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Other entries in Mumbai

hello, money?

After a successful and long 34 hour train ride across the sub-continent, we arrived tired and bleary eyed into Mumbai (thats the last you'll hear of that name, everyone still calls it Bombay) train station. it was 5 am. the whole reason we left calcutta so quickly and traversed the entire country was to meet up with a boyhood friend named Max for a few traveling days while he is in India as well. also, we were trying to arrange an encounter with some Indian Jews because Passover was quickly approaching and we wanted not only to celebrate the holiday, but also see how the Indian Jews do it. But when it was still dark out and we were without any substantial knowledge, our best bet was to drop our packs and sit in the train station until the day developed a bit.

after more than an hour and a half of waiting, we got up and found a taxi to take us to the district we thought max would be in. on the way we noticed how much more developed and ancient this city looked compared to the first and only other Indian city we had seen. there were massive marble plated buildings, colonial style mansions, and even some cobble stone streets. i liked the looks of this city already. once we arrived at our destination, we found an internet cafe to see if Max had sent us an email relaying his whereabouts. he had, so we marched down to his hotel and woke him up. he was pleased to see us, however, and we postponed the inevitable sleep for some catching up and jokes about david. we mapped out some potential travel plans for the next week and then headed out for lunch. max wasnt quite sure where this restaurant was so we stopped in at the Taj Mahal Hotel which just happens to be the oldest hotel in India. This amazing structure is built directly on the docks to the port of Bombay and looks both glorious and ancient. apparently, way back when, the original Taj owner and creator was denied access to a different 5-star hotel because he was Indian. this prompted him to bite his thumb at society and build his own palace which now stands as the pinnacle of Indian hotel excellence. and it is indeed quite nice.

we got directions from a helpful and friendly staff and took a taxi up to a nearby part of town. when we got out, we were immediately beseiged by two children asking for money. max explained that after 6 weeks in india, he had become quite callow regarding the touts and hawkers assailing him at every turn. we muttered apologies to the children and pushed past them to get to our 4-star seafood lunch. but a surprise met us along the way; some more children spotted us and clamoured between parked cars and motorbikes to get to us. when they arrived, i expected to follow max's lead, he being the india savy traveler, and ignore them but he actually stopped, called out a few by name, and proceeded to give each of them high fives and a couple low fives as well. these kids he had met in his previous trip to Bombay and they remembered him as he remembered them. these children were very dirty, some of them naked from the waist down, but they were just as cheery and jovial as any other kids ive ever met. we chatted with them for a few minutes, they asked the obligatory question for money which we declined, then moved on. after all the different countries we've been in and all the different times we've been solicited for our money, this was by far the most enjoyable.

lunch was fantastic but a little out of our desired price range. max took us to a white table cloth, vest wearing waiter having, bring you out the shellfish youre about to eat, seafood joint. he had been here before and ordered a "jumbo" prawn and raved about it. i said i'd seen jumbo before so show me something different. which they did. this thing was massive. it looked like a lobster. i had to have it. we ordered our food, i couldnt stray from a traditional butter, pepper, garlic sauce while max went for a more traditional indian Aareyoli sauce or something like that. david had shark masala which came in an excellent brown sauce, great for dipping our roti in. the meal was excellent and cost about 10 bucks. i dont like spending that kind of dough in a country known for cheap eats, but it was a reunion meal, and i can make exceptions. man, im a cheap jew.

speaking of which, a little known fact, but India has Jews! after lunch we went to meet up with Max's friends who have been working and living here in India for the past year and were our connections to the Passover ceremony we were to attend that evening. we met Dave and Sheroni, as well Seema, the wife part of the generous hosting family, at the Gateway to India, a massive Arc de Triumph looking thing that was built by the English King and Queen long ago to mark their arrival to Bombay (i guess they ordered its construction several years before they got there). both of max's friends are very nice and active in the small jewish community here in Bombay. Sheroni is particularly active with the Habbad house and was the one who met this nice family that invited us to join them and their small village to celebrate the holiday on an island off the coast. we took an hour long ferry ride in the blinding afternoon sun while stomaching not only the churning waters but also the plumes of exhaust coming up over the side of the boat. as we were arriving, the passengers started moving hastily towards the exit side of the boat; we were still about 10 minutes from the dock. as soon as the rope was harnessed, Indians poured overboard onto the ramp like rats escaping a fire. men, women and children were scrambling down the dock towards the distant, seemingly empty parking lot. we followed shortly after but were urged on by Seema to have the same urgency in our pace. we got to the bus and found out that the reason for everyone running was one we could have predicted: large bus, but much larger passenger number so many people standing and swinging in the aisles. i was lucky enough to get a seat for the long bumby bus ride.

the exodus from the bus was the same as the exit from the boat, before we stopped, people were leaving their seats and pushing into the aisles to get to the exit. i really began to wonder why people were in such a rush; this time there was no other bus to get on. but such is the indian way, so who am i to question? we followed seema to a tuk-tuk (i was happy to see they have those here as well) and drove for about 20 kms to her village. there we got situated in two bungalow rooms, took short naps, and then were roused to go to the seder. we met Raffi, the most Jewish Indian ive ever met. he was very welcoming, enthusiastic, and patient with our obvious differences in culture (the lack of indian custom knowledge, inability to eat all the food, etc). we followed him down a dirt alley to a cloth covered enclosure attached to the 160 year old synagogue. there we met a few congregation members (of the 40 total members) and then had a service. we asked how Jews ended up here on a remote island off the western coast of India and were told that 1600-1800 years ago, there was a shipwreck and the passengers were mostly Jewish. they lost everything so decided to settle here. and viola, generations later, they are surviving and thriving.

