Elephanta Island and A Night at the Movies

If you’ve somehow missed my distress at the humidity and heat in Mumbai, let me take a chance here to reiterate that it is very humid and hot in Mumbai. Right now we are in the hottest weeks of the year until the monsoon will bring some relief to the heat in about two weeks. The heat has discouraged me from venturing outside too much, since no transportation has A/C and a fair amount of walking would be required. I would chide myself because I need to go out and experience everything that India has to offer while I have the chance. I did happen to venture out on Saturday because one of the interns from the organization I work for offered to show my flatmate and me around Mumbai. After getting to the train station and an hour on the old-school trains, we were at the Gateway of India at around noon. We took our pictures in front of the monument and the nearby Taj Mahal hotel while waiting for our tour guide. Waiting outside in the sun with no shade at noon in May in Mumbai was probably not the best idea. After some train delays our friend showed up and said we would be going to Elephanta Island. Elephanta Island is an island in the Mumbai Harbor, and it is famous for its cave temples that all have been carved out of rock. I was excited since visiting Elephanta was on my wanderlist and we had an early start to the day. After an hour on the boat we had to walk about a half mile from the dock to the main part of the island. No big deal, I had already spent a few hours in the sun at this point and a half mile wasn’t going to kill me. However, at the end of port, we had to climb up a long set of stairs that are lined the entire way by vendors selling tourist souvenirs. At the top we were rewarded with the entrance to the first and main Elephanta cave. We were taking pictures in front of the magnificent sculptures, and all my pictures show my drenched shirt from the great workout we got getting to the caves. Then I thought I saw something familiar. After staring for what seemed like minutes, I yelled out “Jao?” The figure turned around, and I was right! Here in cave #1 on Elephanta Island in the Mumbai Harbor, India was an old classmate of mine from AP Chem from our sophomore year in high school. We didn’t talk much, or at all, after that very demanding class so it had been 10 years since we saw each other. His friends and I were amazed at the odds, just incredible! I felt like I had witnessed lightning striking the same place twice. After a quick catch-up, I enjoyed the rest of the caves while realizing what a small world it was. Our tour guide, Zuhleka, had more in mind for our day in Mumbai but after getting back to the mainland we were absolutely exhausted and decided to call it a day. The picture at the top of the page is a panorama of the Mumbai skyline on the boat back to the mainland. Though I'm glad I saw the caves and appreciated the culture, that day reminded me why I’ve decided not going out in the heat and crush of people is sometimes a good idea when I’m bored at home.

True to form I have been staying inside and I am happy with my laziness. In the US I was very much of the mindset that I didn’t want life to pass me by and I needed to go out and experience life (maybe part of the reason why I ended up in India.) I’m very grateful when that attitude has overcome my inertia to have experiences instead of lazing about at home. But these past few weeks I have been reading, journaling, reliving the glory of The West Wing and just spending time reading what I want to read. When I start to itch to get outside, I tell myself that I will have the entire post-monsoon to do anything I like outside. But for now I am content with catching up on current events and reading the books that I just never had time for.

I do think I will make an exception to go to the movies. As a fan of the first Hangover movie I was anticipating the sequel. For the record, I am completely in the dark about what American movies have been released or not. I know Bridesmaids came out because Kristen Wiig was on The Daily Show and I have been following that. But apparently there was a weed movie with Natalie Portman and James Franco? Yea, I had no idea. Anyway, I practically had May 26 (or 26 May as we do it here) circled on my calendar as the Indian release date for The Hangover II. Thankfully, there is a large multiplex near my house and I made a plan to go and watch The Hangover II this weekend. With a 4PM showing I got there exactly at 4PM, still in time for the movie since I would just miss the previews. To my dismay, there were four lines that each had about 50-75 people. I forgot I’m in a very densely populated country and city on a Saturday at a place that offered much needed A/C. There was a smaller group of people in a line because there was no teller in that line. These people bought their tickets online and simply waved their phones at the teller in the next line and one-by-one they each got their movie tickets. I decided to try my luck with the same teller, except waving my money through the little circle in the glass that lets you talk to the cashier. When he saw my cash he asked me very nicely to get in the other line since this was just for Internet sales. But I had a good feeling about this guy, he just gave me the nice-guy vibe while he gently had to crush my hopes of getting a ticket anytime soon. He wasn’t one of those cashiers who’s just rude and lords his ticket-giving/money-taking power over you and decides you won’t make it to the movie anytime soon because he can. I put on my best sweet-girl face and asked very nicely that if he could just do me this favor since the movie started 10 minutes ago. The woman next to me, who appeared to just be standing there for no reason other than getting in people’s way, informed me that he wouldn’t do it since the line was just for Internet sales. He looked at the time, took my money and gave me a ticket, without so much as a huff. I expressed my gratitude and rushed off to an A/C, comedy paradise. It turns out there aren’t previews for Indian movies, which is fine I just missed the first 10 minutes of the movie. I enjoyed the movie, but my experience was markedly different from an American movie theater. Firstly, nudity was blurred so those essential plot moments of Ken Jeong nude and the jokes with the transvestite were completely undermined. Secondly, there was an intermission! The intermission was in the middle of a scene, in the middle of a dialog. I guess they just took the halfway mark and decided that would be intermission. It was during the intermission that I saw the previews that I thought I had avoided. An intermission doesn’t make sense for an hour and a half movie. But then I forgot Bollywood movies are more like three and a half hours, and it makes sense to have an intermission. Well it was more time for me to enjoy the plush seating and the A/C blast. While I would usually lament my lost opportunity to spend a day enjoying Indian culture, I’ve decided this comfortable taste of home is what I need when I spend everyday in the hubbub of Indian life.

