Rajkamal Hotel Mumbai (Bombay)

... of the car travelled around the city for 3 hours. We saw the massive dobiwallahs area where the laundry from the city’s hotels, hospitals and laundry companies do the washing. This is a massive area where people hand wash laundry in massive concrete vats and hang them to dry on miles of lines strung across every conceivable spare space. Our washing would be here too somewhere. Then we went along the waterfront past the old art deco and colonial houses and flats and ...

... populations of less than one hundred - but the walk-ability is, at least in the old town, very true. South Mumbai is a beautiful colonial city, in which Vijay says little, if anything, has changed since the British left. Solid blocks in a row look like London with palms, and the University is a bizarre neo-gothic place of quiet, arched arcades - New College after global warming. We spent the better part of the day buying me an Indian ...

... tradition, it involves the exchange of toxic dyes between participants. Any walk down a street or alleyway will result in the walker being doused in either colored water or powdered dyes which are near impossible to wash out of skin and clothes, and many times made with chemicals of unknown origin, perhaps scraped out of the soil of Bhopal or something. Inhaled, many of these can cause respiratory problems, burns, or any manner of mild skin ...

... and trust me, most of them, you don't want to touch them!) so squatting is way more hygienic. Anyway - as if that wasn't enough, they then got to go outside and play. Outside was the most AMAZING play area. There was a basket-ball court, a sand-pit, bicycles, skipping ropes, balls and the most amazing play area you've ever seen (not to mention the most massive swimming pool). They just went CRAZY! The bikes were a big hit - most of them had never been on a ...

... to stay with an excellent host, this time an Indian woman name Nidhi. With her home as our base, we purchased the India guidebook and began to plan our rough route through the country. More importantly, we also used the time on hand to begin our Indian food adventure. India is so diverse that many of the street foods change from state to state. The foods specific to Mumbai were so tasty and unforgettable that they topped the list. Our favorite ...

... a living. We eagerly scanned the name cards looking for ours and there he was :-) The drive from the airport to the hotel was a total eye opener. It's unlike anything I've ever seen before in my life. Nothing I've seen on television or what I've read in books prepares you for the chaos, noise, hustle and bustle. It's a free for all, every car, rickshaw, bicycle and Ox ...

... foreigner and 'go home'. To enter the residents line! There's a sense of belonging that comes with returning and no matter how you feel about your country or how it feels about you, it's part of your identity. I now can imagine what it's like for all the first generation Americans from Asia or elsewhere that come to live in a place so different from home. Thanks to everyone that kept me posted about home while I was away and took time to follow my travels ...

... That said I suddenly had 2 free days on my hands. To be honest, Mumbai or Bombay or whatever you want to call is not really a site seeing city. It is more a stopover on getting out into the real India and a place where you relax and regroup and move on. It is cosmopolitan and has great restaurants but the sites aren't much and can easily be done in a day (especially if you have my driver Rajeesh from my last visit) so here I am wishing they had told me about the holiday and I ...

... appauling poverty and it's home to Asia's largest slums, with around a third of the total population living on the streets. As we approached Mumbai we began to pass the never ending slums. The amount of poverty was shocking. People living inches away from the tracks in collapsing huts, amongst huge amounts of filth. It's hard to believe people can survive like this. Amongst all the mess, kids were running around flying kites or untangling them with huge poles ...

Normal 0 Friday, May 6th: Á__ _ __ÁIt was Ba's 83rd birthday today. We did not have any large celebrations planned but we did want to do something on this day, so Rupamasi suggested that I videofilm Ba. Á__ _ __ÁBoth Shona and myself had come for breakfast only at 10 a.m. At that time Ba had gone out already to visit her doctor regarding her knee. Rupamasi and I had asked Shona to prepare a drawing for Ba to commemorate her birthday. I watched her ...