India time! (Mom and brother's arrival)

The day after my SIL's wedding party my mother and my brother (M) arrived in Hyderabad. The flight got in at 8:30am, but it took them a while to come out... We were getting worried, until A. got a phone call from a immigration officer asking for the address where my mom and M would stay. So we knew they had arrived, but took another while to go out!

History lesson by the lake.

We finally arrived at the hotel (where I stayed with them until the wedding) and soon were off to lunch. My brother had been "practicing to eat chillies" which brings a smile to my face since it was not enough to face the level of spice at the restaurant. :P As a side note, food in Brazil is bland. period. There might be a chilly sauce on the side, but overall it does not even compare to cayenne pepper strength or something of the like (which is what my brother was practicing with). I first asked if they wanted me to point out the non-spicy things but they said they wanted to try it all. They did, but were crying most of the time. As my brother put it, there is nothing like too much chillies in India! Over the 2 weeks they stayed in India their resistance improved considerably, almost to the point of eating street food, but I know my mom had several tomato-and-cheese sandwiches dinners. One funny day was when we went out for dinner with A and ordered Malai Kofta and Shahi Paneer. While ordering, A. told the waiter that if he put any chilly in the food he would send it back. (A had already had dinner at home, he would not subject himself to a spice-less dinner!). My mom and bother did not know about what A had said and praised the food a lot, then wanted to know the names so that they could order the non-spicy delicacies elsewhere.... Until A told them about what he had said to the waiter!

Over the next few days we went to Golconda Fort, then Charminar, Budha Statue in Hussain Sagar lake, craft shopping, etc etc etc. They were amazed by India... sometimes in a good and sometimes in a not-so-good way. It amazes me again and again how little info about India gets to Brazil. Mostly people there have a very idealized 1970's hippie view of India and get shocked about how it actually is. And it does not help either that there was a soap opera last year about a Brazilian girl that falls for an Indian guy that aired in prime time in the most popular channel. Obviously they did not help in explaining things either...