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Out and About in Bombay
Entry 8 of 33 | show all | print this entry |
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I just spent my first weekend in Bombay. Didn't really have an agenda and on Friday evening my driver suggested he take me out for a site seeing drive on Sunday afternoon. So Saturday I was on my own. I am slowly getting adjusted to being by myself and venturing out alone. Trust me it is a lot harder than it seems. And, the constant staring doesn't help. But I am learning not to notice it (or so I tell myself). It also helps that I am picking up a little Hindi. Yes, I know don't laugh. Well go ahead and laugh it is kinda funny. But as soon as I start speaking it whatever they are trying to get me to buy goes away and either they leave me alone or want to hang out with me ha-ha.
On Saturday, I walked along the promenade that runs along the Arabian Sea. No real agenda, just brought my Ipod and walked around for a few hours. It was really cool just enjoying the afternoon sitting on a bench staring out to the sea and chilling with some tunes. God Bless it was hot though. The highlight of my day was watching a little boy fly a kite. As soon as he could tell I was interested he offered the string to me. So there I sat on a rock flying a kite with a little boy. Unfortunately we couldn't speak to each other, which is why later that night I learned how to exchange names in Hindi. =). Now I haven't flown a kite in awhile but I was the Estancia Development kite flying champion back in my day and I took to it like a duck to water. Not really but it was a fun way to spend 15 minutes on a Saturday afternoon. I just walked until the promenade ended and than kept walking until I came to an intersection that I could not navigate. Too much traffic and too many choices. With horns blaring and buses coming from seemingly no where, I had reached my limit for the day. Luckily there was a little church right there and I went onto the grounds for a while before heading back to the hotel.
Sunday I stopped for breakfast on my way out to go driving and site seeing. Living in NY, breakfast on Saturdays and Sundays starts at noon and goes until 4:00pm. I was looking forward to some eggs and a cup of coffee. Much to my horror breakfast was over and they were setting up the lunch buffet. I settled for lunch but wanted my coffee. I asked for cream for my coffee and was brought something that resembled runny yogurt. Not exactly what I planned. I couldn't even look at the cup after I put it in there (hey at least I was gonna try it) Again, again, I am learning to walk out of my room with no expectations (and hopefully no cravings) and just take the day as it is offered. Luckily my trusted driver Rajesh knew a place to get a cup of coffee and I was saved. He also took me to a great ice cream joint that afternoon.
We started out by going to some park that I can't pronounce. It was all men and most of them were playing cricket. I have been watching a lot of cricket lately, though I don't understand the first thing about it. I am starting to recognize players names and was especially upset today, when I learned they dismissed Dravid from the national team. From there, we headed to a very cool stop. It is a laundry center where apparently (if I understood my driver correctly) all these guys not only work but live. There are about 2000 of them and they generally come from rural India and work here for a few years before heading back home. I can definitely see how burnout would be a problem. There wasn't a lot of cover and it was in sort of a pit. After that I went to the Kamala Nehru Park on the highest point of Bombay that overlooks the whole city. Nice place to relax for a while.
Driving down the hill we passed a place called The Towers of Silence, which is the place Bombay's Parsi community (a religious group) dispose of their dead. They have a wonderful custom of putting the dead body into a towering hole and allowing vultures and crows to eat the bodies. If you have any further interest in this, they are followers of the Zoroastrain faith. I do not and we did not stop and I did not take pictures. But after a quick scan of the skies and no birds in sight, we felt pretty safe that this was an off day. We continued heading south and took a break on Marine Drive, which has killer views of the city. It is a very social place, were families walk, couples do what couples do and packs of boys roam doing whatever the hell it is they do. I actually pass this everyday to and from the office.
We headed down to Malabar Hill and on to Colaba and went to the Gateway of India. On the way we ran into a couple of cows just chilling in the road. While I am getting used to it, I still think it is funny and had Rejesh stop=). This was Sunday and there was no traffic so they had the run of the neighborhood. By the pictures you can tell they have no fear of humans and I could probably have petted them but don't know the protocol and didn't want to piss anyone off especially when it comes to cows in India. The Gateway of India is monument that was erected to welcome the King of England. I thought it was funny that it said something about welcoming the Imperial Majesties....I was like I bet an Englishman came up with that. This is the land of Maharajahs that was under colonial control I seriously doubt any of them were very excited to welcome the very person who was imposing his imperial rule over them. But what do I know. After this I headed back to the hotel.
Okay all for now. Headed to the office the office through Thursday. Will check in if I have something to tell you about. Working on plans for the weekend before heading to Singapore. Keep in touch! Please your e-mails and comments mean a lot to me! Oh and if you really like any of my pictures please rate them. Maybe they will get featured and I fulfill my dream of being a.....published author. LOL . Take care. Brandy More thumbnails ...
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