We’ve Made Some Friends! June 14, 2012
The two men who work at the front
desk of our building recognize us now. They always hand me the right key number
without me asking, and they smile and odd as though we are old friends.
Perfect. There is an old blind, Muslim man who walks down the alley of one of
the nearby shopping streets chanting, Allah, between steps and holding his hand
out for money to those who pass by. There are children who play in the public
square near the Gate of India while their older siblings help wash the clothes
that are hung along the fences, trees and gardens nearby while they dry in the
hot sun. This same square will turn into a market place later in the day, full
of men selling sponges, toys, huge balloons, and food.
We walked past the gate of India
this morning to jump on a launch headed towards the Elephantine caves on an
island about an hour off the mainland. The ride was uneventful on the way over
apart from the rolling swells that we worried would make one of the group
members sick. On the island we met the goats, monkey and cows that inhabit the
island between the market stands offering everything from sequin bowler hats to
grilled corn. One of the students with us learned quickly that this sign was
serious:
The grandfather of all of the
monkeys came up to her and prepared itself to assault her if she didn’t hand
over the corn. In the background these little guys were harassing other
tourists, and eventually had a drive by theft of Simon’s water bottle.
We hiked up into the hills where the
ancient Hindus carved incredible sculptures into the caves that they built
themselves in the rock face. Even after all of these centuries, many of the
sculptures are still incredibly detailed and truly breathe-taking.
We wandered around this finished
cave and few unfinished caves on the island, admiring the incredible detail and
workmanship of the caves. It definitely had the feeling of a spiritual place…
you felt the presence of so many years of history there. It was really great to
see!
I am very distracted right now by
some chanting outside my window. The voices sound very young, but there is a
very loud and unified chant going on right now. I’m curious…
In the meantime, we had another full
day of the-white-tourists-in-Bombay experience. While we sat on the jetty to
the island, people stared and stared. Apparently it was at me for a good deal
of the time, but I’m used to that now. I am “blonde” by many different
countries standards (which is why people shout Guerra Guerra! At me when I’m in
Mexico, and why a little kid or two here has reached out and tried to touch my
hair while I was sitting somewhere in public). It stands out even more here
when I’m wandering around between people with black hair. Various men were
taking pictures and videos of me and another student while we sat on the boat
and ignored them. This wasn’t the first time, and by now I had learned to
ignore it.
The sun is still beating down hot
each of these days. We keep hearing promises of the rain and how the rain will
bring cooler weather but much more dirt… it will be interesting to finally see
what happens. And pleasant to be out of this heat! One of the other students on
this trip mentioned a really interesting idea while we hid in an air-conditioned
restaurant today:
She said she was looking forward to
watching the Euphoria of the city as it moved from the intense heat of these
days into the cool rains. Rain brings a new kind of life to a city.
This was an interesting idea to me.
Rain does bring life, doesn’t it? And when it is as intense as a few months of
monsoon, where the rain comes down in sheets all day long, it’s hard not feel
its presence in some longer term way. I mean, you have to come to terms with
this very intense weather condition, and for those who are optimists, this
could be a very good way to look at the months of rain.
When I talked to my parents this
morning and voiced some of my concerns/frustrations, my Dad gave me this piece
of advice:
This is a world unlike anything I’ve
ever experienced before. The only way to manage it is to watch, listen and
learn from everything happening around me. There was no reason to try and
“conquer” anything because this city would chew me up and spit me out before I
realized what was happening. My best bet was to consider this an adventure
without goals and just crazy stories to collect along the way.
And as such, we will continue on our
merry way in Bombay. Perhaps the best course of action in these longer-term plan-altering
decisions is to let go and see where it goes. There is a feeling of
sporadic-ness underneath everything here that was making me feel crazy. There
didn’t seem to be rhyme or reason to anything – from timing, to driving, to
purchasing tech equipment, etc. and maybe there is, maybe there isn’t. But
there is a desire to survive in everyone here – from the poorest beggar on the
street to the entrepreneur starting out with a stall in the informal economy of
the market places here. They are all making it just fine and figuring out how
they will keep going as they go. Time for me to take a page of their book and
relax…
Apart from the Colombia work that
still needs my attention! Tomorrow we have another expedition to some ancient
caves nearby, and I am sure that more lovely pictures will find their way into
my blog. I am also officially buying a router tomorrow morning, so these
entries will no longer be sadly hidden in a word doc on my computer! Perfect!
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