Mumbai living...

Our new neighbours, the road workers, seem to have made the our 6th Road corner their new home. Their works have inched up the street a wee bit which has moved the 3 pumps they are using to dewater the drainage trench right outside our bedroom window. Lovely.. I've never seen one of the workers wear a watch but somehow the pumps fire up at 6.30 each morning before the sun has had a chance to say hello. This is just a bit early for the late night Indian lifestyle. Dinner is still 9-10pm and the feature movie on the tube doesn't come on until 11pm... It's late in the afternoon and I'm having a bit of a tired rant.. But we do have to thank the workers for a few things, the way we see it, the pump that roars non stop from early morn, jolting us from our slumber is a warm up for the sleep deprived days, weeks months that are yet to come. At the insistence of the pump were also given the opportunity to make the most of the morning, heading down to the beach for a walk or challenging our calm to block out the noise with some yoga.

A truck arrived the other day to drop off some backfill for the trenches.. Pavers, large hard objects are not traditionally the best at filling in the small gaps around pipes, but this is India... For those who haven't been here, above is Yardaf our smiley watchman.. This is the fella who gives Noddy, our car, a tub each morning and keeps a vigilant watch over us in the evenings, from under his blanky.. Actually we're certain he is stoned nearly every night.. His English is a limited as our Hindi but we all smile and have a go..

Juhu Beach offers us a place to escape the industrial drone of Mumbai. The only noise to interrupt the sound of the small waves is roar of the flights from the nearby Mumbai airport. We walk past a few nice homes but the one above is one of the choice bungalows on the beach, it's on land a 5 star hotel would be envious of, making it worths equivalent to at least 50 beach front homes on the Gold Coast $$$$... lots a rupees.. Actually Wikipedia touts Juhu to be comparable to the Bel-Air, Malibu and Beverly Hills suburbs of Los Angeles. Hmmmm wonder who wrote that...
Unfortunately the only time you can tell where the horizon is in Mumbai is at sunset... The amazing purple pollution particle sunset we like to call it. There is always a haze of smoke, pollution and dust which hangs in the air which extends beyond the city for 100km. We don't experience the bright blue of the Australian sky but the ladies always brighten the scene with there colourful everyday wear, walking with ease even carrying large loads on there scones.. Oh scones.. I'd love a fresh scone. Actually we had a great Aussie fix the morning between the alarm pump and the sun rising to head to the beach.. HBO was showing Getting Square, an Aussie movie shot on the Gold Coast.

It was great to get a butchers hook at some Aussie humor at 7am, not sure how many Indians would have been watching though...