Bombay

We arrived in Bombay a bit frazzled. Our journey was long, starting with an overnight train in the not so nice "first class" compartment where two business men shared our coach and snored the whole night and got up about five times. Then our hard bench seat on the second train was just that- hard. And it happened to be a commute time, so what was meant for three people became a squished four. If you dared stand up to walk around, one of the standing passengers would use your seat for a moment of rest. But this section is live with action of constant sellers of sandwiches, strange breaded peppers, chai, and the beggar musicians.



After talking to 15 cabs before getting an "honest" price, we were warmly welcomed by our Servas host family who lived right in the smack middle of the city. Kalpana and Ravindra Bardolia work in the gold jewerly business and were busy weighing small diamonds when we arrived. They had one servant, a young boy named Chotto who didn't speak English and came from the other side of the country. They also had two sons, 20 and 18 both of who were studying for upcoming exams. Their newest family addition was Leo, a young, full-sized golden lab.







Spending time with the family were nice. We had nice chats with the family and learned a bit more about the Indian city life. The exams are pretty unbelievable. The older brother was applying to an MBA program but had to pass a difficult test and an interview to be one of the 1,000 students selected out of 160,000 who apply and 4,000 of those granted interviews. But once you make it into these tops schools, you are almost certainly guaranteed a good job in the end. Some of the practice questions included, "Which film won a Golden Globe at the 1999 awards ceremony?" We were told that these questions are just to see if you are smart enough to skip them, as wrong answers score negatively.



One evening, we went out to a great dinner and took a walk on the famous beach where you can buy all sorts of food and finish it off with a menthol infused leaf with other crunchies in it. A very strong breath freshner and a bit overwhelming to eat all at once. Dean demonstrates below.







Our one day trip was at Elephanta Island, an ancient cave temple site from around 600 AD where these amazing figures are carved into rock. Most of the area is in desrepair, but a few impressive ones still exist. The boat ride over is nice too for viewing the city at a distance. I also had the pleasure of five teenage boys trying to take my picture without asking until Dean firmly told them that taking pictures of me was not allowed.







Dean was again busy with grad school applications and I took a walk to see one of Gandhi's residences. It was a bit of a museum with some interesting dioramas of his life and a big collection of all the books he had read. I also walked over to the Mahalakshmi temple. Lakshmi is the goddess of wealth and fortune and supposedly if you stick a coin to the back wall and it doesn't fall down, then you will be rich! The whole idea about a temple devoted to wealth seemed wierd to me. Past that temple, was a mosque on a small island. A paved pathway linked it to he mainland during low tide. It was lined with a sea of beggars and after giving change to one I was beseiged by more and had a girl follow me the whole way, asking first for 50 rupees, then anything, like soda, shampoo, chocolate, bon bon, etc. The mosque itself wasn't too special but it was an interesting walk.



I also had a chance to see the parks, where dozen of groups are trying to play cricket in close quarters. There was also a small soccer game. Nearby, a street was lined with used book sellers and I found a few bargains meant for beach reading. North of this, I found "Fashion Street" where they had temporary stalls with clothing and accesories. It was great bargaining here because every stall had about the same stuff so if I turned to leave, my given price was met right away. The quality wasn't so great and most garments shed a lot of dye during the first few washes, but it is nice to have some new clothes.



We also made use of our student cards to visit a great museum for local prices. The foreigner price is nearly $7 while locals and students pay 10 cents. Every bit of savings helps as we watch the dollar plummet against the Euro and ask ourselves why we will be leaving Asia...