Hindi word of the day: देर से (der se - late)

So I want to apologize for being extremely lazy about posting. It's been about three weeks since my last post and I have never felt more popular; all the harassing "you sure haven't updated your blog in a while" e-mails were actually really heartwarming. Thanks, team (phrase courtesy of Uncle Christie). I also realize that I chose a not-so-uplifting post to leave off on, so I want to correct that. While Dharavi was a challenging experience, I had some fantastic adventures in Mumbai. So, three weeks late, here's my Mumbai post. 

We arrived in Mumbai via a very luxurious train and disembarked at CST, the beautiful colonial train station.

A not particularly awesome photo of Chatrapathi Shivaji Terminus.

We dropped our stuff off at the YWCA, a fantastically nice place to stay right in the middle of Colaba, which is kind of the center of all the tourist sights in Mumbai, and headed to the Gandhi museum, which was really interesting but less in an I-feel-so-inspired way and more in a Gandhi-was-way-more-of-a-sexist-than-I-realized way and a These-diorama-puppet-recreations-of-the-key-moments-in-Gandhi's-life-are-pretty-hilarious way.

A puppet recreation of Gandhi meeting someone important. Stolen from Kelsie.

Gandhi and Indira Gandhi when she was a kid. Crazy.

Stefan: squatter extraordinaire

Eating kulfi, an incredibly delicious ice cream/pudding/hockey puck.

The view to the left from Christie's and my room at the YWCA.

The view to the right

That night we went to Leopold's, a super popular touristy bar in Colaba, and had some awesome group bonding time. We've been doing a lot of small group travelling on weekends, so it was nice to get to hang out with everyone.

Future Prestina and Preston

Mumbai is a spectacularly beautiful city and it felt absolutely amazing to be on an ocean. It also made me desperate to be on an ocean in which I could actually swim (stay tuned for Goa post coming up next), but it was still so nice to taste salt in the wind and hear the sound of waves. I forget sometimes how much I miss being surrounded by the ocean in every direction.

Sittin' on the bay along Marine Drive. 

The next morning Christie, who lived in Mumbai last summer, took me to an amazing cafe called Kala Ghoda (Black Horse) cafe. Mumbai is really cosmopolitan and the southern part, which is where we stayed, really didn't feel all that much like India. Almost none of the restaurants Lonely Planet recommends in Mumbai are Indian--most are European. This cafe definitely fit that description--they had black coffee which is basically unheard of here and I felt for a bit like I was on a different subcontinent. I had the most amazing cappuccino ever, officially breaking my promise to not buy coffee while in India. It was worth it.

Christie at the Kala Ghoda Cafe.

A headline from the morning's newspaper

That afternoon we headed to St. Xavier's, a gorgeous college in Mumbai, to hear about disability rights and the college's program for the blind. It was fascinating and probably the most accessible disability rights talk I've ever heard. The students also showed us the crazy technology they use in order to use the computer and internet.

An awesome sign in the St. Xavier's canteen.

The St. Xavier's campus.

After the program's official Mumbai trip ended, those of us who were staying the weekend headed to our hotels. After checking in, Zach, Josh, and I headed to Theobroma's, a famous bakery in Colaba, where we had probably the most fantastic brownies I have ever eaten.

The power went out while we were at Theobroma's and the waiters brought each table a candle. It was very romantic. For Josh especially.

That night Christie took several of us to Chowpatty, probably the most famous beach in Mumbai. We ate tasty street food and sat on the sand watching the moon over the ocean.

Chowpatty Beach has carnival rides on it. Interestingly, they are all hand-operated, including the ferris wheel above and a pirate's ship. Watching them is probably as entertaining as actually riding them.

Dosa walla. Nom.

Christie, Zach, Melissa, and Stefan on Chowpatty Beach. Stefan was too busy protecting his Chinese bhel to notice that I was taking a photo.

Chowpatty

 The next day, we saw the sights.

The Gateway of India--built to welcome the British king and queen in 1911.

The Taj Hotel Palace and Tower. The story goes that the Taj was originally built by one of the Tatas (an incredibly wealthy family in India that owns pretty much every business) after he was refused entry to a British hotel on the basis of his race. The terrorist attacks of 2008 occurred here but you wouldn't be able to tell at all today.

Boats on the water next to the Taj.

I'm not sure if you're technically allowed to just walk through the Taj, but we decided to do it because we wanted to see what it looks like inside and since we're white no one questioned us.

John Lennon and Yoko Ono during their stay at the Taj.

The Gateway of India

 Next we headed to the tip of Mumbai to see Kamala Nehru garden, a beautiful park with an amazing view of the bay.

Stefan standing in "the boot."

The view of the bay from Kamala Nehru Garden.

Teeter totter.

Kamala Nehru Garden.

Zach was set on getting to the southernmost tip of Mumbai, so we grabbed a cab (rickshaws aren't allowed in south Mumbai) and tried to get there. Unfortunately the taxi driver got really confused, started going the wrong direction, and stopped to ask a policeman to whom we were forced to show our Lonely Planet map and try to explain that we just wanted to go as far south as possible. Eventually he just let us out at some in the middle of a neighborhood and we decided to walk the rest. Turns out that the actual southernmost tip of Mumbai is a fancy shmancy super private gated community to which we were not allowed in despite being white. So instead we wandered around the streets . . . and magically happened to stumble upon Banganga Tank, an ancient historical sight.

One of the streets we wandered on the southern tip of the city.

A rooster chillin' at Banganga Tank.

According to legend, Ram stopped here while searching for Sita and his brother Laksham created the tank by shooting an arrow into the ground in order to quench their thirst.

Ducks and humans alike enjoy swimming in the only slightly gross-looking water.

We noticed that we were fairly close to the shore, so after hanging out at Banganga Tank for a while, we made our way through some alleys, down some stairs, and onto an amazing beach.

The beach. 

The rocks were slippery so it took us a while to make it out as far as they went, but we did.

The kids who lived in the slum that lined the beach were playing on it as we walked along. They had an entire cricket game going along this one strip of slightly even rock. It never ceases to amaze me how resourceful Indian kids are when it comes to playing cricket.

We sat on the beach to watch the sunset and slowly accumulated a mass of kids who came over to talk to us. I got to practice my Hindi and they got to use my camera so it was a win-win situation. They were so adorable.

This is Aat. I'm not sure why she is named "eight," but she was the most adorable, sassy, intelligent, sweet kid ever. We chatted for a while, sang some Bollywood songs together, took lots of photos, and she introduced me to her four younger sisters.

Aat took this photo. After we left the beach, we stopped to get some street samosas and actually saw her again. She introduced us to her mom, who was selling fruit on the street, so we bought some oranges and grapes from her.

The next morning, we headed out. Getting tickets at the train station was a bit of a struggle (vendor at Ticket Booth A tells you to go to Ticket Booth B, where the vendor tells you to go to Ticket Booth C, where the vendor tells you to go back to Ticket Booth A), but it didn't take as long as we had expected it to. Coming home to class and homework was tough after such a pleasant vacation, but I had Goa to look forward to.

Josh follows the rules.