We only had to travel 6km so we left the house at 8pm for a 9pm booking. Our first job was to find a driver who knew where we needed to go.. Yardif came out to help with his best authoritive Hindi, to no avail, so Shaz ran back upstairs to grab her mobile and what is becoming a regular occurance, the third driver had to chat to one our local friends for directions. We have to learn Hindi!!
We are learning quickly that there are certain traffic routes which have peak hours that lasts half the day.. The traffic was at a standstill with only short bursts of movement to relieve the 2 stroke exhaust fumes gathering in the open rickshaw. Sitting in the back seat we feel like we're in a new playstation game.. Our driver rushes from gap to gap, edging his way forward amongst all the other drivers in the same race.. So far we've only seen one richshaw get shunted onto it's side after a collision with another rickshaw, which quickly used the break in traffic to speed away. Yes driving, being a passenger or being a pedestrian is a risky business in Mumbai. Recently we were told of a young bloke who took his fathers car out, made a bad turn drink driving and killed 7 people sleeping on the footpath.
We made it to Olive and cheers with vanilla vodka to the fact that we made it.. Unfortunatley no Bollywoods stars made themselves known so we decided to venture back to our local and check out the action. This time our driver knew how to get there. Along the seashore we drove, where a fishing village made up of shanties has to share their ocean view with the stench of fish rotting on the side of the road.. There's no avoiding it so onward we go...
Riding in the rickshaw does funny things to you.. from putrid smells, bringing out the ming mong to joyus laughter!!!
5 comments:
nice mong
it had to be done...
fantastic to hear from u2! the pics are awesome. will write you a porper email soon. all good over here. saw Michael Franti in Dublin on Saturday night. concert was excellent and i got a kiss and hug at the end! heading off to Paris this weekend to catch up with my french family and get some x-mas shopping done.
we are sending you both lots of love. looking forward to hearing more about the mumbai madness. Col & Isa
the traffic in mumbai sounds like a dream compared to london. it took me 80 minutes to go a third of a mile the other day. and that was on a four lane motorway. beat that.....
rustle rustle. ; )
Lol!!
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