Mumbai, Live

Cumulative Miles Traveled: 29,583
Current Location: Mumbai (formerly Bombay), India
Current Mood: Extremely dirty, sticky, hot...did I mention extremely dirty?

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Umm...so why did I include Mumbai in my itinerary? I really can't remember why I thought it would be a good idea. Damn all the Indian authors I love to read who paint such colorful, evocative, sensual pictures of this country. I'm absurdly impressionable when it comes to books I read and have previously been known to act impulsively after reading particularly engrossing books (such as when I flew to London to visit the Brick Lane just after reading Brick Lane, the time I accumulated massive amounts of honey after reading The Secret Life of Bees, almost flying to Paris and Vatican City after reading The DaVinci Code (impeded only by lack of funds and impending law school finals), the spring break trip in Cancun where I could not stop talking about The Time Traveler's Wife and told the spring break girls that they should avoid marrying a time traveler because it would be too painful...). So I'm pretty sure that Arundhati Roy, Anita Desai, Jhumpa Lahiri, Manil Suri, among others, are collectively directly responsible for my decision to travel to Mumbai.

I don't know what I expected. It's not as if they paint India to be a beautiful, pristine locale. In fact, I'm finding that Mumbai lives up to the colorful depictions portrayed by the authors. But somehow, in real life, it's not just some romanticized city overflowing with people and spices...it's a real city overflowing with people, spices and garbage...which doesn't quite make for the most pleasant experience. It doesn't help that monsoon season arrived a little early this year so it's stiflingly muggy and sticky until the air can't hold any more humidity and it suddenly starts pouring buckets. I got caught in two passing monsoon rainstorms already and honestly, it doesn't feel that different from when it's not raining - instead of the dense humid air, you just get water falling on you. Whether or not it's raining, you are wet, sticky, dirty.

As soon as you arrive, Mumbai launches a full-fledged assault on all your senses. You smell and feel it first. The hot, sticky air envelops you as soon as you deboard the plane and you can actually smell the humidity. Then you smell the garbage, human feces and piss, body odors and curry spices emanating from the city from all corners, sometimes in turns, but often all at once. Once you get in a taxi (you have to choose between air conditioned or non air-conditioned...I opted for non air-conditioned since after Dubai I am so overbudget...which is really a joke because how rational is it for me to shell out $200-300 a pop for several pairs of shoes but try to save ONE dollar for a non air-conditioned cab ride to my hotel? Ridiculous, I know) and leave the airport your ears are assaulted by cars honking from every direction 24/7. Your eyes are assaulted by the sight of trash and pollution, the families squatting on the filthy sidewalk inches away from sewers and cars buzzing by, eating rice and curry with their hands on the ground, by the sight of men spitting everywhere, the rundown buildings, the dirty brown Arabic Sea. And your tastebuds are assaulted by spicy curries that make your pores sweat cumin and other curry spices.

It's a bit disgusting, slightly jarring, a bit foreign (reminds me a bit of Bangkok, but not)...but somehow it's still wonderful to me. Dirty, hot and sticky...but wonderful. Because I'm finally in India! And Mumbai IS very much like the city in my imagination painted by those talented authors, except that you find out that when you're actually experiencing it instead of just imagining it, it's totally jarring because you've just never experienced a place this chaotic and dirty before. Despite the fact that my flip flops keep flipping up wet muck on to my legs and white denim skirt so that the back of my skirt looks like a dalmatian, I stepped into a pile of FECES (not sure if it was canine or human...disgusting either way), got caught in sudden rainstorms and every single person I walk by stares at me (which quite honestly, I've gotten used to...doesn't really bother me anymore), experiencing India for real is fantastic. However, I doubt I will ever come back, now that I've been here. It's just one of those places I've always wanted to visit and now that I've crossed it off, never need to do it again.