Bombay Bumbling

Greetings from Bombay!
We both stopped working in Shanghai on June 27th and were out of China two days later. After that, we ran around America (Seattle, Portland, Denver, Chicago) to catch up with friends and family before our transition to life in India. We were only home in the US for two or three weeks, which means we've been in India for some time now (2.5 months). I apologize for this delay, but some things take longer than they should, especially, as we now know, trying to get settled in Mumbai. Between then and now, we have: racked up a lot of Marriott points, more or less (mostly less) gotten our bearings in this new city, seen (one or both of us) over 50 apartments in the north-central suburbs of Mumbai (three of which were under seemingly serious discussions that suddenly fell apart), found and moved into a great apartment, both celebrated our 31st (wow) birthdays, and have taken care of most household basics like getting local mobile phones, finding grocery stores, and getting internet service at home. This brings us to the present; I've been working since July 14th and Karen started work today at a good quality international school here.

A Quick Trip Home
I've included a few photos from our time in the US; the real (India) update starts below. From Shanghai, we went straight to Seattle. After a couple days with Grandma May, we made stops in Olympia (Trever, Sarah and Easton) and Portland (Tom and Sarah...see the picture of us hanging over Multnomah Falls). Our time in the Pacific Northwest ended after spending a few days with Justin and Kristi out on the Sound over 4th of July weekend. Here are Justin and I, replaying the then amusing series of events that led to the inadvertant crushing of the dingy we were using (that unfortunately belonged to someone else) while going through the Ballard locks. Also, here is a shot of a couple Dungeness (between Justin, Kristi, Karen and I, we probably ate at least 15 crabs that weekend), a bald eagle and, of course, Justin's famous boat. Once back on land, we flew down for a couple days in Denver with the sun and the Rockies and some of our old friends and colleagues there. Then it was up to the Midwest to catch up with Karen's kin. John has gotten a new fishing boat, which provided good entertainment on some sunny afternoons for all of us - John, Karen, Nancy, Kevin, myself and Suki too. Nancy claimed to have caught the most fish, but that is because John was re-baiting her hook half the time. Duty called and I had to head off to India to start the new assignment, but Karen was able to spend some more time in Illinois before coming this way.

A Soft Landing
Fortunately and unfortunately, the location of my company's office in Mumbai is directly across the street from the J.W. Marriott Hotel, which is one of the nicer places to stay in the city. So it was an obvious first choice for the company to put us up in while we got settled. After the first month, we started forgetting to extend our reservation and the front desk would call and ask us if we were leaving that day. The housekeeping staff got to know us - they started creating somewhat creepy animal scenes with towels and other props in our room - one such example is shown here (kissing swans). I think the monkey one was better. Karen developed a love-hate relationship with the guy who brought the fruit to our room (he asked what she wanted and then didn't bring it) and we quickly grew tired of the vast and fantastic breakfast buffet at the hotel. The other problem with having your office across the street in a new town is that there is often no reason to stop working. Anyhow, no one expected that 'getting settled' would take as long as it did. It wasn't for lack of trying to find a place; these folks are just unreasonable when it comes to negotiating and the time value of money. During our epic search for the perfect 'flat', we were able to steal a great driver from the Marriott. He had worked there for about 5 years, but was happy to join Singleton Team Mumbai as the full time driver. Here is a picture of Karen and Sanjay, the driver, with our somewhat dimpled expat-special Toyota Innova. It's a bit large for Mumbai traffic, but that is OK as this pseudo-SUV has air conditioning, a stereo and leaves enough room between us and the car/bike/rickshaw outside that is most likely less than 12" away. That red circle on the door has a "T" in it, which stands for Tourist vehicle...something we apparently are not allowed to remove. Sanjay is also featured here, modeling his 150 Rupee ($4) Ray Ban shades. At least some things here remind us of China.


How to Describe It?
I don't really know where to start. As I said, we've been here for a while now and there really are an overwhelming amount of new concepts to consider. When you first arrive, the poverty and general disarray of everything is bewildering. There are Hindus, Muslims, cows, goats, chickens, an amazing number of stray dogs (see picture; supposedly there are 70,000 stray dogs in Mumbai...they do actually seem nice though), the occasional monkey on a leash, heaps of rotting trash, people sifting through rotting trash, BMWs, mopeds, motorcycles, hand-powered bicycles, death trap public buses, VIP processions racing through the city, men pushing huge wooden carts with nothing on them, people riding bicycles laden with pressurized gas cylinders, trees in the middle of the street, beggars, Hindu religous men that are something like monks, fake Hindu religious men that are less like monks, transvestite beggars called Hijras and inumerable other things to catch your attention and boggle your mind. Honking is considered a means of communication, a warning, a punishment, and perhaps even entertainment. We were quite pleased to find that our driver, Sanjay, considers honking noise pollution and therefore abstains from it (entirely, except at gates that need to be opened). The more time we spend here, an odd mental balance seems to develop where you no longer notice a lot of the things mentioned above, the things you do notice are either funny or infuriating, depending on your mood, and that it doesn't matter if you are in hurry - you will get where you are going when you do and no one will be very upset if you are late.


Everything is so different. This picture is of a very common sight - a booth/machine with a pile of sugar cane next to it. The machine smashes the sugar cane (which by the way spends enough time before it is run through the smasher laying on the soggy, smelly and frightening ground to be considered unsanitary) repeatedly, extracting the juice. So we hear, you can then purchase the sugar cane juice, which is supposed to be good for purifying the blood and treating yellow fever.

