Miss Adventures

Before I switch to full-on U.S. election monitoring mode (my nerves are already a wreck, compounded by the fact that I’m currently reading Dude, Where’s My Country), I thought I’d reflect on the past two months in India.

Gosh…it’s already been two months. And in that time, I’ve come to appreciate and/or accept some of the quirks that I’ve encountered here. I can think of two ultimate metaphors for this country: 1) the ice deliveryman driving a bullock cart and 2) a hand-cart/rickshaw traffic jam. This is such a wacky place.

Still, I think that I’m settling in well. I’ve even come up with a top ten list of ways you know you’ve lived in India. (Disclaimer: with only two months invested here, my observations may seem a bit naive, so no hate mail please.)

Top Ten Ways to Know You’ve Lived in India

10) You’re not in the least bit fazed by seeing cows on the side of or in the middle of the road
9) You’re not on the Atkins diet. A meal without rice - or bread - is not a meal You begin to recognize Bollywood stars on movie posters
7) You have a driver and/or maid
6) Your palate has become so used to spice that you no longer need to bring tissues with you to the dinner table
5) You become immune to the relentless honking of horns
4) Your office mates burn incense at work and it doesn’t seem in the least bit strange
3) Answering with a head bobble is second nature
2) A pink and orange ensemble? Sequins during the day? Why not!
1) You look forward to those cool, 90 degree days

Mumbai has great shopping: clothing, jewelry, furniture, fabrics, books, you name it. And, of course, there are great bargains to be found if you know where to look. The one thing I really admire about the culture here, at least with respect to women’s clothing, is that you’ll never see two women wearing the same thing. Every sari, selwar kameez, and kurta is different from the other and women don’t seem to be too impressed by this or that trend. It’s refreshing to go to a party and see others dressed in pink (India’s navy blue), gold, orange, green, turquoise - everything other than head-to-toe black. Such individualism is hard to pull off in America.

This whole week has been about searching for something fitting for the big, expat Halloween bash. I’ve been thinking about costumes for this event for the past month, but haven’t really been able to come up with anything. I figured, too, with all the bright textiles, incredible jewelry, and general costume-like appearance of regular clothes in India, I’d surely be able to walk into just about any store and find something. Alas, shopping here isn’t always easy.
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Day 2
Could there be anything better than starting your day with a fresh, hot butter dosa? We went back to KBR’s outdoor terrace for breakfast around 9:30 on Saturday morning and it was already about 90 degrees outside. The dosas were a welcome treat, as were the glasses of fresh watermelon juice. No…not a bad way to start, even despite the heat.

Because we didn’t want to completely fry ourselves, we opted not to go to the beach for the entire day. Instead, we would check out the Phansad Wildlife Sanctuary, said to be the home of the Giant Indian Squirrel. Giant squirrels? I’m totally there!

Phansad was not as easy to find as one would think a wildlife preserve would be. We again headed in the direction of Murud and our driver asked numerous pedestrians if they could show us the way. Eventually, we were directed up a rocky, dirt hill with tons of switchbacks. About 2 miles up at the top, we came to a sign for Phansad.

Now, we had actually been under the impression that the park was a bird sanctuary with some fluffy mammals thrown in. But the sign was decorated with pictures of migratory birds as well as leopards and tigers. I thought it highly unlikely that tigers were in the park; their numbers are dwindling rapidly. But I had read about leopard attacks around Mumbai. Thank god I didn’t read this little dispatch before we hit the trails, or I would have been pretty nervous.
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Good news. You don’t have to go all the way down to Goa to find swimmable waters and clean beaches. Maharashtra’s Konkan Coast has some surprisingly nice beaches, too.

Faced with a long weekend, Anthony and I were desperate to get out of town for a little R&R. Not that I wouldn’t have minded chilling out at home for three days, doing a little shopping, getting my nails done, etc. But a little beach time also sounded heavenly. Unfortunately, Dussehra weekend crept up too quickly and we had no plans.