Mommy monkey with cute baby monkey. Baby monkey hangs on to mommy while she traverses around.

In front of one of the cave carvings, they are truly incredible. Notice the sweat marks, yea that's hot.

Monthiverssary in Mumbai

Alas, I have been in Navi Mumbai for a month, in India for two months and I’m starting to feel a little homesick. Specifically I miss meat and the suburbs. And I’m surprised at both of those. I’m not a huge meat eater by American standards, but I am a HUGE meat eater compared to any vegetarian standards. I realized I usually had meat for at least two meals a day, and I’ve been feeling the effects of going vegetarian. Firstly, I eat and eat but I’m always hungry. It’s like being on a diet but not losing weight. Especially considering my very protein-heavy eating pattern before leaving for India, my body is craving some amino acids. So now I am able to work either chicken or fish into my dinners, and having eggs in the morning has curbed most of my hunger. But I really miss beef. I miss tacos, steaks, and sushi. A lot. Thankfully, my dear Robert has shipped two boxes of beef jerky and tuna and protein shakes so I will get my protein fill for the next couple months. And yes I miss the suburbs. I’m not a huge fan of having to own a car and the need for driving to get anywhere. I’m a huge fan of good public transport, and being completely self-sufficient without a car. I might be eating my words now. We have to go grocery shopping at least twice a week because we can only buy how much we can carry home. And it’s not a lot. Walking home from the grocery store while dodging unpredictable traffic and cows, carrying about 7 pounds for a ½ mile in each hand can get a little heavy. Oh yea, and it’s been getting hotter. May is the hottest month in Mumbai, before we get hit with torrential rain starting in mid-June. I’ve been told that walking around in the monsoon is the equivalent of standing in the shower for a minute with all your clothes on. Not to complain, but I’m guessing grocery shopping will become a little more difficult. So I miss cars and huge supermarkets and Costco where you can stock up on food for a month. A nice air-conditioned ride from Costco with the trunk full of meat and eggs sounds pretty marvelous. I remember putting off running errands because it required so much energy. I really get a workout now getting my food for the next three days.

Other than that rant, I’ve started to settle into work here. Over the weekend I actually got to do some field work, in a tribal area about an hour from where I live. I took some great video of my transportation experience, but for some reason my computer garbled it. I’m actually pretty sad about that, this video was a true once in a lifetime experience. It was the most perilous car ride I have ever experienced. Until now, my experience of dangerous car rides includes throttling down unpaved hills in Mexico with a notoriously daring driver, and circling the Arc de Triomphe in Paris with a cab driver who was in a hurry during rush hour. I love roller coasters and thrilling experiences, but I actually felt fear for my safety with this driver. The road to our destination mainly consisted of a two lane highway. There was pretty heavy traffic, and we later found out there was an accident. You would think that would make us think to be more careful, but not really. Any time there was a break in the oncoming traffic, and I mean even for a second, he would swerve into the opposite lane to hopefully pass one or two cars before swerving back into the correct lane. This would consist of three opportunities for a horrible accident to happen. The first is when the driver pulls into the opposite lane, more than once he did this even if there was a curve or when the next car coming down the lane happened to be about three seconds behind the previous car. On the times it was safe to continue in this lane, he would wait until the absolute last possible fraction of a second to get back in the correct lane. With his hand out the window he would often graze his fingers against the car that we narrowly missed as it sped past us. This also meant that we would need to be able to fit back into the correct lane. This wasn’t always possible so the driver would simply squeeze in so there would be two cars, or possibly a truck and a car side-by-side where there should have only been one car. When I was filming my video, my boss in the seat next to me warned me to be very careful. We arrived safely and I had a great time talking to the volunteers with the organization.