leaving mumbai

On our second night in Mumbai, Gieves and I were both wide awake at 4 am. First we decided to read, then watch a bollywood movie on tv. After all else failed we felt like we had to escape and leave the room. At 6 am right when Mumbai’s world was slowing opening their eyes, we hit the streets. First I should explain the area we were staying in, It was more southwest of the airport, more suburban then the very south of Mumbai, Colaba, which is where all the tourists go and where we are ending our journey in mid December. We made a left out of the hotel and made our way to a little area that at night is bustling with chaos. What we saw were families strewn along the sidewalks, huddled together. A newspaper storefront was open with about a dozen children scrambling to fold the papers and stack to bring them to people before sunrise. Maybe the sweetest of all were 2 bulls sitting next to each other, one tied up (probably due to bad bull behavior of eating peoples goods) with rats joining them. What a world they all live in. In these areas, these people stare at you, mainly uncertain and questioning. There are not many tourists that visit there I suppose and we were definitely seeing India for everything it is worth. This walk was pleasant though, even though the many MANY street dogs (they are literally everywhere you look) had me tied up a bit. They are hungry and even though they don’t mess with you at all, are beyond terrifying. One that we saw had his tail split in 3, with reddish eyes and sores all over his body. It is beyond sad and disturbing, these Indian mutts. After our walk in this big long loop, we decided to head the opposite direction and go quite a ways. After walking down a main road, you come to a sort of underground tunnel, on the other side is a whole new world. Funny how neighborhoods change so quickly like this. People were on the streets brushing their teeth, getting markets ready. I understand these were not the slums, but it was something that was not very far away from that. Naked children. Dirt shacks. Dead animals and more cows and dogs and something that goes even above poverty. I had my camera, but I could just not bring myself to photograph them. I just couldn’t. not yet. Not that I thought we were in any danger what so ever. We were so out of our element, and I felt very vulnerable. One thing I have learned so far about India (you learn this very quickly) is that you have to give yourself some time to digest what you are seeing. See with eyes that don’t really want to believe the reality of it all. This was not for the weak of heart. Though I have been thinking about things I have seen non-stop, I am not sad we decided to go there. I feel like I have learned a lot in the process, only within those first 2 days in Mumbai! After we walked around, we went back very humbled to the hotel. Later that morning, we got a rickshaw ride to the train station to start our 2 train, 17 hour train ride to Rajasthan. Mumbai is so chaotic and crazy and confusing for the tourist that the first train ride is quite intimidating, and I was not unhappy to get a break from the smoky city. On the train we shared our space in a section with 4 bunks total with a mother and daughter from India. They asked us all the typical questions (where are you going, how long, why on earth did you cut all of your hair off). After a while, they must have found us charming, they said we should stop by their house, then we could tell all our friends we really went everywhere in India. Silly. After arriving at Ahmadabad station at 10:30 at night, I felt as if we were even MORE out of our element. Nothing was in English. We hadn’t eaten anything since our breakfast of toast and eggs (we fell asleep when they came around asking who wanted food on the train). and our tickets said we were on a waiting list and no one could seem to help us. After Gieves went wondering around, I sat with the bags and a few people came up to greet me telling me how very excited they were that they were going to be on the same train with ME, an American! a police officer working at the station came to chat with me. He ended up helping us drastically and chatting us up for a good 30 minutes. At one point he asked Gieves (mainly only the men talk to the ‘husband’ when speaking of his wife) if I was ill. He said why, because all her hair is gone? The man could only say, no, she is tiny! Then looked at me and said, you are so, so, so….weak. We sort of got a kick out of that, even after I told him with my huge pack I have been carrying around I will be strong before you know it.