Air and rail travel to Goa was completely booked for the weekend and we knew a lot of people from work were heading down there, too. (Why would I want to spend even MORE time with co-workers if I don’t have to?) If we could get down there, we would have a place to stay, thanks to a friend’s very nice aunt who was reserving us a room with a coastal view. Alas, the Goa trip was not meant to be.

Serendipitously, we got a call around 7pm on Thursday night from our travel agent asking if we wanted to give Kashid Beach a try. He set up the lodging, food, and transportation for us. All we’d have to do is pack and be ready to leave by 7:30 on Friday morning. The price: about $200 for the whole weekend. Sounded like a plan!
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Alas, the Yankees couldn’t pull it off against the Red Sox last night, er, this morning. So, the only thing that could possibly soften the blow of a Yanks loss is…a day off of work.

Woohoo! Tomorrow is Dussehra here in India and it’s a national holiday. So, two four-day weeks in a row..and Diwali isn’t even here yet!

But, back to baseball. I’ve got two questions:

1) Does this mean that Bostonians will finally stop whining?
2) Does this mean that Unfrozen Caveman Johnny Damon will finally cut his hair?

The one hope is that the Sox’ win will give Kerry the big mo’ on the campaign trail. Though, god help us if we have to endure a Boston/Texas series before a Massachusetts/Texas election.

So with that, I say:

Go Cards!

The huge news over here today is the demise of Veerappan, one of India’s most-wanted bandits. His stock-in-trade was endangered animal byproducts and sandalwood. (Only in India would someone make a name for himself smuggling sandalwood–does anyone born after 1960 actually like the smell of that stuff?) And, though he murdered dozens of people over several decades, many of South India’s poor considered him a quasi Robin Hood.

I’d heard of him — and found his handlebar moustache laughable — but never knew too much about him. So, I’ll let the experts tell the story:

Bio and photo gallery of the ‘Tiger’s Footprints’ [Times of India]
“After Decades On the Run, Indian ‘Demon’ Killed” [Toronto Star]
“How Veerappan Walked Into the STF’s Trap” [ToI]
This article includes a photo of the dead Veerappan (world media is so much more graphic than in the U.S.) [NDTV.com]

If you really wanna know more, check out Veerappan: India’s Most Wanted Man.

I understand that some of you are under the impression that I’m in some exotic, beachfront paradise. Some of you have seen pics of us on the beach and have wondered why we’re not in our swimsuits. Let me tell you this…Bombay Ain’t Rio.

I like to call Bombay a big tease. There are so many things here that look fantastic from afar, then you get a closer look. For instance, there are hundreds of dogs, but you can’t pet them because they’re strays. You’ll see carts and carts full of beautiful fruits and veggies, then you realize that in order for you to enjoy any of those, you’ll first have to soak them in a bleach solution for a while. On the other hand, you can find some of the most fashion-forward stores behind the facades of crumbling buildings. Every day is like a scavenger hunt!

To sound cliche, the city is full of contrasts. But the one thing, the biggest tease of all, is that we’re sitting here on the sea with the beautiful curving coastline, yet we can’t even get in the water. We’ve been here for more than six weeks now, and have yet to set a toe in Arabian Sea. I fear that the water is so toxic that touching it would have the same effect as a vat of acid. An exaggeration, I’m sure. But, it’s pretty bad.

You see, there’s no culture of fun-loving beachgoing in this country. In fact, people here have long used the waterways as their dustbin, sewage depository or toilet. The Ganpati Festival definitely doesn’t help in that regard.
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I just got the October issue of Vogue and there’s a ton of stuff in there about Bollywood. Most notably, there’s mention of “Bride and Prejudice,” the new movie from Gurinder Chadha (the director of “Bend It Like Beckham”). The film comes out in L.A. and NYC on Christmas Day, but it just had its debut here last weekend…and we went to see it!

Okay, so the press here mostly lambasted the movie, saying it was too watered down. The critics over here are ruthless, too, some saying Aishwarya Rai (aka, “the most beautiful woman in the world” - warning! heavy flash on the website!) has never really been much of an actress so she shouldn’t bother trying the crossover to more English-language films and, ultimately, Hollywood. Pshaw! As much of a plasticky, Barbie doll type that she is, she did a fine job, and I think I may even be a fan.

