hit or miss?

coffee break time.

barista. if you specify lavazza, you can get a damn good cappuccino. not quite as prolific as starbucks, but they can be found almost everywhere. banana muffins sound nice for a light lunch? upon closer inspection, no. understandably baked... but still, id rather not have hair.
hit for the coffee.
miss for the snacks.

karma?

so again, this place never fails to prove me wrong.
i wrote the majority of 'daughter of eve' today, after being so fed up after the oral sex proposition.

on the way home, a gentleman said hello. guard up, i smiled, said a curt hi, and walked faster.
he stayed back.
he met up with me at an intersection and asked if i was new to mumbai. i said not really, i work here.
he said i work here too. i hope. i am an architect. this is my first day here and i have an interview tomorrow.
who can resist?
i said, wow, i am an architect too.
he told me that he was from goa, and had just finished his studies. he was hoping for a better design opportunity in mumbai.
we then talked about finding affordable places to stay, paying guest might be the best option... yes, hostels are no fun at all, and way too expensive. he told me he uses autocad and 3dmax. he was very excited to start work. how much salary to ask for?
im not sure, i get paid as a student. i do research here.
how much is a good rent? im not sure, you can find a paying guest that may be affordable, at least until you can see enough flats.
he was looking in colaba. the same questions that occupied my life the first few weeks i was here.
i can accompany you, i am just walking around tonight.
but i need to go over there, down this street, you dont have to come.
oh please, im just walking.
well, ive had a very bad day, and i need to get home soon.
ok then. if that is the way to colaba, i will walk that way.
ok then. that is the way to colaba. at the gate, i politely declined the invitation to coffee, but wished him luck on his interview, and finding a flat.

i feel sometimes that every time i almost give up on this place, things turn around.
its sad. you have to have that dont-f-with-me attitude all the time, and then you miss things like that.

good luck mr. architect from goa. it was nice to meet you.

city of towers?

flashback

ironically touching.
from today's times of india, memories of a snowy morning glued to the tv as one of the more horrible events in the world of higher education unfolded.
the virginia tech gunman and an architecture student. from blacksburg to mumbai. not quite full circle.

"Her dream project was to create an environment for development of children, particularly for troubled youth. Now, a year after young Minal Panchal was gunned down in a deadly campus shooting in the US by a troubled student, her family has approached the Indian government to convert her thesis - a museum for children - into brick-and-mortar reality."

read the rest of the articles here, and here.

bombay blues

transit options.

rec league paid off

the cooperage ground is the football field, it is also across the street. sunday morning game watching turned into sunday morning kicking contest.
"there is automatically a prize for the first lady who tries. what, no ladies? we can make the distance smaller... i though bombay was a modern city.... we are asking all the ladies to try..."
rita was the first lady. she hit the board, on the first try. i was the second lady, also hitting the board, on the first try, but with the added challenge of shooting from the mens striking distance (which honestly was not so far away). we both passed to the second round, where her ball drifted to the side, while somehow my shot came to rest just at the board.
"there must be an angel on your shoulder! please come back at 430 for the prize ceremony. you will get the prize for the lady who scores. the prize is a tea hamper. please come."
maybe it was fond memories of rec league games with orange slice halftimes. maybe it was the backyard instructions from my dad. maybe it was the cheering in the distance? maybe it was just luck.
but i now have tea for the next nine months.
and the real winners got a two week trip to london for arsenal's summer training camp.

daughter of eve

this post is in progress.

i like to think that im lucky. so far, my direct personal experience with harassment has been minimal. not worse than anything i really encountered in the united states, in contrast to what the guide books claim is a serious problem here.
they call it 'eve-teasing', and it goes something like this:

hello m'am... what is your name?
- you dont need to know my name.
please m'am, you are very beautiful... (puts hand on shoulder)
your ass is very beautiful.
- you dont need to speak to me like that, leave me alone.
do you want to f*ck? i know how to f*uck?
-LEAVE ME ALONE.

where are you from?
- new york.
have you seen mumbai?
- yes, actually, its lovely.
can i show you mumbai, i would like to show you bandra.
- no thanks, i have to work today.
please give me your number?
- not today. im sorry, i need to go now.
can i just spend one hour with you, i would be so happy...
please. half an hour.
- i need to go back to work, i am late.
i will just accompany you to your work. please for half an hour...
- no, please let me go.
just half an hour... we can have oral sex.
- dont speak to me like that, leave me alone. (gives the finger)

it happens on the way home from the store, between the sandal-wallah and the office, near the train stations, near everything.
sometimes just stares, sometimes just rubbing of crotches... sometimes hissing, calls, strange verbal noises.
never anything that is threatening, more just a nasty feeling that sort of stays for a while and makes you hope that no one is paying attention to the route you take home. or following you, as most of these incidents happen on the street.
mumbai is supposed to be the safest city in india for women. and apparently, its illegal to eve-tease everywhere. which is great, until you hear stories about being raped by the police.
so honestly, not as bad as expected... but really, not so good either. aacha nahin.

