Pouring Down Fun!

This morning after waking up at 6:40 a.m., I got up and made myself tea and cornflakes for breakfast. The morning was cool and overcast, and my host mom slept off in her bedroom. At 8:15 a.m. my friend Appurna and I met up at the out gate of the apartments and walked two blocks to Avinshi Road (the main road). Once there we waited a few minutes until a big, rusted red and silver bus rolled up to a short stop in front of us. We got on, me expecting to find a huge crowd of people but the bus was actually pretty empty! We rode for a few blocks and then got off and met another girl from our class named Sangheeta. We all walked to her house for a few minutes and had a few snacks and played on the terrace above the house. Around 9:00 we left the house and walked back to the main road where we caught another bus to Gandhipuram- this time I wasn't disappointed at all! Not only was every seat in this bus filled, but the aisles contained at least fifty people all squished in together, reaching one arm up to overhead poles for support. We squeezed our way into the middle of the crowd for the fifteen or so minutes that we rode and sang along with the radio to the songs that we all recognized.
In Gandhipuram we stopped at a small juice shop where Appurna and Sangheeta got banana and mozambie juice before going back to the bus stand, catching one bus and realizing it was the wrong one (we had to jump down as it was slowly pulling out...), and then finally finding the right bus that took us to one of the many movie theaters here in Coimbatore where we met up with eight other girls from our class. We all saw the movie "Kanden Kadhalai" (sp? The title means "I Think It's love") which was a remake from a film that was originally in Hindi. The movie was really good! I loved all of the songs and the story was also great. I was the only one who really liked it though...all of the other girls have seen the Hindi version and will only praise that! I guess I'll just have to see it and compare!
When the movie ended at 1:00 p.m. we all walked a short way up a side street until we reached a retaurant called "Rayappas" where we had naan and paneer butter masala for lunch (EVERYONE loves naan and paneer- so it was perfect!). It was all of my friends' first time out alone without their parents, so they were all super excited to be independent!
After finishing our lunch, Appurna, Sangheeta and I left the other girls and headed towards the bus stop at Gandhipuram to go home. We walked down the long street, through the lightly drizzling rain and trying to avoid stepping in the giant puddles! We reached the bus stand after about fifteen minutes and boarded a bus headed for Peelamedu (the district in the city where we live). It was a longer ride, but very comfortable since once again, we ended up on a bus that was less than half full.
Appurna and I got down at our stop and waved good bye to Sangheeta as the bus drove off. We walked the two blocks back through the drizzle, looking up at the dark and swollen clouds. I guess we reached the apartment just in time, because as we said good bye at the front of my building the sky opened up and the downpour began!