Monday, February 17, 2014

Ludhiana Daily

The days in Ludhiana are really intense. Every day, there are a lot of new stories, events, experiences. It feels like a "full immersion" into the colorful and diverse Indian life.

We are, of course, spending almost every day at the PAU. Our day mostly starts at this building, where we have an office at the "University Data Centre for Integrated Data, Voice & Video"


During lunchtime, we explore the PAU campus (I think that we will not be done by the time our assignment ends). So far, we found the tractor station, the library and a model of the Himalaya.



After work, we are trying to explore Ludhiana. We are currently in the middle of the wedding season in India - of course, throughout the year, there are enough people who want to get married, but it is the time of the year when the weather is perfect for big parties. At our hotel, there is at least one wedding daily, so that we have enough oppor
tunities to take a picture with beautifully dressed Punjabis.

The other day, we were invited to a dinner at the home of our local consultant, Jaspreet. He and his lovely family gave us a very warm welcome and we had a wonderful night at his place.

Needless to mention, that there was delicious food - in fact, we had to write down the names of the dishes for future records.

Apart from that, shopping is an important activity. For the ladies, it would be a pity if they would go home without a sari. Therefore, we spent a few hours in a colorful sari shop. However, it seems to be a tradition that male sellers try the sari on to show how it looks. Which, of course, somewhat reduces the whole shopping experience. Luckily, after trying on quite a few of the traditional Indian dresses, we were able to find the right one.


And, of course, Ludhiana always has new surprises to offer. Sometimes, they try to load a motorcycle on the roof of a bus.
Sometimes, you see a BVB (famous German football club) fan wearing a turban of matching color.


And it all ends with a nice cup of chai (tea with hot boiled milk) on a busy city street!
Our next destination is the most sacred temple of the Sikh...

4 comments:

  1. I really enjoy reading your blog and looking at your pictures - reminds me a lot of my stay in India 2 yrs ago! But still the North seems to be quite different from the South of India!
    Grüße aus Deutschland - Elke Heilemann!

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    1. Thank you Elke! India has been a great adventure so far. I am sure that there are regional differences - after the assignment, I will spend a few days in Mumbai and probably will experience these. So you can expect more stories!

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  2. Shoulda kept your mustache, Dmytro! You would've fit in so well.

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    1. Adam, thanks for the comment! Not sure about the mustache, but beards are an art for themselves. Still struggling to pick my favourite one :)

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