and then this one time...

Day 6 – Saturday, April 1 – Whirlwind Tour in the Bubble World

Today was really hectic, and the first time I got to see a lot of the city in daylight, and experience more of Mumbai. I slept in a little, and then went to the gym for a quick jog, and discovered that the pool is really cool! There is a little kiddie pool outdoors, and the main pool is a good 50 metres in length, with one of the sides open to the outside, so it is open to the natural elements. They also decorated the place with rocks surrounding the pool, so the place looks really serene. I didn’t have time to go to the pool, but I was looking forward to coming back.

After working a bit, I got ready to head to the office to meet up with the Dutch team and the ERS partner for lunch and shopping. We had lunch at Jazz by the Bay, which has an amazing salad bar selection.



This boy was outside Jazz by the Bay, and asked me to take his picture (via pointing at himself).



After lunch, Anita from work joined us to go shopping. We went to the Gateway of India and saw the Taj Mahal (from the outside), and took lots of pictures. I learned that the Taj Mahal was built by M. Tata, to create the best hotel in the world to spite the British hotel that had refused him entrance as he was a “native”. We didn’t have a chance to see the inside, as the Dutch team was on a tight schedule, as they had a flight at 1.30am.

Then we went shopping at Fabindia, a store with clothing and housewares. I got some towels and curtains (very nice, but I’m not sure what I will end up doing with them!). Then we rushed off to a shop in another part of Colaba at a store that sold a bunch of things, but mainly focused on silver jewellery and wood carvings. When the shopping was complete, we headed back to the hotel, where we had half an hour before a lady was supposed to come and apply mendhi (henna) to Carolina’s (from the Dutch team) and my hands.

It all started at the group meeting that we had on Friday. One of the staff, Hemal, had mendhi on her hands, arms, legs, and feet, as she had recently become engaged (discussion about weddings and rituals in another post). Carolina must have made a comment about how lovely it was, and the ERS partner made the request that Hemal arrange for someone to come to the hotel so that Carolina could have the mendhi applied. The lady coming to apply the mendhi was supposed to come at 6.30pm, and we were supposed to head to dinner at 7pm. But the lady arrived at 7pm with Hemal, so, we were not sure that we would still have time to have it applied. But since we are in India, IST was applied to dinner, so delaying dinner was ok. Carolina had the mendhi applied first, and then it was my turn. The tube that is used to apply the mendhi looks very much like a small version of the tube used to apply the icing on a cake. Lots of pictures were taken. Interesting facts that we learned: you’re supposed to leave the mendhi on for 24 hours, and not wash your hand until then. It becomes dry after an hour and a half or so. And the warmer your hand, the darker the mendhi stains, and the longer it stays. The folklore is that the darker the mendhi stains, the more your husband loves you (since this is a ritual applied at an engagement/prior to a wedding). Hemal was super nice, and not only took her personal time to come with the lady to apply the mendhi, she also ended up paying for the mendhi.







Then we headed out to dinner, being careful not to touch anything with our left hands. We had a yummy dinner (even better lobster) at the Sheraton by the airport. I unknowingly had a naan that was super spicy. My tongue was on fire! Anyway, when dinner was over, we dropped the Netherlands team at the airport. I dozed off in the car several times on the way home.

It was a day packed with many activities, and I am very grateful that people took time out of their personal schedules to show us around. I am also very aware that I am experiencing Mumbai/India in a bubble world, what with having a driver, eating at some of the best restaurants, staying at a nice hotel, etc. is not the typical experience people have. But I am thankful for the opportunity to be here and that I am being eased into a different culture and society.

posted by LZ @ 10:48 AM