My Worst Trait As A Driver In Mumbai

When I'm on a tight two way road, parked cars and crowds walking on the side, motorcycles weaving in and out, pedestrians darting back and forth, whenever the passing cars get too close - I brake and shut my eyes. 

Genius.

Two Way Tunnel

The Khar Subway is one of the few east-west roads that cross the Western Rail line which travels north-south. It's nothing more than a very low, tunnel with one lane going east and one lane going west. 

But on this day, the eastbound travelers decided to use both tunnels, leaving all of us westbound travelers sitting and honking for half an hour. 

And that's how we do it in Mumbai!

Waxing Nostalgic

I've been in India now 16 months and in that time I've easily been to at least 10 different beauty salons, and not once have I had a proper wax.

I've paid top dollar and next to nothing. I've tried the little local spot on the corner and the five star hotel salons. I've had the 'chocolate', the 'international', and the standard 'honey' wax. It's been applied with the fancy roll on applicator, wooden palates, and burning metal kitchen knives, with a shocking lack of dexterity, then removed with strips of muslim, cheap cotton, or unskilled yanking - for crying out loud!

On more than one occasion I've been reprimanded, both 'privately' in the booth and publicly in front of all the ladies in the salon for not waxing the Indian way - bald from eyebrows to toes!


'But madam, it's better.'

'That's OK, I don't want it.'

'But madam, everyone does it.'

'That's OK, I don't.'

'But madam, it's cleaner.' 

'No thanks, I'm OK.'

'But madam, it's more hygienic.'

And on and on and on.

All I want is a straight line, but it looks like I might just have to buy my own waxing kit.

Got Your Goat....

A goat in my hallway, 7th floor of the apartment building, at 8 o'clock at night, all dressed up with painted horns and a 'necklace'.

Tastes Like Home

My school serves a traditional Indian breakfast around 9am, mostly for the workers and staff, but also for students at their break between classes who often arrive early for before school activities at 7am.

I usually eat at home and I haven't found much Indian food very appealing. I like to know what I'm eating and often it's just a different mix of the same things in a curry.

So this morning when I got my coffee, I glanced to see what was being served for breakfast. It looked like a mix of scrambled/fried eggs with seeds and greens, and a tray full of white mash. Not too appealing.

The chef told me the names of the dishes, then suggested a try a spoonful of the white mash. He kept telling me what was in it, but I couldn't make out the words over his accent. So I tried it, and to my surprise, it was sweet. It was basically spoon halvah without the cinnamon or almonds. Then I realized he had been saying, 'semolina' the whole time. Not a word I expected, but now it all made sense.

The dish is called sheera...and it tastes like home. 

There Goes That

It's the first week of October and monsoon is supposed to be over. It's not. Today we had an amazing downpour...just as I arrived to work.

By arrived, I mean to the parking lot. And I only had a small umbrella with me. So since I was early, I decided to sit for a few minutes in the car until the worst had passed.

It wasn't slowing down at all...so I rolled up my pant legs, popped open the tiny umbrella, and trudged through the murky puddles and streams of street 'water' to work. So gross.

I went into the bathroom first thing and washed my feet. For real. Popped my legs up into the sink and washed my feet!

I rinsed by sandals and realized it was time for them to go. They were wet from today, but I noticed the water had penetrated some of the previous wear and tear.

They were 'wet' all day, and so were my feet, totally unhygienic on so many levels. So when I got home, I tossed them out. Farewell nice pair of shoes.

It's not the first pair of shoes I've tossed out since I've been here, and I'm sure it won't be the last.