Everything was done in many languages. The service was done in Hebrew, some Hindi, and some local dialect. and then some conversation was done in english. since i speak neither of the first three languages, i was mostly confused throughout the night. after the service however, more people showed up for the Seder and things became increasingly comfortable and enjoyable. we were, of course, the only white people there and many of the attendies did not speak any english. max, sheroni, and dave however, speak a little if not a lot of Hindi so they were able to communicate somewhat and learn a little bit about the families in the congregation. there were also a lot of children running around, playing various childlike games with each other, and then becoming very curious with us and absolutely facinated with our cameras. david allowed his camera to be borrowed and the kids took the liberty of taking many pictures. it was actually quite fortunate because they knew all the people there and had no qualms about photographing them. i was worried that this would be a slight invasion of their privacy (with my perhaps naive assumption that perhaps they had never seen a digital camera before and might be offended) but to my surprise, all the of the subjects were happy to pose and eager to see the result, which the children were then just as eager to display. after a while, the seder was about to begin so the adults ended the photo session and got everyone to their seats.

indian seders are about the same as any other jewish seder except that the primary languages are Hebrew and Hindi (and some local dialect). but the rituals, prayers, songs, and distraction enducing length of the service is entirely the same. the meal was superb. they took care not to serve anythign we couldnt eat (except for the dessert which was locally picked and cleaned grapes) and i tried to do as the Romans do and eat with my hands. now, this may be any boy's childhood dream but i assure you, it was very difficult, especially since we were eating a mostly rice meal. at first i tried the obvious clump and stuff method. that didnt work very well as i ended up getting more on my face and in my lap than in my mouth not to mention i probably looked very silly during my attempts. next i moved to the amass small portion on the ends of your fingers, then bend head slightly to side and roll hand over to drop into open mouth technique. this worked better but was not too polite i think. finally, i figured out the best way by slyly taking notes from the grandmother across the table from me. she was pinching rice together on her plate, then holding the pinched clump up to her mouth and with her thumb, pushed it down the finger corridor and into her waiting mouth. this was by far the best method and i utilized it for the rest of the night. biggest regret of the night was not getting a picture of this scene, but everyones hands were too filthy for picture taking so it will remain in memory.

after dinner, the crowd dissipated somewhat but the ceremony continued. by now, the children were running rampant and even many of the adults were losing interest (see, everything is the same!). but the elders were persistent and pushed on, even though sometimes the noise from the crowd far surpassed the soft chanting of the cantor. after the ceremony was finished, we were asked to come up and say a few words, and if we had anything to contribute, we were encouraged to do so. we came up with a song that involved the crowd so we were able to get everyone to clap and sing along. it was silly, but a lot of fun and we even taught and exlained the lyrics to the kids afterward. after all was said and done, the night was a great success and an incredible experience to have had. we thanked our generous hosts immensley and naturally, were given the "it was our honor to have you". for me, it was amazing to be in a situation like this, and feel totally comfortable. usually when you blindly follow a woman into the depths of a village, you expect to be walking into a money trap. but instead, we found a warm, welcoming community, as eager to learn about us as we were of them. we were sitting at the center table, surrounded by non-english speaking, sari wearing, locals and felt totally at home.

this morning, we woke early and took the same bus/ferry combination back to Bombay where we almost instantly went to bed. but on the boat ride back, we did enjoy some unexpected entertainment. a little girl was running around on the top deck and clutching her stomach and groaning. shortly, she released her pain by vomiting all over the ground, spraying a few bags and leaving a liquidy mess in the middle of the deck. she was considerate actually because had she puked over the side, she would have surely ruined someone's day below in the lower deck of teh ship. and naturally, no one bothered to clean it up and it remained there after we disembarked. after our nap, we got up, and went in search of finalizing our travel plans. actually, we went in different directions as i had to deal with the reprehensible Bank of America because they decided to shut off my bank card due to strange use in many different parts of the world. so strange. we met up at a cafe after a few hours and i was surprised to see Max followed by a small Indian boy, covered in dirt with one eye mostly closed. Max introduced him as Dadee, a boy he had met and conversed with on a few occasions. apparently, Max had bought four movie tickets and given them to Dadee's friends (who were then supposed to give one to Dadee). Dadee had missed them and was upset but now got to get some ice cream and a meal with the three goofy westerners. we were at a cafe full of westerners so us sitting with a boy off the streets drew some attention. at first i thought it was curiousity if not pity but later found out, as a few other customers came over and gave him money, that Dadee seems to have many foreigner friends in the area. this whole scene felt a little strange to me since im not usually accustomed to sharing a meal with someone from such a different backround. but it was good for me to be forced out of my comfort zone and learn a little about his life while giving him an opportunity to enjoy some treats. unfortunately, it became apparent during the conversation that Dadee had in fact seen his friends and that they were not going to go see the movie. this clearly upset max who felt betrayed and used. Dadee wanted another ticket but max didnt want to buy one since he felt lied to. we told Dadee where we would be later and that if he wanted to come meet us and tell us the full story, we would perhaps buy him another ticket. this plan didnt seem very good to Dadee who sulked and didnt say much after that. it was a sad ending to our meal which had once been happy and highly enjoyable.

Bombay is a beautiful city but unfortunately, we havent seen that many sights. but its been good to see some real aspects of the city instead of what every tourist sees. the few experiences we've had so far have been authentic and shared with the locals. we leave for Rajistan soon and then eventually to Delhi before we ultimately leave the country. Im hoping to continue my wealth of experiences in this unique and interesting country.

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