Happy Diwali from Mumbai
Greetings from Mumbai! We arrived very early Monday morning and were met by our landlord who knew all the shortcuts to get us to our apartment. Those shortcuts took us through several slums, including one located a block away from our building. It definitely was not the scenic route. Along the way, I was thinking back to the e-mail exchanges I'd had with the landlord and began to worry about where we might end up. But, no worries.
We have a two bedroom apartment with a kitchen. It's nice enough, although it lacks a sitting area. (Something tells me we won't be doing much sitting.) We got three hours of sleep, and then headed out to the streets with Payal, our landlord's wife.
First order of business was to buy a couple of salwar kameez outfits for work. The materials are beautiful everywhere, so colorful. Our shopping spree lasted a couple of hours and included our finding a local market. Payal was very patient as Frank and I tried to figure things out.
This fellow is attaching sleeves to my Punjabi dress.
It was a special day to arrive in Mumbai as it's Diwali. Hindus, Sikhs, and Jains celebrate Diwali. The celebration continues for five days in all and it is the Festival of Lights acknowledging good over evil and the importance of one's inner light. The streets today were filled with people wearing brightly colored clothes and chrysanthemums were all around to mark the holiday, which Hindus consider New Year's. Tonight the skies were lit up with fireworks and crackers (very loud ones) can be heard all along the street. Children were lighting rockets and sparklers everywhere. (News reports today indicated that injuries are up significantly over last year. Apparently it rained last year, so fewer fireworks were set off.) Everyone is in a very jubiliant mood.
So, settling in, checking out the neighborhood, learning how to work the cell phones, getting ready to start our assignments.
These sparklers are pretty tame compared to what's going on outside our windows. The noise is incredible and everyone loves it!
We have a two bedroom apartment with a kitchen. It's nice enough, although it lacks a sitting area. (Something tells me we won't be doing much sitting.) We got three hours of sleep, and then headed out to the streets with Payal, our landlord's wife.
First order of business was to buy a couple of salwar kameez outfits for work. The materials are beautiful everywhere, so colorful. Our shopping spree lasted a couple of hours and included our finding a local market. Payal was very patient as Frank and I tried to figure things out.
This fellow is attaching sleeves to my Punjabi dress.
It was a special day to arrive in Mumbai as it's Diwali. Hindus, Sikhs, and Jains celebrate Diwali. The celebration continues for five days in all and it is the Festival of Lights acknowledging good over evil and the importance of one's inner light. The streets today were filled with people wearing brightly colored clothes and chrysanthemums were all around to mark the holiday, which Hindus consider New Year's. Tonight the skies were lit up with fireworks and crackers (very loud ones) can be heard all along the street. Children were lighting rockets and sparklers everywhere. (News reports today indicated that injuries are up significantly over last year. Apparently it rained last year, so fewer fireworks were set off.) Everyone is in a very jubiliant mood.
So, settling in, checking out the neighborhood, learning how to work the cell phones, getting ready to start our assignments.
These sparklers are pretty tame compared to what's going on outside our windows. The noise is incredible and everyone loves it!
posted by arr at 11:40 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home