Just Arrived
Not even an hour after our 4:00 a.m. arrival in Mumbai, I was able to compose a mental list of things we had never seen before:
- an airport with no ATM;
- an old-style taxi like the ones I’ve seen only in movies set in India;
- so many people sleeping outside on the sidewalks, so many people;
- random cows crossing the road at an intersection (we weren’t in a rural area by any stretch; this was in Mumbai!);
- a queue of taxis on a bridge that were all tricked out with flowers, flashy decals and blue neon lights;
- five people at the door of the hotel awaiting late-night arrivals.
After 12 hours, we were surpised by even more things:
- the furious heat of midday in Mumbai;
- the man who climbed the coconut trees along Marine Drive to collect the nuts and lower them by a rope and pulley to the ground;
- the spoken and written English everywhere;
- the monkey out for a walk on a leash;
- the bright coloured clothing that so many people wear;
- the smell of spices, traffic, chai, cows, and detritis in one breath;
- the exhausting length of a Bollywood film, in Hindi.
The food is delicious at every turn.