Mumbai week one and change

So it has been a long week and everyone is chompin' at the bit for information and stories. First things first, I am in Mumbai, not Delhi. The Delhi housing situation was sounding sketchy, so after much frantic last-minute planning, I changed my flight to land in Mumbai. I made some friends last time I was here and was able to arrange some very cost effective housing. My friend Vicky (he is a financial reporter for the Times of India tv station) arranged for me to stay with his cousin Guru, and his two roommates Prajwal and Varun in a tiny 1 bedroom flat in the Mumbai suburb of Thane. It is small, but not too bad. There is a living room with a fuzzy tv with cable, a kitchen that we never use, a shower, a toilet (a squatee to be precise), and the bedroom where we all sleep.

Before I get too far, I thought I would talk about why I am here for those of you who don't know (which is like everyone). I am researching how to teach Indian literature for my master's thesis. Basically, I will be hanging out in a high school classroom here in Mumbai and observing how Indian literature is taught and talking to teachers and students about it. I won't bore you all with the details. I meet with the vice-principal of a school tomorrow to hopefully get moving on this.

So what have I been doing so far? I guess the best description is "being a mallrat." Indians apparently love malls and they have sprung up everywhere. The food there is generally safe (as compared to street food), so I have been going there for lunch and dinner. The closest mall is Eternity Mall. It is a few hundred yards away. The a/c leaks continuously and there are buckets everywhere, but it isn't bad. Their movie theaters are also awesome. There are three different types of seats. I chose to go with the gold level when I saw Star Trek. It cost 160 rupees (48 rupees= $1.00). I thought at first I would have trouble locating the different seats, but then I just looked to the top of the theater and saw two rows of plush lazy boy recliners. They were terrific. They had electric reclining and everything. About halfway through the movie, I had to use the bathroom (for clarification, see earlier blog posts). When I returned, the movie was no longer playing. Nobody seemed concerned, which was amazing in this country of complainers. I went to the concession guy and tried to explain how the movie was no longer playing. He simply showed me back to my seat. After a few seconds, I realized it was just intermission. They just stop the movie halfway. It is crazy. Also, there are no previews. There is just a presentation of the national anthem that you have to stand for.

On my first day at the Eternity Mall, I ran into a group of college kids that kept laughing at me. I just brushed it off. The next day, I saw them again, and they were even more gleeful at this run-in. Later that day, I saw them in the food court and decided to sit down and ascertain what exactly was going on. They didn't speak much English, and I don't speak much Hindi, so it was a little tricky. Basically, they said they weren't laughing at me, which was a lie. Otherwise they were nice.

Eventually I made it to the next further mall. It is about 1 km away and called the R Mall. It is nicer and has department stores. There is also a Pizza Hut and Subway. The Subway had no beef for obvious reasons, but they did have a chicken tikka sub. And footlongs were not even an option. I went to an arcade there, but the workers all followed me around like I was an idiot and pushed all the start buttons for me. It was kind of awkward.

The next day I decided to push the limits a bit and head to an even bigger mall called Nirmal Lifestyles. This required hiring transportation though. I tried to be the savvy traveler, but failed miserably. I was told it should cost about 20 rupees by autorikshaw (more by taxi). One taxi driver offered to take me for 250. I said that is crazy and walked away. Another said 180, and then another said 150. It seemed like I had bargained well, so I went with that. I took an autorikshaw back, and it did only cost 20, but oh well. It was a 3 dollar lesson. Anyway, this mall was pretty impressive. It was all outdoors and there where big barricades being built everywhere for the monsoons. They had a McDonalds, which I had to check out. The have something called a Maharaja Mac, and they only serve Coke with no ice. There is also a Ruby Tuesday at this mall which I find entertaining considering they are known for their salad bars.

On Saturday I went with Vicky to the largest waterpark in the area, Water Kingdom. It was very refreshing. It is filled with seawater from far outside of Mumbai (so it is clean). There was a wavepool, waterslides, and even a dance club that sprayed water everywhere and played techno Bollywood remixes.

I know what you are thinking, "That doesn't sound like an Indian experience!" Well, guess what? This place is a-changing in a hurry. It is becoming Western before my eyes and it doesn't show any sign of slowing. I will certainly try to get the "traditional"Indian experience, but I fear that is going the way of the City Slickers style cattle drive. It just isn't what it used to be here, unless you go to the countryside I guess.

Anyway, that is it for now. I will update again soon.