And Today It Rained...

We've had clouds in the sky for about three weeks now. They'd been absent since at September/October.

At first they were small, then eventually they were big and fluffy. Last week the sky seemed darker here and there. The weather forecast would predict a 30% chance of rain before 9am some days, but nothing fell. Reports came in of rain in other parts of the country...delaying cricket games an hour or so.

The clouds this morning were big and fluffy, but dark underneath. As I left for school I felt a drizzle or two, but didn't look up thinking it was just run off from someone cleaning a balcony or hanging laundry.

The roads became wet as I got closer to campus. The kind of wet where it dries up quickly. But as I walked into school, the plants were also wet and the floor a bit muddy. And once inside, there was a buzz of excitement among the students - 'Did you see it? It RAINED!' Even the adults were a bit giddy.

Apparently it rained a bit harder near the sea where most of them live and followed them in as they crossed inland to school. It's been so long, you almost forget what it's like...and then it's wonderful.

Coffee Cocktails

The Greeks called me up and said, 'Παμε για ενα καφε᾽ - 'Come for a coffee.' So I did.


The 'Greeks' are the friends I've made here in Mumbai outside of work. I have also have colleagues I consider friends, but I found while living overseas that, for me at least, it's preferable to have friends outside of work as limiting oneself to working, socializing, and in the case of Mumbai, also living in the same place, it can get a little intense. I like having a private life and my personal space.

Anyway, the 'Greeks'. There's only a few of us and we're all here for different reasons, but we've somehow all connected and realized we enjoy each other's company. So now we try to keep in touch with one another with phone calls or text messages here and there, and every now and then we go out and do something. It doesn't always work and everyone isn't always able or interested in whatever we're doing, but we've made a little παρεα.

So, we go for coffee. But not til 6m because it's too hot if we go earlier. When we meet at the coffee chain up in a posh northern suburb, we decide we want to go somewhere nicer - which I'm happy about as I don't like that coffee chain anyway. So we stroll for awhile til we find an outdoor table on a shaded patio at an Italian restaurant. But, really, who wants coffee? So we order cocktails.

A couple of martinis later, we should probably eat, so we go inside. It's freezing cold because everywhere in India they abuse the air conditioning so any time you're indoors, you might as well be in a meat cooler! We eat, we talk, we have a few more martinis. We make plans for next weekend and possible travel excursions after that. We laugh at each other and we laugh at ourselves.

And that's the best part. We talk and we laugh and it's good. Ειναι καλα παιδια.

Cravings

I'm not a vegetarian. I've never had any desire to BE a vegetarian. I've never had any desire to give up any food, for any reason, forever. I'll fast for Lent. I'll alter my diet for a detox period. But honestly, I like eating. And I like eating good food. But mostly, I like eating food that I can identify...not some mish moshed cassarole of unidentifiables hidden under a mystery sauce.

So I mostly only eat meat when I go out to nice restaurants because it's hard to buy good meat to cook at home. Not because they don't sell it - they do. The Jains may be vegan, the Hindus may avoid beef, and the Muslims avoid pork...but they eat all the rest. And the Christians and non-practising religious population does as well. So meat is sold and readily available.

However, it's the quality of the meat that is questionable. Most of these animals live miserable lives on a dismal diet of garbage and scraps. The dairy 'cows' (water buffalo actually) live in urban sheds knee deep in muck, drinking dirty water. I highly doubt udders are cleaned before milking. Goats wander the street eating garbage or beetle nut leaves, breathing car fumes and dust, as they wait their turn for slaughter in front of the butcher shop. Chickens are transported by open caged trucks, crammed on top of each other six levels high, huddling together, feathers flying as they whiz down the road.

Animals with lousy diets and stressful lives produce inferior meat for eating. So why bother? Beans and lentils are plenty and I can wait to eat meat where I know it's going to be delicious!

It Must Be The Humidity

My chronic Paisa withdrawal symptoms are often soften by a Greek παρέα, or that dear, familiar niche of razor-sharp wit, chin-in-the-air, Y-town punk 'kids'. 

But when all of those are missing, and I'm surrounded by 22 million people, spitting, sneering, scoffing, scratching, leering, honking, shouting, slouching...that's when I get a pang of loneliness. 

It must be the humidity.

Parsi Cafes

I've been to half of these, and I must say, they are delicious. Good food, good prices, almost like a Greek diner...but not quite. ;)

Mumbai's Parsi Cafes

Two Trees and Me

I bought two avocado trees today. Brought them home in a rickshaw. They're now on my balcony, sprayed down with organic insect repellant, watered and fertilized. Can't wait till I'm making guacamole!