Lauren

Lola’s Visit!

Next month will mark the second anniversary of my move to India! I’ve changed so much over the last two years, I’ve adapted to many parts of Indian life, but I know I still have a long way to go. I know that no matter how long I live here, I will still get homesick from time to time. I have missed England quite a bit lately, especially family and friends.

So, you can imagine how thrilled I was when my wonderful friend, Lola, came to visit! It was so surreal to see her here in Nagpur! It took so long to sink in and even longer to get my head around how lucky I am to have a friend who will travel halfway around the Earth to come and visit us! Such a breath of fresh air and a boost to my morale!

Argh, it’s hard to find the words to express how wonderful it was to have Lola here!

Lola was really keen to try the unique tastes of India and is a huge fan of pani puri but wasn’t so keen on dhokla. Dhokla is pretty unique, and although I adore it now, I was really surprised how weird it was when I first tried it too. Lola was also surprised at the amount of staring we had to try to ignore, seeing a foreigner in Nagpur is one thing, seeing two foreigners belonging to two different races seemed to blow people’s minds. College kids wanted selfies with us and families wanted to have their photograph taken standing next to us.

It was so refreshing to see India again through fresh eyes, this was Lola’s first time in India so I wanted to show her the best Nagpur had to offer. We went to Ramtek temple and on a tigerless tiger safari. My homesickness, like a pair of sad sunglasses, had stopped me seeing the incredible and colourful side to India. Lola’s visit removed the shades.

I really hope Lola had as much fun as we did, friends are such a gift and I feel so blessed! Thank you, gorgeous Lola!!

25 comments

  3. Great, Lauren! I know how it feels – my university friend came to meet me in Mumbai in 2014, and it definitely was surreal!
    PS I’ve been to this lake on your photo 🙂

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      • Yes, I’ve been there twice something like 5-6 years ago. My husband has some family there, so we’ve been to his cousin’s wedding and his uncle’s wedding anniversary 🙂 I didn’t have a chance to explore the city properly, but I’ve seen bits of it here and there. This lake was one of the things I liked 🙂

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  4. Hi Lauren,

    so good to hear from you. How is the weather at Nagpur, it too cold in bangalore. Did you show her the traditional dress and clture of india. Hope you are well. Too cold to write. have you seen kathakali , next week in kochi there program on it. Would you be there.

    GOPAL

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  5. This was a wonderful post! I am African American and look forward to traveling to India. I guess I have to be prepared to be stared at.

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