First Morning Walk in Mumbai

First Morning Walk in Mumbai --  June 12, 2012

I went for a walk this morning at 8 am because I was going a little stir crazy. My roommate was supposed to get here last night so I left the lights on while I slept. That is, until the first of the many wake ups at 2:40 am. Since she wasn’t here I shut off the lights and tried again. By 5:40 am sleep wasn’t coming back, so I read for a while and then decided, by 8 am when breakfast opens here, that it was time to emerge.

So really, it’s actually more like I went to breakfast in the sort of cafeteria thing at 8 am. I got ahead of myself. We are staying in a YMCA, which I didn’t realize meant that it is pretty much all men and me here right now. I have yet to see another woman enter the building… this morning ended up being me walking into a crowded room full of Indian men sharing tables silently. I felt like I should pull out one of Matt’s signature nerdy hey guysss motions but it was already painfully obvious that this was weird. Or at least, my presence seemed to surprise a few of the visitors. I promise, I am dressed like a nun – leggings in already 95 degree heat and all – but it was still odd. Something to get used to.

I paid less than a dollar for a pretty decent breakfast (even China was not this cheap… though maybe I was going to the wrong places?) and found some silent, brooding guy who had a table to himself to sit down next to while I stared out the window and thought about how freaking much this reminds me of Mexico City. As soon as I walked out of my door and breathed in the eggs cooking in the kitchen nearby, the same indescribable spice smell, and some smoke (from a guy melting metal outside, I soon discovered) it was like being back. It’s a little hotter here right now, but otherwise very similar. There was a door cracked open next to the cafeteria (though I need to find a better word for it, it was more like a meeting/common space with Christian things posted everywhere), and I didn’t think twice before climbing out onto a beautiful white and mirror mosaic balcony overlooking the street. It was still too early for the streets to be really crowded, but there were a few people (mostly men) walking down the street towards the main strip.

After breakfast I dropped my keys off at the desk and set out to find wifi. It was still too early for things to be open (I forgot what time it was since I’ve been up for so long), so I managed to cross the street from last night without feeling like I was going to be run over and got to see men setting up their market stalls for the day. I love inform economies, as you well know, and it was cool to see the process of them hanging things and re-hanging them to catch the light better, people sharing tales (I assume, based on the laughter and the pats on the back. I cant pretend I have a clue as to what they were saying because I live in my little language bubble right now), and the sun peaking through the dark alleys that would soon be filled with people.

The coffee place I went to yesterday that promised wifi was not open yet. There was some guy in there watching me essentially stalk the door and eventually he came over and made it “not open” gesture to me while on his iphone. Damn.

Well, if it wasn’t painfully obvious that I am not from here this morning, it was only more of an adventure outside. I’ve become pretty good at avoiding unwanted eye contact from many years of practice in Mexico, but this was a new level of interesting. It was barely 8:15 am and already 3 men had taken it upon themselves to walk me down different streets and try to solicit me for something. The last two wanted me to pay for an all day city tour with them. The first one was its own brand of interesting because I was trying to lie my way out of a bizarre situation. He appeared out of nowhere, and looks about my age. He asked me if I was looking for something I could not remember much less pronounce or try to spell here and I just shook my head. I was trying to decide if I was going to speak English or not. I kept walking, a little more quickly now, and he asked me where I was from. I said, Mexico, in as highly a German accented English as possible (though… really I’m such a crap liar. WHY WOULD I BE FROM LATIN AMERICA AND HAVE A GERMAN ENGLISH ACCENT? I need to work on this.) He said oh. Are you single? But I couldn’t understand what he said so he had to repeat himself a few times, all while I was basically running away from him at this point.

Who me? Oh yes, I’m uh…married ImeanIhaveaboyfriend… and then I turned quickly down another street while he said something like, oh ok sorry and went on his way. This was 8:30 am.

This street was busier because it fed into a rotary near some lovely old mosque looking buildings. I walked down the street to the waterfront and saw the gateway of India. The sun is still out, no rain yet, and it was beating down on the square where all of these children were playing. Their mothers sat in the shade watching their wares and their children. Some of the older girls were making things in boiling pots of water on the cement. Their clothes were hanging from the streets and the railings on the sidewalk drying. All next to the famous Taj hotel, where some of the richest people in the world come to stay for an evening. I was surprised and pleased that they didn’t seem to notice me. It was easier being around a group of women and children who just ignored my presence, as I hoped they would. I was already wary of the leering from earlier.

It was still pleasantly quiet my 9 am when I walked down a few other streets looking for wifi. Still nothing was open, which isn’t really a surprise. It was, however, getting really hot. I ended up coming back to read for an hour or two before I go out and try again. It would be nice to let my parents know that I’m not dead…