Sunday, May 1, 2011

India begins.

Mumbai, India

There’s no telling how hot the streets get during the day. The humidity is soaring and the crowds of chaos only make the streets more dense and make the sweat drip out fast from every pore. Once you accept and deal with the heat you can turn your focus on the beautiful life buzzing around the streets. People of all ages, all classes, swarm the narrow alleys, walking in and out of traffic with no regard to rules or stop lights. That is something a tourist will have to get used to. You will be the only person left standing on the street corner waiting patiently to cross. Even the cars will slow down to stare at you with astonishment that you are actually waiting your turn to cross.

For the most part street vendors and beggars leave you alone, unlike major cities in Africa. Only on occasion you will find dressed up women in colorful robes with their children in their arms who run up to you begging for money or food and will grab your arm if you try to walk away. They live on the streets and sidewalks with their entire family.  It’s difficult to see but that is just life here. These families depend on hand-outs and by rummaging through garbage’s.  I do my part with a couple of rupees here and there, as I can do nothing else.

The constant noise of blowing horns will drive you mad if you let it. Every few seconds a horn goes off either at other vehicles, pedestrians or just simply because they want themselves noticed. You will get honked at by taxi’s to let you know they are available. Which is great if you are looking for one, annoying and horrible if you are not.

It took me a solid day to realize that when I tell someone “no” with a shake of my head that it actually means “yes” here. People would look at me confused as if I really did want to buy those clothes, that watch, that book, those purses. Shaking your head back and forth means okay or yes in the Indian culture. Let me tell you, it’s really hard to get used to.

To beat the mid-day heat, Heath and I decided to see a movie. We were in luck when the premiere of Dum Marro Dum was playing. A great mix of a seventies porn meets Hawaii 5-0 and filmed Guy Ritchie style. Throw in a couple of music videos, which the main characters break out in, and you’ve got yourself a fantastically awesome film. I recommend it to anyone. It was such a great experience we went to another air-conditioned movie the next day. This one was not as good, with absolutely no English, but still worth every Rupee, all $3.00 of them.

We have been on a culinary adventure this trip. Someone would make a fortune if they wrote a guide book to Indian food especially for travel junkies like me. The menus are in English but the names of all the dishes are impossible to understand. The waiter usually just says “chicken with liquid”.  That helps.  I did manage to find something that I’ve wanted to try ever since reading Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall food memoirs from the River Cottage food program (BBC), who swears by this dish. 

Brains.

I ordered Brains Masala. It was excellent. The soft, squishy brain was almost tasteless but added a great texture to the spicy curry dish. Hugh recommends it lightly breaded and fried in butter with sage. If I can’t find that here I will definitely be cooking it at home. Hopefully it will not be too hard to track down sheep’s brains in Portland.

I love Mumbai and its madness. I love the bright colors draped around the women. I love the 50’s style dress all the men wear. I adore the thick black mustaches which is more common than jeans. The people are beautiful with their perfect complexions and tanned skin. Everyone seems to take pride in their dress and style but not in a “Hollywood” glamour sense. Women don’t need to wear make-up here and most don’t. They accentuate their beauty with brightly color dresses with sparkling bead work. You truly step back into time in this city.

The short four days we spent in this city is not enough and I look forward to the day I can come back and eat some more brains.

People live everywhere and anywhere.

A normal method of transporting of goods.

Small shop man with storage in the ceiling.

Just another street in Mumbai.

PUNJABI!

Getting blessed...

My bag did fit.

The spice Market in Agra.

Eating a stolen lunch on the train tracks.

Agra train station.

Goods Carrier

And finally, Brains...

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