So here I am, back in my birthplace of Hyderabad, India. I haven't been here during the peak summer in probably 15 years, and I'm literally frying. Today's high was 104 F, and the chance of rain has been 0% for just about forever. Apparently it's a record breaking heat wave and drought. Great.
I've got a bit of a cold on top of that, which only make it worse. As if I wasn't parched enough, my sore throat just feels extra sore. I did not know my body had the capacity to drink so much water at once. I'm quietly enjoying the air conditioning of my room which combats the heat, but it doesn't do anything for the dryness. Even Michigan winters don't leave my skin this scaly. And my jetlag is still persisting, so instead of sleeping I'm up writing now.
But enough complaining. I'm going to be here for two months, so I may as well accept the situation. My flight got in around 5 am yesterday (Thursday) morning at the Rajiv Gandhi Int'l Airport. This new airport, while being quite far outside the city, is absolutely beautiful. While I don't remember the old Begumpet airport much beyond a few domestic flights in '07, I'm told we had some terrible experiences there when I was younger. I was blown away the first time I saw the new airport in Shamshabad three years ago, and this time I took advantage of the hour-long drive home to fully take in the surroundings.
My family lives in Malkajgiri, outside of Secunderabad, so our drive home from Shamshabad took us right through Hyderabad just a little after sunrise. The streets were, of course, already busy as always. Here's a few shots from the car:
The highway out of the airport. This new area is really nicely developed to complement the beautiful airport.
Sunrise over the already busy streets
One of the many flyovers that now populate the Hyderabad skyline
Another unrelated, but interesting sidenote: I was pleasantly surprised to see at least three distinct articles concerning environmental policy or the Ministry of Environment and Forests in The Hindu this morning. Whether or not the action is effective, at least people are talking about it.
That's all I've got for now. Once I find a way to combat this heat and dryness (or at least adapt to it), and once I start my internship on Monday, I'll have more.