But I digress.

“Bride” had a simple story line - adapted, of course, from “Pride and Prejudice” - so we knew what we were getting into as far as that was concerned. On the other hand, the entire movie-going experience was a treat. The opening weekend in Mumbai of a much anticipated Bollywood movie in a sold-out theater (for which we had to buy scalped tickets from the mob racket outside) - what could be cooler??
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We had the day off on Monday, so decided to take a day trip to Lonavala, site of some hill stations and the ancient Buddhist Karla Caves. Located about two hours outside of the city, Lonavala is for city folk one of the favorite weekend R&R points. So a trip on Monday was ideal; it meant less traffic (going, at least) and fewer tourists.

Unlike Matheran, another nearby hill station, Lonavala is located off of the Mumbai-Pune expressway, a relatively nice highway with a few rest stops along the way. We stopped about halfway there to refuel and have a little breakfast. I had a butter dosa (a rice pancake, no filling, served in conical form) and Anthony had wada pav, which is basically a spicy (cumin, fenugreek, chilis) potato patty served on a roll. An Indian burger, if you will. The three of us, our driver included, also had little cups of chai before we were on our way.
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Maybe Kerry or Bush could learn a few things from the Gandhis. Humility and pacifism, sure. (And wouldn’t you pay money to see either of them in full lotus position?) But I’m just curious about how Rahul Gandhi, son of Sonia, is going about campaigning for his mother’s Congress party in India.

Today, according to Mid-Day, Rahul said that he will not campaign here in Maharashtra because his party’s “victory was not certain.” Hmmm…goes against the logic I’m used to. But I suppose when your father and grandmother have been assassinated, you are a bit more choosy of your public appearances.

At any rate, those state fairs in deep Midwest USA don’t seem half bad in comparison.

Apparently, I’ve been spending way too much time in front of the computer, so I’ve been cutting back. In surfing’s stead, I’ve been reading quite a few magazines and newspapers, which, around here, are chock full of entertainment news. In fact, one of the “hard” newspapers, The Times of India, had as an international headline, “Billy Joel weds 23-year-old fiance.” McCauley Culkin’s drug bust was also front page “international” news. There’s more than 1 billion people in this country, and more than 5 billion in the world and they lead with that?! Thank god I can read the New York Times online.

Alas, I’m not opposed to entertainment news. Not at all. In fact, I’ve come to love the Bollywood rag Filmfare (full disclosure: Filmfare is a subsidiary of The Times of India group…no wonder that paper’s so flimsy!). In the month or so that I’ve been here, I’ve tried to get some of the main Bollywood actor’s squared away in my head so if I do ever decide to go see a Hindi film, then I’ll know which stars to look for. In the interim, I’ve made a sort of personal scorecard.

The following is an abridged, slightly uninformed, and biased guide to some of Bollywood’s stars. First up, the men:
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I would be remiss if I didn’t also mention before I blog off that today marks the 135th anniversary of Mohandas Gandhi’s birth. So, here’s a nice link to the Mani Bhavan Gandhi Sangrahalaya (aka Gandhi Museum).

Peace.

It’s true that despite how crazy/upsetting Bombay can be, it can also be quite pleasant. The past few days have been hectic, but enjoyable. And even though I have had down days (with respect to poverty, misery, Delhi Belly, etc.), the pendulum is starting to swing the other way.

Before I got here, everyone I had ever met who had been to Bombay had loved it. Okay, all except for one. Then, the first day that I got here, I thought, “where in the hell am I?” But now I’m starting to figure it all out, which is quite a relief.

Like Seth Stevenson from Slate (who I’m sure read some of my blog before posting his Slate story…how could he know about my fave player Harbhajan Singh? Indian cricket is on a break this week…), there are plenty of things I’ve learned to like about Mumbai. Here’s a short list:
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