Bombay Dreams

Mumbai, India

Ok, so day 1 of Mumbai was in short, overwhelming. I didn’t really know what to expect from India, besides what I have seen in the movies. Which by the way, Slum Dog Millionaire is a pretty accurate depiction of Mumbai.

One of the first things that happened to me, to welcome me to India (I kid you not) is that I tripped over a steaming pile of ELEPHANT poop. Awesome. Someone across the street shouted to me Happy Holy! So maybe it was good luck? That’s a hell of a lot of good luck my friends haha. Then I saw a cow sleeping on the sidewalk. This wasn’t the first cow I saw all day either. This is a normal thing here. I was quite amazed.

So, before heading out, Jessica, Heather and I heard that there was a holy festival happening all morning where people celebrate and throw colored chalk all over you. Of course we had to go. The night before, one of the natives told us not to go near the slums because they play rough with the colors and throw more than that. So, we decided to wear white t-shirts and old jeans and head to the main square in Mumbai. We were told that is where the Taj hotel was (where Obama recently stayed) and the great Gateway of India. It was beautiful, but we looked around and there was no festival happening around there. So, we kept asking around. And almost every 10 seconds people stopped us for a picture with them. We were different, and so they all thought we were famous. It was really funny at first.

Then, we continued to wander around town searching for this festival of colors. We saw people with red dust all over them and of course we said…..we want that! Where do we go? Almost every step, people would try to sell us something. I must have given away half of my money to street beggars. It was so sad.

But by far the saddest moment of the day was when we were being followed by an adorable 5 year old girl who kept asking us for money. We all said where is your mother? Where is your family? I know it sounds bad, but I knew this would happen and that she is working for some sick older man using her to beg. We looked behind her, and there was a man following her….lurking around the corner. I refused to give her money because I knew she wouldn’t see any of that, so we took her to a fruit stand and asked her to pick something to eat. She bought the packaged, most expensive fruit, and I am not even sure if she got to keep it…bless her heart. It really made my stomach ache thinking that she was being used for greed. She was such a beautiful little girl. And she wasn’t the only child beggar I saw all day. There were hundreds of them under the age of 7, some of the kids carrying other kids.

Ok, back to the festival. After wandering for about another half hour, we came across Cabala Street, which was a market full of colors and people shouting in the streets “Happy Holy!” We went to buy about 10 bags of chalk color and we went right in. People were constantly rubbing our faces with powder…..putting it all over us and into our hair and all over our clothing. We were told to go to the kids if we want to see real color….so we played with the children in the street. They were all so funny shouting “Happy Holy”. We looked like works of art. It was so life-giving. But our native friend was right….they play rough. Haha Jess got egged and I got a bucket of dirty water poured on me. Heather ran when she saw the children plotting to get us back. Oh well, I had elephant poop on my foot and dirty water on my back…..I was living the lifeJ.

After taking tons of pictures with the locals, we wanted to go get something to eat and drink. We were so exhausted and really dirty. We tried to get into the Taj hotel, but they wouldn’t let us because of how dirty we were. I don’t blame them!

We then wandered to an amazing restaurant that had a juke box and tons of people in it. It was so fun and the food was to die for. I absolutely love Indian food. It’s spicy, and you can taste each spice…it’s not just hot. Then randomly, Eli and Ray came to the same restaurant, so we sat with them for a while. We then waited for a taxi outside of the restaurant to take us to the clothing market, and while waiting, 2 adorable children came up to us to talk to us. They were just precious. Their mother was right by them, so I knew it wasn’t about begging. I gave them each a dollar and I have never seen a bigger smile on a kid. I felt so blessed. These kids have nothing. Their lives are so much harder than I can even imagine. This trip was a real eye opener.

We then got into the cab and drove down to the market. I wasn’t in the mood to shop, surprisingly, maybe because I was really overwhelmed by everything.

Then all 5 of us crammed into a tuk tuk and went to another part of town. Totally not safe, but totally worth it. We had a marvelous time exploring the city, but we really needed to go back and wipe some of that grime off of us!

So we went back to shower and decided to go where the crew was going for dinner. It was a very nice restaurant, and the food was great. However, I ordered a salted Lassi (what was I thinking, it smelled like armpit and tasted like athletes foot) but the rest of the meal was incredible.

Jess and I decided after the meal, we wanted to go meet half of the crew that went to the hookah bar. So, we went to the hookah bar, which was closer and hung out there for the rest of the night with some of the crew. The other crew went to the hard rock café…and I was not about to go there since we can go there in the states. I talked to a group of local boys who claimed they were doctors and engineers haha yea sure….it was fun though. Everyone was really nice and the whole day was so interesting.

Day 2 of Mumbai, We didn’t have as much time, so I definitely wanted to explore as much as possible with as little hassle as possible. It’s definitely hard to bargain when people everywhere won’t take no for an answer. It was exhausting for sure! Jess and I decided to take a tour for 15 bucks each all around the city to various hot spots.

The first place we went was the outdoor laundry. It was crazy to see people standing in the water hand washing all of their clothes by smacking them on the brick. I have never seen anything like it. We then wandered to the fishing area. This place did not look clean by any means, but it sure was colorful. The boats were beautiful and they had so many flags on them. After that, we went to the beach. Jess bought some street vendor food, which I was not about to do, but she said it was really good.

Then we went to the temple. It was gorgeous. Before going in, we had to take off our shoes, spit out our gum and make sure that we didn’t turn our backs to the idols while taking a picture. I was kind of nervous to go in because there were so many rules; I didn’t want to offend anyone. It was amazing inside. There were so many colors and so many idols. There was a group of women singing and sitting in the middle of the floor and beating a drum. They were all dressed beautifully. People would go up to the idols and touch them all over while chanting. There were also grains of rice all over being made into shapes, like the opposite of a swastika. I guess it means peace. There was not a section of the temple that wasn’t colorful. It was incredible.

We then went to the hanging gardens and met a vendor boy who was 19 named Ravi. He showed us all around. I had to find a restroom, and I had to pay for it. And it wasn’t even a toilet; it was a hole on the floor. Haha what a rip off! It’s a privilege to pee J Anywho, Ravi sold us some peacock feathers, but then gave us some for free just because he liked us. He was so sweet, telling us everything about where we were. He also continually said my friends I hope to see you again here. I am always here. It was nice to actually meet a friend. He was so sweet.

We then wrapped up our day with a spice market and being way overcharged by our taxi driver….but oh well. Indian experience right? Next stop, Dubai! J ahhhhhh