On a city train
When Prajwal was in 10th grade a woman came to his class to visit and asked the students to give a speech about their classmates. Prajwal volunteered first, because he loves every possibility show off, and gave what must have been the speech of the decade because he won this woman’s heart over. As it turns out this woman’s husband is a very high ranking government official who is stationed in Mumbai, where we are currently staying. The high ranking government official was able to get us in a first class government guest house. When we first heard this we were excited but then tried to reel in the excitement so that we would not be disappointed. We arrived and told them our name, “Sorry sir, we have no reservation in that name” came the reply. Then Praj wrote down his name and the name of the man who made the reservation for us and then they left with the paper while we waited. Suddenly they came running back, “Sorry Sir, so sorry. Someone else is in your room but we will get them out of there immediately”. Then the people who were occupying the room came running back and were equally apologetic. We have our own private room with a bathroom a balcony and an a/c. We also have a shared kitchen, living room and dining room. In addition there are four guys who live here and their job is to take care of us and cook us food if we so desire. We asked them for lunch and they made us the largest, quite delicious, lunch we have had while in India.
Prajwal is constantly asking me what is my favorite thing I have eaten and the answer is “all of it”. My stomach is still bothering me now several days after it first started hurting but I think maybe it is because I love the food at every meal and I eat until all of the food is gone or I cannot move my arm to my mouth any longer. Coincidentally I have lost the button that seals my shorts closed. Speaking of clothes, I know this paragraph is highly random, most men here wear jeans and button down shirts, I’m wearing shorts and breathable athletic shirts and I am sweating up a storm. Maybe monsoon season is caused when all the people so fully clothed in this extreme heat sweat at once causing it to rain. Speaking of the monsoons, they were supposed to start on June 10th and still have not started and the newspaper is filled with articles about water shortages and the potential food shortages that will result.
We planned to have dinner with the family that made this wonderful guest house available to us and they sent their chauffeur over to pick us up. Once we got to their apartment we were greeted at the door by their live-in servant who prepared us tea and dinner. All these people helping out is not something that I am used to and honestly it makes me feel uncomfortable. I know they are being compensated for their work so it’s no different than a waiter at a restaurant but for some reason it feels wrong to me in a way I can not explain.
Thursday we went to visit Prajwal’s cousin’s husband at a hospital in Mumbai. We took a taxi to the hospital that was too small for me to sit up in without my head hitting the roof. The higher you go in the hospital building the less crowded, cleaner and newer it becomes. The poor people, and by poor I mean they still have some money because they are in a hospital and not on the street, are on the bottom floor filled with many patients to a room. We went to the 4th floor where people have large private rooms and personal servants to assist them. Prajwal’s cousin’s husband is being treated for blood cancer and is doing quite well and expected to be able to leave the hospital in three months.
We spent the rest of the day wandering around the streets looking at people and shops. We went to a Parsi temple and talked with a priest there. They are very interesting people and I have attached a link to the Wikipedia page on them HERE. They are basically a people who left Iran to come to India to escape religious persecution. They do not allow people to join and only marry other Parsi. When a Parsi dies they lay their bodies outside to be eaten by vultures. We also rode the train in town which was disappointingly not crowded. Tomorrow we are waking up early to hit the tourist attractions around town.
Kid feeding a wild goat
City Street
Can I have a bite?
Fire Buckets
Bamboo paint setup
Fancy Room
Laundry
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