Hello lovely readers! Judging by the traffic reports Blogger sent me, it seems a lot of you are making your way here from the Alliance website! Welcome! I'm a little sad that no one left me comments on the last post, but I suppose there's still time!
Anyway, I arrived in Mumbai last night after flying sunset to sunset [with the windows closed most of the way, unfortunately], which means I was here a day early for the program. Luckily, one of my bhaiyas lives in Mumbai [he's technically a second cousin in American terms, but whatever], in Kandivali, and I'm staying with him, bhabhi [his wife], and my bade papa and badi* mummi [his parents, who are my Pop's bhaiya and bhabhi, I believe]. It's been something like nineteen years since I last saw them, but ever since I woke up this morning I felt at home. [Last night I was exhausted and confused. It'd been dark far too long at that point, I think.]
Bhaiya and bhabhi also have an adorable baby, who I believe is named Grivant [I hope I'm spelling that right] but is nicknamed Guppy. I believe that makes me his 'chacha' because I'm his father's younger brother, more or less.
Bhabhi made sure I knew that I was welcome to come visit them if I had weekends off, and they'd show me Mumbai. Apparently bhaiya works in the media industry so I might see famous people and movie sets, which would be cool. When/if that happens, I'll definitely keep y'all updated.
This morning I've been using bhaiya an bhabhi's computer to get a better idea of Mumbai, so I think I understand the geography pretty well now. The entire city is built on a large island (which is many times the size of Manhattan and bigger than the central land mass of Seattle, as far as I can tell. The apartment I'm in is in Kandivali West, a suburb quite far north of the old city center. This area has been built up mainly in the past 8 years or so. Mumbai has been rapidly expanding north in recent years. The airport is about an hour [40 km] south of here but still north of the center. I feel like I should have done more research earlier, but then I wouldn't have been able to ask questions to bhaiya and bhabhi, so I guess it works out.
From their apartment I could see this golden temple-looking structure, which I took a picture of with my zoom lens. Bhabhi says that it's the Vipassana Pagoda, a Buddhist site where people can retreat for a week or two and focus on meditation and thought exercises without any material distractions [which means no wifi, but I guess that's the price you must pay for deep self-knowledge]. It's on the other side of some mangrove forests and right on the coast.
And now a question for you readers: Have you ever visited family that you haven't seen since you were too young to remember well? What was that like for you?
*It always sounds like 'bury' to me, but there's no accounting for transliterations, I suppose. बड़ी मम्मि I think is the Hindi spelling. My relatives are all North Indian Hindi speakers, except my dadi [grandmother] who speaks bhojpuri.
Anyway, I arrived in Mumbai last night after flying sunset to sunset [with the windows closed most of the way, unfortunately], which means I was here a day early for the program. Luckily, one of my bhaiyas lives in Mumbai [he's technically a second cousin in American terms, but whatever], in Kandivali, and I'm staying with him, bhabhi [his wife], and my bade papa and badi* mummi [his parents, who are my Pop's bhaiya and bhabhi, I believe]. It's been something like nineteen years since I last saw them, but ever since I woke up this morning I felt at home. [Last night I was exhausted and confused. It'd been dark far too long at that point, I think.]
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| Bade papa, bhaiya, badi mummi, bhabhi, all having tea. |
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| Baby pictures are an important part of any blog. |
This morning I've been using bhaiya an bhabhi's computer to get a better idea of Mumbai, so I think I understand the geography pretty well now. The entire city is built on a large island (which is many times the size of Manhattan and bigger than the central land mass of Seattle, as far as I can tell. The apartment I'm in is in Kandivali West, a suburb quite far north of the old city center. This area has been built up mainly in the past 8 years or so. Mumbai has been rapidly expanding north in recent years. The airport is about an hour [40 km] south of here but still north of the center. I feel like I should have done more research earlier, but then I wouldn't have been able to ask questions to bhaiya and bhabhi, so I guess it works out.
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| A map of Mumbai. |
From their apartment I could see this golden temple-looking structure, which I took a picture of with my zoom lens. Bhabhi says that it's the Vipassana Pagoda, a Buddhist site where people can retreat for a week or two and focus on meditation and thought exercises without any material distractions [which means no wifi, but I guess that's the price you must pay for deep self-knowledge]. It's on the other side of some mangrove forests and right on the coast.
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| The Vipassana Pagoda. [The weird patterning in the sky is actually the window grate I took the picture through.] |
*It always sounds like 'bury' to me, but there's no accounting for transliterations, I suppose. बड़ी मम्मि I think is the Hindi spelling. My relatives are all North Indian Hindi speakers, except my dadi [grandmother] who speaks bhojpuri.
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