Toree
International business major
Jan. 14, 2007

 Though this blog documents the 14th day of the trip, I’d like to mention that last night we went on an educational expedition to a Mumbai club, one that was highly recommended in Delhi. While we had a good time, the club was nothing more than a high-end lounge bar where people were more apt to listen to the music than dance, and those who may have usually danced sat on the sidelines and watched the American crowd bust a move. Needless to say, it was nice to see that the ambiance for dance bars seems to be fairly consistent across continents. And, as in the marketplaces and streets, we somehow became the center of attention. We’re as much an attraction to them as they are to us; we take turns taking pictures of each other.

We spent our second full day in Mumbai basically relaxing. It was our first actual free day on the trip, and a much-needed rest from continual activity. Most of us have suffered (relatively speaking) from an array of maladies, including a visit to the hospital, fevers, the runs and head colds, so a day of rest and relaxation was appreciated. (Don’t worry, though; we’re all fine).

Bombay, recently renamed Mumbai, met us with a blast of hot weather and humidity. After our weeks in relatively cool Calcutta and even colder Delhi, I think the heat zapped a lot of our energy, though it was definitely a welcome change for many of us who were tired of wearing hats to bed. The YMCA we’re staying at does not have AC or screened windows, so despite the free day, many of us were awake early, rising to honking horns (the local “turn signal” for vehicles) and biting mosquitoes. Most of the group headed once more to the City Center Shopping Center, a/k/a western mall (you step in and feel like you’re back in the U.S.A.), to shop and have lunch at Coffee World. Two students went with Boyd to visit a horse stable and ended up watching the horses race, and almost everyone met up in the afternoon to go to an outdoor market in downtown Mumbai that we briefly stopped by yesterday. We took our first public transportation, the commuter train, with separate cars for men and women.

Walking through the markets reminds us of the poverty of India, as there are beggars, especially children and young mothers, who will cling to us, asking for food or money. We’ve all given food and sometimes money, because it breaks our spirits to see people suffering. It does get hard when they won’t leave and it becomes necessary to get stern with them, almost becoming numb to their pain.

There was a festival today, something to do with kite flying, so the air has been dotted all day with multicolored kites. Two students even witnessed some brawls on the beach about kite-string ownership. The trees have caught the loose kites and remind me of the trees in downtown Spokane during Bloomsday.

We spent the rest of the evening relaxing and playing Skipbo, a favorite card game here, followed closely by Munchkin. Great news! We get to forgo our final 30-plus-hour train ride, because we found cheap plane tickets from Mumbai to Bangalore!