Nisha, Vernon, and Rachel arrived today so grandma decided to show me around the Lonavola factory. Lonavola is about a 2 hour drive from Mumbai and is one of the 3 locations for Alex Machine Tools and where my grandma owns a house. I fell asleep for the first part of the drive as I typically do but the second half of the drive in the hills and was very green and pretty. As we climbed the windy hill there were so many cute monkeys on the side highway dividers. The driver pulled over to the side and I was able to capture close ups without endangering myself. My grandma kept saying I could put down my window but I was taking no chances.
After arriving at the factory, we went for lunch at a hotel and restaurant called Faryas. Rachel is obsessed with the butter chicken there. We had some mustard broccoli to start and then garlic naan and paneer as the main. Of course no meal is complete without my lime juice soda! There is a famous Lonavla sweet shop called Maganlal that sells chikki and sweets. I picked up so much chikki for friends back home as well as a small box of saffron pedas and pistachio barfi for myself. I love all the Indian sweets so it is so hard to choose just a few.
The factory tour was up next! Alex Machine Tools was started by my grandpa to manufacture industrial parts that are then used for machines like washing machines or in the oil industry. All parts are then imported to other companies worldwide. The factory was about three floors each serving a different purpose. The uppermost was for storage, second floor for creating the parts, and the then first floor was most crowded with people finishing parts, packaging, and performing quality control. Each part goes through an assembly line process from start to finish. It was very fascinating despite my lack of knowledge about machine tools. Rachel started an organization called FE that seeks to educate girls so they can be placed in jobs. We ran into one of the girls who has been funded through the program. She is one of two girls at the factory which I was impressed by.
By the time our tour was done it was dark but my grandma really wanted to show me her Lonavla house. I've been to her house in the past and remember playing karam and loving the little pond with the frogs in the backyard. The place is very open and tucked away from the city. It is very spacious and good to get away. She had just done up her garden and it looked very nice. She also took me up on the ladder to see the view from above her rooftop.
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