Take A Ride

Riding in a car traveling along Marine Drive is always enjoyable. It's about two minutes with very few stops. People are always walking or sitting on the sea wall. Here is a video I recorded yesterday on my iPod.

Take A Ride Along Marine Drive (Mumbai) from Ali Thanawalla on Vimeo.

Yesterday was Samira's 30th birthday, so we went to one of her favorite restaurants, 5 Spice, a chinese restaurant in the Fort area of Mumbai. We were the last people to leave the restaurant, so the area was deserted, except for a few security guards and stray dogs.



We are heading out on a road trip early tomorrow morning. We're going to go to a new hill station city called Lavasa and possibly stop in Pune. My family has been telling me to go to Pune for a long time.

On a side note, the images from Egypt are insane. I've been glued to CNN all morning. I feel like we're watching a major international country crumble before our eyes. For a country known for it's tourism, it's going to be interesting to see how dramatic of a fall their tourism industry takes.

Signing off. About to head out with Samira to an Astrology Exhibit.

They have won, we have lost

Today is Republic Day in India. It's their 4th of July. I wanted to go to the Gateway of India to take photos, but the entire area was sealed off to traffic by barricades. You could walk down towards the Gateway, but they wouldn't allow cameras. I can't imagine security at Pier 39 being so tight that they wouldn't allow people to take photos. It's official. Those bad guys that want to cause mass destruction and mass chaos have won.



In the evening, I took a walk down behind our building with Zahir. People tend to gather on the sea wall and watch the sun set or exercise.



Alright. Off to bed. Visiting one of my favorite aunts in Bandra tomorrow.

Is it "sari" or "saree"?

When I used to visit Bombay with my mom, I would always tag along with her and her sister when they went shopping for jewelry or clothes. The men behind the counter would always offer me something to drink, usually a mango juice box.

Today brought back some of those memories. I met up with Naseem Aunty, who is also visiting from the US. We had lunch with her husband's parents at the Cricket Club of India (CCI), which is literally a cricket stadium. We ate lunch in one of the many restaurants in the concourse.



After lunch, Naseem Aunty and I went to a sari (or is it saree? I've asked Shehnaz Aunty and Samira, and they've both said it's interchangeable and that either one works) store a few blocks from CCI. She needed to get some gifts for friends back home. We spent about an hour in this shop and I watched her try on at least two dozen saris. The most amusing part of all this was that all of the men that worked there started to gather around and watch her try on the saris. I had been joking with her that she was becoming a Bollywood Diva, and anybody walking into this store during this hour would not have been blamed if they thought they had stumbled upon a Bollywood actress shopping for saris.



Afterwards, we went back to CCI, found her in-laws and had some tea before going our separate ways.

As I write this, we are trying to plan a short 2 day family trip for this weekend. We're looking at tiny hill station towns, like Lavasa. There are a couple other options, we feel like some of them require more than two days and one night.

Tomorrow is Republic Day here in India, which is their Independence Day. Not sure what we're going to do, but I've been told that the Air Force conducts an aerial show, so hopefully I'll get to check that out.

I survived a Big Bazaar Sale

Imagine a Black Friday-type scene inside a Mumbai all-in-one grocery store/supermarket. Nowhere to go. Carts hitting the back of your legs. Reaching over strangers to get the product you need. Store employees on bullhorns exclaiming the deals of the day. It was quite an experience. Next time you go to Safeway or Whole Foods, imagine having to spend 30 minutes in line, while the family in front of you unloads and pays for three carts of goods.

We are a house full of exhausted souls.

Yesterday was a bit more relaxing. Spent the afternoon going to Hanging Garden and Chowpatty Beach at sunset. The beach was full of kids running around, flying kites and riding the ferris wheel rides.







In the evening, I had dinner with my cousin Zahir and his girlfriend at the Radio Club never the Taj Hotel and Gateway of India. There was a wedding party taking place on the patio.



After dinner, while walking back to the car, we stopped to say hi to one of the horses pulling the carriages. He was quite tame.



We're all just lying around right now. Samira, Rahim and I are watching CSI NY. Zahir is about to update the OS on my Blackberry. Just another chill evening in the Wallani household.

Gonna see family from my dad's side the next few days.

Health + Love = Happiness

I love my grandmother.

Not much creativity in the writing. Just the truth.

I got to spend some time with her yesterday. She's healthy and happy, and nothing makes me happier.



Samira took me to Bandra via the much-talked-about Bandra Worli Sealink. If a suspension bridge and a freeway had a child, it would be this Sealink. When I was here two years ago, construction on the Sealink had not yet finished, so this was my first time on it. As you can see, cranes are still present, meaning work has yet to be completed. Whatever the cost of the Sealink, and I know it was costly, it was worth every paisa.



While waiting for my cousin to finish some work, I watched this man take in his surroundings.



While in Bandra, we stopped to eat dosa's on the main road. Walked this stretch of road many times when I was younger.

The setting moon and rising sun of Mumbai

I've been in Mumbai a little over 24 hours. But it feels like I never left.

Even though I haven't been here for two years, my family has a way of making me feel like I've been here the whole time. I slide into their lives naturally, like the final piece to a puzzle.

The first 24 hours weren't that interesting. Didn't leave the house. But today, the plan is to go see my grandmother. I still can't get past the fact that my first solo trip in 2005 was primarily to see her due to some health issues(I was told she may not live much longer), yet almost 6 years(and 4 trips) later, she's still going strong. (PS - As I write this, I am glancing out the window at another awesome Mumbai sunrise - the kind my mom loved.)

More to come...