Hello all. Well, today was my first real outing by myself. Promit's parents are wonderful and I'm having a great time here with them. Promit called today and I informed him that I'm electing myself as his replacement. I could definitely get used to a chauffeur and housekeeper that does everything from make your bed to leaving cold water by your bedside after turning down the bed for the night.
The rest of my journey is pretty much finalized. We have been dealing with a travel agent here that is setting everything up, including about a million flights and hotels. There isn't much by way of tours according to her (given the strange time of year) so mostly it will be me, a 3 star hotel and a driver ... needless to say the dreams of $40 a day were soon dispelled.
I could probably argue, but I figure that they know better than I when it comes to what to expect ... and given the distinct LACK of any other foreigners in the country I think finding reliable sources of transport to get around the sights might indeed be tricky. Not to mention the fact that you very quickly become accustomed here to being treated like royalty ... "yes madam," doors opened for you. People running ahead to get the car door open... very nice. I didn't know I had it in me!
Anyway. Driving in Mumbai isn't as bad as I had been told. In fact even in my first real cab of the day there have been very few near misses. I think the problem seems to be is that everyone here understands the code of constant horn blowing that comes across as simply utter chaos to any outsider! It is deciferable if you really pay attention.
Anyway, onto my journey. I went to Elephanta island ... after paying for my "luxury" 1 hour boat ride I joined shuffle, and was shuffled right on to a third class ferry, (minus the promised guide) and full of Indian tourists who looked at me as if I must be mentally deranged to be on this boat. Noone spoke. They just stared.
upon arrival to the island. I was still under the impression this was indeed the "luxury" crowd, and chased the rest of the boat down, because I figured they held the secret to our illusive guide ... so when a guy came up and send "I guide you" .. I breathed a sigh of (temporary) relief knowing that all was well, and these ancient Buddhist carvings would soon be explained to me without further cash outflows ....
HOWEVER, soon it was very clear this gentlemen had it only in his MIND that he should guide me while in fact ... I had been gypped and there was actually no guide accompanied my "luxury" vessel (only to find after trying to board another 3rd class ferry for the return journey and being hurried off that I was on the wrong boat).
... Ooops
How were the caves you ask? Confusing. Lots of really long names of people related to Buddha and various other deities, killing, marriages ... Given I had no guide I did my best, and decided instead to go get some lunch. The one fun part about Elephanta was the fact that here in India I am very much the equivalent of a rock star. Everywhere I go people stare and say hello to me, not to mention that I had 3 different families pose to have their picture taken with me ... strange.
I love to think of myself appearing in family albums across the nation. I could be some sort of American Mascot for India. Promit seems to believe it is due to my height.
I also took my first cab ride. Uh. interesting. There were exhaust fumes poring through the glove compartment (funny how I don't remember that in most diagram of the exhaust systems in my cars). And black smoke poring out the back... but this little old man, God bless him, had that pedal down to the floor as we took off into Mumbai traffic horns blaring as we went from 0 to 30 in 5.4 minutes. Hell it was a 20 minute ride that came to a grand total of a buck twenty. How can I complain??
Time for bed for me. I have to be up early and finish off my last day here with some chores. ... I'll leave you with this parable from the Indian History Museum this afternoon...2 Brothers fighting for the key to happiness and success. Their parents (deities of some sort in this case) said "He who goes around the world 3 times shall be the recipient of this great key". Well one brother hopped onto the back of his eagle (or some local bird) and started off on his journey. While the other brother who only had a hippo (i.e. large local creature) knew he could not possibly beat his brother. So instead he walked around his parents three times and asked for the key. They said "you haven't done as we asked, why would we give you the key??". He returned some nonsense about his parents indeed being the center of the world and he could see no further. Well, what kind of parents would argue that? And he got the key. While his brother was out there slaving around traveling around the world 3 times and stopping at all the temples along the way to pray for guidance.
How did THEY interpret the moral? ... sometimes brains can overcome physical lacking, and you parents are important .... blah, blah.
How did I interpret the story? ... suck up to your parents successfully and you will find nothing but success.
Am I on an "American Idol" ? Why are all of my students suddenly auditioning to five or six different tunes, almost with out fail completely out of key ... and all as Mavis (our typing software) pushes them merrily through their lessons.
