The air upon exiting the airport, was thick and musty, palm trees lined the terminal and sweaty men lined every corner, seemingly from every part of the country...people from Rajasthan, Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Cochin, Goa, Calcutta. It smelled of dark humidity, humanity and heavy-set hopes and half-asleep dreams. Jovial were half the people, slothish were the other at this 5am moment. My mother and I met my uncle amidst the clamour of sign-wearing porters, drivers and servants and made our way to his home. It was an old Parsee apartment, surprisingly large and beautiful. He had a full time servant named Jessica, and two male part time servants who lived for free, worked full time jobs and helped out during their off hours. We handed them gifts: chocolates, cheese and liquor are apparently standards to appease any Indians families. I then got my first taste of scooter life here in Bumbaby. I hopped on the back of my uncle Ronny's scooter and literally was closing my eyes for half the trip, wondering how I would survive the chaotic streets w/o a helmet. Passing cows, red lights (they more or less act as amber warnings sign here I conclude), and throngs of pedestrians we made our way around the night market, and the downtown core. The honking was incessant and I could only equate to when Spain won the World Cup this year -- but here honking seems to mean two things: I Exist! and Move Out of the Bloody Way! Eventually I landed in my bed unscathed.
Traffic and 50's style cabby's
Scooter Life
Waking up is easy here, just wait for the crescendo of honks, kids firing caps guns, and vegetable selling men call out to reach its climax and you know it is around 10am. Today I got to have a view of some of the vegetable markets and toy stores...I was searching desperately for a clown nose to complete my costume for a Halloween party tomorrow in Bandra. Without luck, I settled on fake mustaches (only to later discover the red globes at another toy shop down the way). Stores here are seemingly overemployed, with about twice the employees you would expect for something their size. Half the people scratching their ass (we are the itchiest people on planet I think!), and the other half being very serious about simple tasks. I witnessed my first set of brown Barbie dolls wrapped in saris. Anyone collect Barbies out there? I got to meet my good friend Charlie from toronto, who runs Charlie's Gallery and we plotted our plans for Halloweening, a relatively new phenomena here in India and just another excuse to party, really. Also I got to see the infamous Taj Hotel, which was the stage of the terrorist attacks earlier this decade. Crazy enough, President Obama is coming during Diwali and the whole hotel will be devoted to him and his prez-posse.
Brown Barbie
The Taj Hotel
Night Market
