More Mumbai

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I'm back on the interwebs! [insert emoticon of digital relief here] I have been doing a lot of exploring, and seeing and eating. So I promise you will have posts a plenty in the days to come, even if I just decide to sit around for the next few days (pretty close to the truth: my big plans are to buy the new fat Indian Vogue and to get my hair trimmed, although things here have a way of happening when you have no plans). Yesterday, armed with my camera (finally), I set out on a quest for wifi (clearly, I am a very dedicated blogger). I headed to South Bombay (more or less a Manhattan equivalent). I love taking taxi's south because of all the neighborhoods you get to pass through. Most people would be shocked to hear that and while yes, there is traffic that is so bad you can only be flabbergasted, not angry, and it's overwhelmingly hot (they charge extra for AC), it's still magical to zoom by the sights (when there is a green light). Marine drive is especially lovely to drive down (second photo). The air is cool, and the water sparkles. It's transporting. Perhaps not surprisingly, my favorite part about it is seeing all the different people that get to enjoy it: the three girls giggling, the two men drinking some chai, the teens sitting with there legs dangling off the edge passing their cellphones back and forth. It's a real stage for life here. On the land side, you see the apartment buildings morph into the colonial mish mosh that is architecture in the south. Traffic lights are a perfect opportunity for people watching (photo 3). The cab drivers and their passengers are always the most interesting (I'm sure they think that about me too).

Finally I arrived in Colaba (SoHo, these days, is probably a good comparison). After a couple false starts I finally got wifi in the Starbucks attached to the Taj hotel, and what a swanky starbucks it is. I had just enough time to reassure my mother I was alive and vidchat with her so she could verify that I still have all my skin (and no face tattoos or piercings.. yet) before rushing off to a hip spot in Bandra to meet with friends for a lime soda. These are a few of the things that make me love Bombay, that give me that fizzy feeling behind my eyes, that causes me to erupt in ear to ear smiles, and the warm deep and fuzzy sensation in my stomach that makes me feel like I am where I am supposed to be. Speaking of warm fuzzy stomachs, I had a thought yesterday as my body was systematically rejecting my lunch. Being in India, is a lot like food poisoning (bear with me), and I don't mean bad seafood, food poisoning or even Delhi belly, I mean the run of the mill, oops my body doesn't like that thing that happens every so often here. Sometimes India is shit (pun intended), it can make you feel intensely uncomfortable and miserable, but as soon as you get that out of your system, you feel like you can do anything, like it's the best place in the world, and you forget all about the bad (until it happens again of course). It really is the contrast, the fact that you (or really I) have to try to be bored, that makes each experience something specially, blog-worthy, I might say. Much more soon.

Love,
Violet