of asking for more of a certain dish, he distinctly ordered for it, and while they all gave it with a smile, one would imagine a little respect can't hurt. We then went home, changed in the dark - the power went out- which is also a sign of what was to come for us, and then went to sleep in a bed that was quite comfortable. We draped the blankets over our entire body to ensure no more mosquito's would bother us.