and will someone please tell me why the majority of american actresses featured in the newspaper are lacking pants? i know hayden panettiere has some nice red carpet pictures out there.
sometimes the subtle stuff is worse.

hit or miss?

this will obviously become a recurring feature. but lets start with lunch time foods.

idli. usually hit. its a nice light lunch. fresh and never greasy. just enough spice. yummy coconut chutney too.
but not today. not with ants.

the nature of stuff

this project is about water and networks of interaction in the city. for the past four weeks, ive been trying to focus, narrow, and refine my intention of study.

tankers like this override/fill in the gaps/compensate for the lack of hard, planned systems of water distribution infrastructure that the city built over 100 years ago. which makes the task of focusing, narrowing, and refining a big sloppy mess. so far ive been learning that there are layers upon layers of formal and informal networks that qualify for what as a westerner, i would consider to be a fairly fixed system. it is literally a moving target.

everyday i pass things like this:


these guys are not the worst offenders. most of them are dripping at a rate that would deplete half the tank on the way from the northern suburbs to say, cuffe parade.

the city is surrounded by water, parts of it used to be water, yet most of the water that comes out of taps is sourced far outside the city limits. public storage wells have been covered over and closed off. access today is a relative term dependent on time, money, and developers interest.

"The water we seek is the fluid that drenches the inner and outer spaces of the imagination. More tangible than space, it is even more elusive for two reasons: first, because this water has a nearly unlimited ability to carry metaphors and second, because water, even more subtly than space, always possesses two sides... Water remains a chaos until a creative story interprets its seemingly equivocation as being the quivering ambiguity of life." - Ivan Illich H2O and the Waters of Forgetfulness

on a personal, and rather ironic note, everyday i have to go restock my water bottle supply because i still have not secured reliable home delivery. every other day i crush plastic bottles in my bathroom because its so noisy i cringe.

fauna

mumbai is filled with critters. everywhere. all the time. big and small. so far, these are my best friends.

the new roommate:



the elusive shrieking bird:



the roommate is a gecko, his name is sam. he is shy, but likes to surprise every so often. i cant figure out where in the immediate area around my window the shrieking bird (koyal) actually lives, only that it seems to have continual issues with life, and likes to vent its frustrations morning and night.

mumbai vs dc, in the category of city critter ick factor: dc wins hands down. so far.
im sure once it starts raining there will be all sorts of additional characters.

monkey do

this weekend there was an excursion to elephanta island.
it’s a small island off the coast of south mumbai, and the ferry allows for a great views of the eastern waterfront, port facilities, and petrol refineries, through the smog.



on the island there are requisite souvenir stands, food stalls, and dogs, cats, cows, goats, monkeys. and three small villages. no elephants.




also litter filled marsh, beach front, and former lake, and other environmental hazards to be described later.


the main attraction for most visitors are the caves, but we mostly walked around the perimeter of the island, up some hills, through some trees and back down again avoiding the crowds, and sun. the caves we did see though, were nice.


it was amazing to finally step even just slightly outside of the city.



these girls showed us a little of their village, and seemed to multiply, gremlin style, when close to the water.
and im convinced that mumbai looks most beautiful at sunset.

run around

to medicate or not to medicate. the bombay hospital field trip was interesting, but inconclusive. the advice was to provide a urine sample, and return after a few days worth of antibiotics. im generally wary of antibiotics, so decided to pass, thank you very much. i did want to keep the test part of the bargain, so i returned at my suggested time and was promptly sent away, as i had failed to understand that i needed to pick up the test result and bring it with me. the larger problem was that i also failed to retain the receipt for the test, making my chances of picking up the results pretty slim. that and i didn’t really have the energy. for a pretty good establishment in terms of facilities and security, bombay hospital has an appalling lack of signage. which can really wear you out, especially if you are already sick. fire stairs? not a word. registration? billing? admissions? there was a running tally of filled and available beds, in all categories of class, updated with a frequency that necessitated a dry erase board, but that was the most informational graphic in the place.
in the end, i passed on the return visit, but opted for the meds. they did the job better than i could.
lessons learned? retain every bill of sale, receipt, tally, etc, until its absolutely useless. and don’t mess with getting sick the first time, maybe.
along those lines, i nearly forgot about a thousand rupee deposit i had on my hostel room. thankfully that receipt was saved, because even with the signed slip, it was most reluctantly handed over.
that may have been the end of a seemingly endless transition.

and photos will be updated on flickr. whenever broadband is available. hearts and more.

home base

yesterday was move-in day.

the place was immaculate, but a spritz of the clorox never hurts, especially when you've dragged it all the way from the states, thanks mom.


the view is over the maidans, in the vague direction that i walk almost always. from the bathroom i can see churchgate station’s neon glow.



slightly alarming is the proximity of the shower head to the light bulb, but so far the not-so-intense water pressure has prevented a major disaster.





there is a mini-sink, and a geezer. and a freshly tiled floor.

its one of the best uses of compact space i have ever lived in.
and there are soccer games at the doorstep.