The Big City

I took a taxi into Mumbai to spend the afternoon with my mother's side of the family.  The first 13 kilometers takes about 15 minutes, the last few over an hour.  There is an easier way.

In town, my cousins took me out to lunch at delicious Copper Chimney.  The restaurant was located in a high end, rose water scented, mall.  I now have a tour book, Lonely Planet.  I found a great pair of shoes that I was tempted to buy until I realized that I misplaced the decimal point in my conversion.  At $750 for a pair of kicks I realized I was in the wrong shopping center, time for me to go back to the cousins.

I met Anant across the street, which was a harrowing frogger game across a busy highway, only to realize that there was barbed wire in the shrubs in the divider.  We went to the grey market electronics mall where you can get electronics smuggled in to avoid duty.  I could have made a small fortune with an iPad2.  My cousin Mamta patiently helped me choose fabric and styles for the linen shirts and pants I'm having made.  I prefer to look like a colonialist in linen than a tourist in shorts.

I took the commuter train home at rush hour which was just like you see in the movies, you jump on and off while the train is still moving.  The ride was shorter, more interesting and costs 7 rupees as opposed to the 400 I spent on my morning taxi.  I also got a blessing from a eunuch for 2 rupees, now that's a bargain.

It's cute how concerned everyone is that the soft American will have so much difficulty getting around in big bad India.  What I think they may fail to understand is that India has so much more infrastructure and is actually considerably wealthier than some of the places I've recently traveled.  But it all comes from a genuinely good place so I'll take all their advice and reassure everyone that I will only drink bottled water.

When I got home the level of danger here was put nicely in perspective.  The guy who is renting Arthur's  place in the 'Loin saw a man pull out a gun on the street and shoot someone in the chest 4 times, his car was broken into the next day.  I think I'll reserve my fear for that f-ed up emo kid in the small town US mall with easy access to his parents' guns.