India!

Ahmedabad

Tried to send this from my hotel room in India but wasn't successful. Now trying again from Sweden...

First time to India! I'm in Ahmedabad with a new project I'm working on at Karolinska Institutet. The project is taking place in India, China, Indonesia, and Vietnam so I will be visiting these countries in the next month.

With about 4 million people, Ahmedabad is the largest city in the state of Gujarat and the fastest growing city in India. Its an educational and scientific center.
I was fascinated to see the contrasts on the street. Many houses look like shanties and there are people sleeping on the streets, but most of the cars on the road are new and many young people, especially young women, are riding around on mopeds or shiny vespas. The young women straddle the motorcycles in their jeans or baggy pants, while older women sit sidesaddle behind a male driver. Dress is everything from completely western style, to shalmar kammez, and saris.

I guess I was expecting something else from my first trip to India. There are some things that havent surprised me, like the oxen wandering seemingly aimelessly around the streets (although noone told me about the ubiquitous dogs) and the non-stop beeping of horns I can hear even from my 10th floor hotel room. But both Mumbai and Ahmedabad airports were incredibly well-organized and convenient. Passport control at Mumbai had more desks than any airport I've ever visited, including any of the ports of entry in the U.S. When I got on the plane at the Mumbai domestic airport this morning, after only a few hours of sleep, I realized I had forgotten my laptop computer at the security check. The staff of Jet Airways and the ground staff were incredible. They radioed to security and whisked me off to retrieve it, holding the plane until I got back.

I don't know where India is headed, but it will be exciting to watch them go there!