Leah’s Day Out OR Soft Rock Reigns Supreme

On Wednesday I had my first independent adventure. Being as Mumbai has around 15 million people, few street signs, crazy traffic, and I’m staying about an hour to an hour and a half from the downtown area (depending, again, on traffic) getting around is not nearly as easy as back home.

Thus Wednesday was my first true test of independent navigation. I caught a ride from Sunitha to her college, and from there got a taxi to take me to the downtown area so I could hit up a museum.

The taxis here look like they’re British cars of the 1960s, and only the modern ones have AC. It was fun taking one, minus the times you are actually stopped at a traffic light and people are trying to sell you pirated books, movies, or magazines, or begging…I still have not got used to that. And as I am super western, they especially like to plead with me.

The museum I went to is called the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharah Vastu Sangrahalaya, formerly known as Prince of Wales Museum of Western India. I’m really glad they changed it to something that rolls right off the tongue.

Museum had all sorts of stuff illustrating history of India; perhaps the strangest thing was a vast collection of snuff jars from the famous historical figure, Tata (I forget the full name). My favorite thing though were the hordes of school-age kids who liked to walk by me and yell “Hi!” as loud as they could. I appreciated their zest for practicing English with me.

After I had my fill of the museum and a Greek tourist offered to take my pic (see token touristy photo) I made my way to the famous Leopold’s Café, where I lunched on Kashmiri Naan (Naan with tomatoes, pineapple, and something else mixed in—I still favor garlic naan) and Paneer Tikka Masala (chunks of cottage cheese, but not like U.S. cottage cheese in the masala sauce). This is where I realized India’s affinity for Soft Rock. I was greeted by a Willie Nelson song which was a pleasant surprise (yes, the place caters to tourists) but then Willie was followed by Richard Marx “Right Here Waiting” and the Police “Every Breath You Take” and so on and so forth. (Notice in the food pic the silverware is clean--I eat with my right hand like a "proper Indian!"

I was able to successfully navigate my way back to Sunitha’s college by commandeering another cabbie. Sunitha said upon my return “This must be what it feels like to worry about your kids!”

It is strange to go from knowing everything and feeling so comfortable for so many years to being somewhere where street signs are hard to even find. I leave tomorrow for a two week trip with my cousin Maria starting in Delhi; when I return I will try and learn to read basic Marathi (the local language here in Maharashtra, the state Mumbai is in) so I can figure out what buses to take! Baby steps, baby steps.