Back in Juhu..

We landed back in India far from the clean streets, clean air and order of Australia knowing that we'd be released back into the wilds of the megalopolis that is Mumbai. We knew our time in Australia would mean we'd miss the major celebration of the Hindu calendar, Diwali but we caught the tail end of it. Fireworks are pretty easy to come by here and for the five days of Diwali and many following fireworks boom across the night sky. The slums that surround the airport were bursting with colour as the fireworks and flares lit up as the plane landed at around 8pm.
We've been away from Mumbai many times but the struggle to survive in this place still hits you every time you step out into the streets. Arriving back to 6th Road, it look like a bomb had hit. The local council decided to attack the road outside our house. They've ripped up half the road in a effort to provide services and a new concrete pavement. The great thing for us is that the traffic has been cut to about 30% the downside is that rickshaws are harder to get, walking on the street is even more perilous, and the job will be running until next monsoon...

The way it works here is that when a work crew sets up a construction job they're permitted to set up 'temporary' housing for the duration of the job. For a roadworks job families set up nearby as its normal for the family.. men, women and sometimes the older children to be working.

The next weekend was another festival for the North Indians. It's never a dull as this is all a lead into the wedding season which lasts until March.. The revelers celebrate with a procession which fill the streets and usually finishes at the beach where mother nature is left to clean up...


As frustrating as our surroundings may be for us, as we've blogged before, the simple things can make such a difference. While walking to the beach this day we're approached by some girls for money but they we're as happy to be played with as they were to receive any money.

And the boys playing cricket in the dirt quickly lose interest in us when there's a ball heading toward them..

If you're ever in the neighborhood, keep a lookout for a few of these pics and you'll know you're not far away.. There's a fellow who is our mate at the beach, he never asks for a thing as he sits in his cycle chair, he waves or salutes. He was squinting early one morning so I gave him my Bolle sunnies with a scratch or two and he's still got them.. There's a rickshaw/car graveyard at the corner at the top of the street, Indians seem oblivious to copy write so the "Just Do It - Nike" bus does the rounds of the local school and of course spitting is banned, trouble is the sign is in English as most of the tobacco is spat by the Hindi fellas...