A few days more in Mumbai and my Bollywood Debut

Saturday May 30 - Friday June 5

Arriving back in Mumbai it was just as hot as we left and having not had access to much news or e-mail while in Nepal we spent a significant portion of our first day back at the Internet place.

The next day though we traveled outside the city about 2 hours to an area called Panvel for the latest Hash running club outing.

We started around 10, and it was all trail running this time, combined with the heat, it made for a tougher journey than normal. Bryan was a good sport though, and sat on the ice like a champ.

Siblings on ice.

That night some of the girls who I volunteered with at One! International came over one last time to the infamous Sea View Hotel on Juhu Beach to say goodbye as Becca was heading back to England and Vikki and Lu to Southeast Asia. Our oldest student, Sunil (the one I tutored to a passing score on his computer exam) also joined us.

Kickin' it at the Sea View on Juhu Beach

I had joked with my friends back home that my main goal in India was to be an extra in a Bollywood film; I'd been hoping to be cast as Tall White Woman #1. As I checked my email I noticed a posting from the Bombay Expats listserv that they needed extras for a shoot on Monday June 1st. Bryan and I figured, why not, so we made it over to the Court House in Bandra neighborhood early Monday morning to join the rest of the westerners who piled on a bus to go a few hours out of town to where an old airplane was stationed in an amusement park parking lot.

It was already nearly 100 Fahrenheit by the time we started, and after the wardrobe guys assigned us our costumes we didn't have it easy--I was wrapped up in jeans, a jacket and scarf while Bryan had to wear a most fashionable plaid suit. Note our Bollywood photo below.

Our Bollywood Attire

Our role as extras was to sit on the airplane and at one point, even look for seats! Sooooo exciting. Bryan did get to sit right in front of the actress though. We think the movie will be released in December and is tentatively called Jihad. This is the IMDB.com link a fellow extra found and sent me.

We got free lunch and 500 Rupees (about $10 U.S.) but more than anything it was fun being on the set and though I am not sure I would do it again (unless I get to watch a dance sequence, then I totally would), it was fun for a day, though it was possibly the hottest bus ride back to the city I have been on my entire time in India.

Bryan left the next evening, and we had dinner with Sunitha and Ashwyn (my friends I stay with in Juhu) before he left. It was a great time, and surprisingly, we did not come (too close) to killing each other as we traveled together. I know though he was looking forward to getting back to Texas and specifcally visiting a certain restaurant that has a lot of meat.

So, we wanted some ice cream while he was here. We got it.

The next few days I spent packing and catching up on last minute travel plans for my upcoming trips to Turkey, Greece, England, Ireland, The Netherlands, and London. I also caught Monsters Vs. Aliens (good movie, but I had bummer 3D glasses) and hung out with Sunitha and even got a free makeover at a mall, much to her amusement! Since I had to be at the airport at 2 a.m. on Saturday, June 6, I joined some of the Hashers on a short pub crawl Friday night, June 5th, (on a doubledecker bus) and stayed up until I reached the airport. The pub crawl on a bus was a good idea, one I may have to pass on for our Denver HippoPUBamus this year.

Riding high on the double decker pub crawl bus.

From the pub crawl it was straight to the airport and onto Turkey. Gobble Gobble!