India: Now Mainly Pictures

After the trip to Behram, I decided to take the last few days wrapping up, seeing people, etc.

From here on out, the last week or so in India was captured mainly in pictures.

The ghost in the flat:

So we had two flats--one where the girls stayed, and the other one ended up being used mainly for Zakira to help wash our clothes and hang them to dry. Zakira, the adorable woman that she is, was slightly creeped out one night, because somebody had left the lights on. We reassured her that it was okay, and that perhaps Nick left the light on after he left. She goes back with Elaine, and the two of them run back screaming with jitters. The problem? This:



Now, it wouldn't be that scary if you didn't know how to read and understand Hindi. But if you did, you would know that it said "Help me!" below the disturbing red-marker figure.

So that was our little scare for the week.

I hung out and had lunch with Ajit to say goodbye and wish him goodluck at UT Dallas. Then I went to Krishna's place to hang out with Avijit. Zakira came by to make dinner, and I had a fun cooking and Hindi lesson.











Zakira showing me how to make roti/chapati.



My attempts at making roti/chapati.


(Photo courtesy of Zakira)

Der... what am I doing??


(Photo courtesy of Zakira)

There it is in all its glory!



My beautiful chapati:



Avijit made fun of my chapati. :( I think it was beautiful.



A picture of me and

Tomorrow is going to St. Xaviers to speak to the principle about having their students help us do water testing.



A short story:

One day (I can't remember when), a couple of us were heading out the door as Zakira was around to clean up the flat. While facing a little ledge near the door to pick out my keys, Zakira comes up behind me, grabs my right butt cheak, and says in Hindi, "Really good!" ...Not something you'd expect from a conservative Indian woman. Good times. :)

India: Behrampada Floods

Emily and I went back to Behrampada today after a few days of heavy rains. We went with Suresh to check a the test filters that we had placed in Behrampada. Since it had been raining a couple days prior, the streets of Behram were flooded, and we tried to not to think about what was in the water as we maneuvered our way through the maze that is Behram.

One of the main streets in Behram.



Some of the pipes that bring water into the slums. Many of these pipes run through garbage and sewage, meaning that during times of little or no pressure (water only comes between 5:00 and 9:00 am), all of this filth infiltrates into the pipes.





It's amazing how dark it can be while you walk around even though it is bright, sunny, and early in the afternoon.



Suresh and a 5-micron pre-filter bag.







A few boys were following us, giggling.



Filter.



A little girl.



Sewage, yum.



Flooding in the main road. We rolled up our pants and walked through anyway.







After going to Behrampada, I decided to cross the train tracks and go to the Holy Family Hospital located on the other side of Bandra. I would rant about the amazing difference between Bandra Easy and Bandra West, but I'll wait until another day.

At Holy Family Hospital, there were these two Italian women who were working on a fair trade project wherein women in the slum communities would hand-sew bags with materials that were provided to them, and they were given fair wages for their work. That day, I believe I acquired one too many bags, but they are so beautiful!



When I arrived, people from Canara Bank were there hosting a small event and providing shoes to elementary school children.

India: That Touristy Thang

Cynthia from Berkeley UAEM and her friend Jessica visited Mumbai for the weekend! They are both law students working on some issues in some un-nameable place in India. We figured we would be tourists for the weekend, and for once, I was a complete tourist in India. It was actually pretty amazing.

First, we went to Navgraha--"the juice place," as we like to call it. It has awesome mango juice.



We took the trains down to VT/CST station, then went shopping.


(Photo courtesy of Jessica)









Back to the Taj and the Gateway of India.








(Photo courtesy of Jessica)










(Photo courtesy of Cynthia)

By the time we left, it was pouring rain, so we took an expensive taxi ride back home, and then went to Rajdhani to eat.


(Photo courtesy of Cynthia)



Finally, on Sunday, it was still pouring rain. We went to Sheesha, a nice restaurant at the top of the Shopper's Stop in Bandra. It was fairly intense since the winds were ridiculously strong, and the usually uncovered rooftop restaurant was covered with a plastic roof and tarp-like curtains that drummed loudly in the rain.



Since there was really no point in going anywhere (we really wanted to visit Dharavi, but there was no way to go there at that point), we headed over to the Taj hotel at the Bandstand. This was the same hotel where we went earlier for Krishna's full-body massage and for far too many cocktail snacks.

A chocolate-chip banana crisp with caramel ice cream.



Pretty food.



Once again, I shamelessly asked for more tea biscuits and yes, even for cocktail snacks.


(Photo courtesy of Cynthia)


(Photo courtesy of Jessica)

Oh, and I also stole their pen. ...I don't think I should go back for a while, they might charge me 3 times the amount next time.