Street Sights

Two years and counting...

Happy Anniversary, John!

Thanks for picking the bugs out of my hair. I love you.

Get a whiff

John and I have agreed that years and years from now we’ll still be able to mentally transport back to Bombay in an instant if we encounter particular smells. This a pungent city, indeed. Here is a list of all of the aromas/stenches I made a conscious note of smelling on the mile-long walk from yoga practice to our flat this evening.

Exhaust (car, taxi, scooter and bus),
Tobacco,
Raw onions,
Dust,
Poop (dog and cow),
Roasted corn and nuts,
Nagchampa,
Sea air,
Fresh flowers,
Hot, wet garbage,
Rotting leaves,
Ginger and other cooking spices,
Public urinal,
Chai,
and of course, body odor.

A few of these smells were subtle, but most of them were utterly overwhelming. Walking down the street in Bombay is difficult. Despite being a little more confident in crossing the road, it hasn’t gotten much easier in seven months. You have to be very alert while walking. Otherwise you’ll step in dog poop or in a pothole (or in some of the more rubbley areas you’ll be surprised by stepping out of the predominant pothole), or you’ll get run over by a bicycle, or you’ll take a deep inhalation just as an exhaust-spewing bus hurtles past, or while not realizing you’re down-wind of the urinal or the garbage bin. It’s a sensory challenge, and very exhausting. And take it from me, this is one situation where deep, yogic breathing is not helpful.

June Holiday, July Monsoon

Well, I’m back in Mumbai after a month-long trip back home to the States. John and I flew back to Atlanta for his sister’s wedding, an extravagant, joyful occasion. It was a terrible journey, full of long delays, but it was of course worth it. We spent a week or so there with family and friends, during which I got to bond with my mother0in-law, have “brain dates” with my sister-in-law, celebrate with my newest brother-in-law, and spend some quality time with my beautiful little niece. Living abroad since we were married has taught us that when we go home to Atlanta, we see everyone, and it is always very busy. So its always nice to have some down time in Iowa afterward. John spent about a week there with my family. Apart from some barn dancing, severe weather, dinner with grandparents, and a visit from friends from Minnesota, it was a pretty uneventful and relaxing week. John flew back to India to return to work and I stayed in Iowa with my family until the end of June.

Before we left it was deadly hot here in Mumbai. Now the monsoon is upon us. After my return it was clear for a few days, a bit overcast but not rainy. Then it poured for three days straight. I almost felt like I was back in Wales as I sat in our flat, curled up with a book and listening to fat raindrops pelt the windows. But the air here is decidedly more humid and the rains smell different. It’s nice to see the trees washed clean of dust for a chance. But the water on the streets is something to contend with. One day this week only about 20 percent of John’s colleagues made it into the office because commuting was too difficult. Luckily we live on a hill. After a day of hard rain though, the downhill streets in our neighborhood were covered with rushing water, with little waterfalls over the curbs and, no joke, rapids. But overall the trend seems to be short downpours off and on rather than steady pouring like we saw this week. At least its nice and cool now!

Chowpatty Beach

On Sunday nights Chowpatty Beach is the place to be. Even the last few weeks when the weather has been just sweltering, Chowpatty has been swarming with people on Sunday evening. As the sun starts to set over Malabar hill, families flock to the beach and settle in the sand, play with their children, wade in the water, eat snacks and ice cream, and enjoy the atmosphere of the crowd. Its almost like a mini festival every Sunday in celebration of the sunset and a day of rest. There are food vendors and man-powered rides under twinkling lights at one end of the beach. Balloon and piwheel sellers, chai boys, ice cream men and people selling other goodies like roasted nuts and corn roam through the crowds. Grown women play tag with their families, with saris trailing and bangles jangling. Some children venture out to wade in the ridiculously polluted, though cool, water of the bay. And everyone is just there, to be out and to be together. Its a very vibrant but comfortable place to spend a summer evening. As an added bonus, it is just a twnety minute walk from our flat. Here are a few photos from a week or so ago when John and I spent and evening out at Chowpatty:

These mats outside the food stalls are actually serviced by wait staff. They're beach restaurants. See the menu?

The man swinging from the top of this ride is powering it with nothing but his own weight and the help of gravity. There are about three guys to the wheel and they take turns spinning it.

The food and drink is a big attraction to Chowpatty Beach. You can smaple the delicacies of Mumbai street food:

If you're hot you can cool down with a technicolored ice slush:

But I prefer fresh mango juice from Bachelor's, the famous juice stall across the street:

Om...

I’ve been lucky enough to do my yoga practice in a pretty idyllic spot the last few months. My instructor, a young Indian woman called Samantha, teaches all over the city. One of the women she gives private instruction to lives in a beautiful bungalow in Worli, right on the seaside. The home actually has a lawn in the back, and a wooden terrace overlooking the rocky coast and the waters of the Arabian Sea. Twice a week she lets Samantha teach an open class there. It is an amazing setting for a yoga practice. We begin at 7 pm as the sun goes down, the breeze picks up, and the tide rolls in or out on steady waves.

Samantha is a good instructor who leads a challenging practice. My ability and love for yoga have grown a lot, even in working with her a short time. Her focus is on the asanas, the body positions, which doesn’t seem all that common with other yogis here in Mumbai. Some of the other branches of yogic practice—breathing, meditation, etc.—get a lot more attention here than in the U.S. (Which is quite cool. Walking down Marine Drive the other night we saw a man sitting in lotus, pinching his nostrils shut in an alternating rhythm.) So although Samantha’s classes are familiar to me, who was introduced to yoga in the west with our focus on the body, she does incorporate breathing exercises and chanting into all of her classes. I think this is quite rare in the U.S., although some of my readers could correct this assumption of mine if I’m wrong.

But like many Mumbaikers, Samantha is taking a short vacation during the end of May, after which she is actually setting up shop in her own space. No more traveling all over town to teach classes. And the studio will be quite close to our flat which I’m happy about. But I will definitely miss practicing at the idyllic bungalow! Om…

Mango Season

My favorite thing about being in India during the month of May is MANGOES! It is mango season here, and yum! They are absolutely delicious. I’ve never really enjoyed tropical fruits before, for obvious reasons. Every mango I’ve tasted before this had to fly thousands of miles before getting to me. No wonder they weren’t juicy and flavorful like the mangoes I’ve been eating here. Mango slices, mango juice, mango lassi, mango with ice cream—at home, on the street, in restaurants. So many different colors and varieties…mmm. Our good friend Rupak and his family gave us a whole box of Alphonso mangoes which have been the most delicious so far. When we get back to Mumbai in June after our trip home, I think mango season will be over. So I’m going to keep eating them every day until we leave! Yum yum!