The days flew by here and it did not feel like more than two weeks but the count was just that. I spent a lot of time between Bandra and Versova, the two neighborhoods in central Mumbai close to the west coast. After a couple of days I started to get accustomed to the smells of the city. I still remember the first day in Chium Village, Bandra, that strong fish smell, was quite intense. Sometimes waste smells almost knock me out and the damp air seems to be filled with dust, yeast and whatever. The smog is not as bad as it could be, given that Bombay is one of the biggest cities in the world and has one of the highest population densities. Luckily relatively few people have their own cars here. It also took me some time to get used to the left-traffic again (last time in Cyprus), I did not cycle yet but crossing the street was weird because I always looked in the wrong direction to check for vehicles. With time I also got used what appeared to me as a rather aggressive traffic and some of the rickshaw-drivers have really impressive skills in reading the traffic and making close maneuvers.
The highlights of this time were a dancing show Malou organised with some of here students, a night in a club, riding an Enfield indian-style (loaded with three people), watching a Bollywood movie while Naveen, one of the main actors sits next to me and comments, the first monsun rain in the early morning after a long drinking night and amazing food and these green coconuts to drink (costs nothing and ist worth a lot, best isotonic drink ever!).
At last, after having a messed up stomach in Georgia, and Iran, I finally completely rehabilitated here in this crazy city of all places, where you have to be damn careful what you eat and always double check the water. But Malou, having been through quite a bit sickness herself, was super protective and taught me some good habits to protect our poor fragile white-people-stomachs. And since even a longer time my muscles feel again like they get all the minerals they need. It might also have to do with the fact that I am not really cycling for more than a month now, however before so many body-parts would cramp up if I had to hold tension for more that two seconds.
It was only after some ten days, that I actually managed to go downtown and have a look around. The buildings there are quite handsome, there is less trash and since it was a sunday it was not so crowded. while roaming the streets I walked through a film set. Later ran into a guy who insisted that I have something on my head and when I gave in and expected to pull something out of my hear he quickly stuck a cold thing in my ear and once he pulled it out I looked surprised and embarrassed at the stuff he scratched out. I refused any further treatment... On Marin Drive I was chatted up by some guys and we were talking while walking further and parted when they stopped at a liqueur store.
During the progress through these three weeks things got a little less busy for me. I got time to relax and managed to read Shantaram. It's a really nice read but the wise-stuff-in-your-face was a bit too much.
And after 3 weeks in Bombay it's finally time to see some more of India. The monsun still not quite arrived yet (I imagined the incessant rain might just push me back into a plane) so I will just take my chances and see if I can reach the Himalaya up north (trying to get away from the monsuns approching from south). I got some malaria medics, Wolter is out of the box again, I got my head full of worries about climate, water suplies and what-have-you and this is how ready I will ever get...
click on pictures to open the albums