Karen and I took an afternoon to stop by a local private park along the waterfront. We paid the outrageous $0.05 per person entry charge and found ourselves amidst an interesting mix of locals, necking lovebirds, caged animals, playing children, crows, expat families, and a very sad sea view. People here have a obnoxious habit of throwing anything they don't want directly onto the ground. This not only means the streets are filthy, but this also we now have processed, results in a shocking ruination of the waterfront. See the picture of the 'beach'.

When we were still at the hotel, Karen was invited to the drivers' Pooja (prayer session) in the basement of the hotel, which apparently happens once per year. Here is a picture of her doing pooja with Sanjay (driver) as well as the decorative idol they were praying towards. This was a Hindu ceremony; there are many, many gods in the Hindu religion. You'll get tidbits over time as they relate to certain festivals that take place here, most of which are linked to the Hindu religion and one of these gods.

These next two pictures are from a stroll we took through Victoria Terminus, the main train station in South Mumbai (the older, classier part of town). One is just a general shot of the people and bustle in the train station (not to mention the rough looking trains) and the other is of a sign in the pedestrian walkway under the street about spitting. You also often see messages painted on taxis discouraging spitting as it spreads Tuberculosis. Honestly, I worry more about the ubiquitous and casual urination strangely taking place in the focal point of about 1 in 20 of my random glances from the car, regardless of location. You can imagine there are similar and exceedingly unpleasant unsanitary occurences on the streets as well.


Visit to Virar
Since hiring him about two months ago, we have developed a good relationship with Sanjay. He is a nice guy and speaks good English. He has lived in Mumbai for a long time and really is good to have around. He helps us with all kinds of things, which is really important as it is often difficult to figure out the right way to accomplish things here. He invited us to his home in Virar, which is about 2 hours north of Mumbai, to meet his wife Beena and his two sons - Karan and Sawyam. They live next to a mountain with a famous Hindu temple at the top of it. This picture was taken on the hike up the mountain, before we were drenched by a short, yet fierce rain storm that blew through and destroyed my umbrella. Beena often makes us various Indian sweets and treats to try. Their home is in the greenish blue apartment building (4th floor) shown in the center of the other picture. They live in a three-room apartment: 1. kitchen (maybe 4' x 8'), 2. toilet (maybe 3' x 6'), and 3. living/sleeping room (maybe 8' x 12'); it, along with many things as we bumble our way into this journey, was a humbling experience, especially as Sanjay drove us back to our new place, which is highlighted below.

The New Digs
Although the process was awful and took far too long, we ended up with an extremely nice apartment - probably the nicest one we saw that we liked. We live in a neighborhood called Bandra, which is in the middle of the city (it takes 2 hours plus to cross the city with traffic). My commute is about 20 minutes from home to work, as is Karen's, so that is nice. The place is a mostly furnished 3 bedroom (again, lots of room for visitors). The best parts about it are the location and the fact that we have all western appliances, which is essentially unheard of here. Sounds silly, but we have a washer, dryer, oven, microwave, stove, dishwasher and refrigerator. In addition, and thanks to Sanjay, we have also been able to get our BBQ up and running here. The next step is to find a place to buy beef (not a lot of butcher shops in a place where cows are sacred) and some friends who would actully be interested in coming over to eat it with us. We've indulged in a nice flat screen TV and surround sound system (the place was pre-wired so I couldn't resist). The pictures above are of the living room and the last one is of our great kitchen (something that Karen is very excited about). We can walk to lots of restaurants, markets, bars, stores, etc. There is actually not a lot to do outside here, but we live in one of the best places possible, so we are lucky.

Video Tidbit
As a representation of one of the interesting cultural practices in India, I've included a video of the goings on in our neighborhood for a holiday called janmashtami. There is a god here, called Lord Krishna, which is typically represented by a chubby baby with butter on its face. The story in the Geeta (Hindu bible) goes that Lord Krishna, when a baby, somehow climbed to a high place to sneak butter. As a symbol of this story, local people raise (donate) money into pools, which are figuratively tied to a real pot that is suspended on ropes high above the streets of Mumbai. These pots are actually filled with yogurt and other sweet food items. The challenge that goes out - city wide - is for teams of Govindas (human pyramid makers) to build human pyramids high enough, and in an organized fashion, so that the top person can reach and successfully break the pot (Handi), preferably with his head and if that fails, with a coconut conveniently tied near the pot. The team then has to disassemble the pyramid without it tumbling, after which that team wins the 'pot' of money that was collected for the celebration in that location. The teams are made up of guys (normally) and they actually train for this event. It is dangerous; people get hurt. It is best to have small people at the top, which is why this role is often filled by a young boy. Certainly scary, but it was really fun to watch. This was the third or fourth try by different teams in this location, which was one of the lower pots out there to try for. On that day, Handis (pots) will be hung in locations all over the city, with published times for the competition to start, and can be at 2, 3 and 4 stories above the street. The Govindas cruise the city honking, shouting, and getting pumped up to win the loot. Maybe I'll join the expat team next year (there really was one this year). We heard the team in the video won about $60 (total) for breaking this Handi.

That's it for now. Hopefully future posts will be a bit more organized and clear, but I had a lot of ground to cover. We are doing well. This will be a bigger challenge than China, but I think we'll look back fondly on this as well. Best wishes to all.

P.S. We already have two sets of visitors booked; get your reservations in early.