Mumbai!

Mumbai....home of the infamous filming of many Bollywood Films including....Slum dog Millionaire was heartbreaking and amazing all at the same time.

The poverty was shocking. People said that you would see people sleeping/living everywhere and that kids would beg at your car window. Both are true. Driving home at night it was almost guaranteed that most sidewalks had people sleeping on them- many families haul their beds outside of their homes to sleep at night to allow for a cooler sleep or because the entire family does not fit in the house. Kids do come to your car window and beg- it is the terrible side of extreme poverty. The hard part for me is the realization that most of these people will never get out of the cycle. The child begging on the street- will most likely beg his/her entire life....and that was the hardest part for me to deal with.

On the flip side of the poverty- Mumbai is a large city and has great parts to it. We had the amazing experience of staying with Kalpana's family while we visited Mumbai....and experience that has completely added to our overall experience in India. It was awesome!

First and foremost....Indian families are amazing hosts! From the moment we arrived- we never went more than 2 hours without delicious food/snacks/drinks. We arrived on Thursday evening- on very short notice- and were promptly fed some of the most amazing Indian food yet!

The Bhandarkar family lives in a family home- which is the traditional way that Indian families have lived. There were about 8 bedrooms in a 2 story house. Two brothers- their wives- some of the kids and a cook/maid live in the house. One of the most interesting things for Ang and me was getting used to the cook/maid/driver aspect of the culture. Obviously not all families have a cook/maid/driver- but it is normal for some Indian families. We were VERY lucky to utilize their driver for some of the time we were in Mumbai- and it made seeing Mumbai a much easier experience. The family owns a pharmacy just out in front of their house- which is convenient for the brothers/nephews to head to work. We were lucky to be shuffled around to different site seeing areas and then to come home to amazing food and hospitality.

Communication did cause some hilarious moments- mostly due to what Ang and I call "LIT"- lost in translation. At one point, Ang was asking about a dish we had for breakfast....specifically asking how it was made....and within moments the makings/ingredients of the dish were pulled out and they thought she was asking for it to be made again. After insisting we were not hungry, nor should anyone start cooking right then.....we stopped the madness. We also had a lot of good laughs at the direction we got from everyone in the house. One of the uncles would tell us we could take the train somewhere- and we would get it all set up....only moments later to be told by a nephew that we would be taking the driver somewhere. We just had to surrender to the action behind the scenes and do whatever we were being told by the last person.

Similar to our experience of being in Goa with Kalpana's family....second helpings of food are a must. Unfortunately, I haven't been feeling very well (after eating some raw cabbage- imagine that?!).....and in order to keep up, Ang must have had 4th and 5th's of specific entrees. This morning we woke up- and even though I was trying to be really gracious....I couldn't stomach much of breakfast. Ang honestly ate an entire plate of an Indian dish to make up for me not eating...most likely enough for a family of four. God Bless her.....

My favorite moment in Mumbai was being recruited to be in an Bollywood Film!! Yep....you read it right! After all of my joking....we were walking down the street and a guy came up to us and said they needed extras for the next day of filming. Basically....they needed some white peeps for the background. I was ecstatic...and didn't even negotiate our pay. Kidding- there was no negotiating to be had. We would be provided transportation- meals- costumes- makeup and $500 Rupees ($10 USD)....for 8 hours of work! I was SO excited! Needless to say....the filming got canceled the next day- so we will not be famous. He called us in the morning to say that they had not gotten "permission" to film.....I'm not even sure what that translates into. I'm still hoping that we get recruited somewhere else.

While in Mumbai we visited most of the famous places....Gateway to India, the Taj Hotel and Leopold's restaurant- which is famous from the book we just finished reading. We also visited the VT Station- where Slum dog Millionaire was filmed.

We also had the experience of visiting a temple with Kalpana's uncle. It was a really great experience at the temple--with singing and dancing. We arrived prior to the uncle since we were already in the city and as always, there were some items that were "LIT". At one point were handed a coconut in a bag and at another point we were handed 3 bananas and 1 apple on a tray. By using lots of peripheral vision and copying people....we were able to figure out that the bananas and apple should be offered to the God of the temple....and the coconut donated to the homeless children waiting outside the temple. Thank goodness I learned the skills of good-people-watching from my mom!

Last night Kalpana's aunt dressed us up in traditional saris complete with jewelry! SUCH a great experience and just another thing that staying with Kalp's family added to our trip. There is a lot of fabric in a sari....6 yards to be exact....but Ang and I managed to keep the cloth wrapped around us in the entire photo shoot. The family had us posing all over the house. We could make an entire photo book of us in sari's. We were sitting on the couch when their driver came in....and imagine the double- take that he did to see the two of us. 

Today we flew from Mumbai to Udaipur. We will be in Rajasthan (a state) for 10 days before heading to see the Taj Mahal...and eventually to Nepal. India is growing on me a bit....I still have moments of manic....but more moments of enjoyment.