Hello Mumbai

When I mentioned to friends and fambly that I was going to be spending a work weekend in Mumbai, the responses were fairly uniform:

1. bring diarrhoea tablets
2. be careful of molest
3. what will you eat - everything is poisonous.
4. you sure get rob one.

So of course whilst I was headed there, I was a little bit afraid.

Quite unexpectedly, and against all known odds, I had a wonderful time. Mumbai may be a little messy - the roads have no dividing lines (none that are taken note of by anyone anyway), there is the occasional pile of burning garbage by the side of the road and I was a shining beacon for various individuals seeking gratuitous payments by the side of the road, but the food was glorious, the people were extremely gracious, kind and about twice as tall as me. I was walking in a land of giants.

AND, most importantly, quite unlike a certain part of China that I visited before, people did not spit, pee or poop on the road or in public places, nor did they grab me or pull my clothing when I refused to give them money for nothing. I recall sadly the one time I was running from 2 little old Chinese lady beggars who were pulling at my clothes and grabbing at my arm because I wouldn't give them money.

The pavement was not covered with dried spit. The children did not wander around bottomless (except for one little girl outside a temple) and I was completely floored when, facing a small crowd of beggars by the road, the oldest one said to me graciously, in perfect English "If you give me the cash, I will divide it amongst all of us." And so I did, and so she did.

Am craving for some Indian food, just like the food I et in Mumbai.