Weekend ervaringen

Friday, I took a train (a real one this time. Second class. filled with the grey and blue (and, lets be fair, brown) masses of Mumbai) to Churchgate with my colleague Rashmi (see the bubblegumicecreampicture). The southern point of mumbai. the fancy part. the part that corresponds with the word Bombay in literature. You can almost imagine some Posh Redcoats signalling for a Riksha (an old fashioned one, pulled by some small turbaned sinewy Indian boy).

Bombay. Some Old station.

Met with some of her friends there. Don't ask me for their names. I can recall them vaguely, but wouldnt know how to write them down.
Walked around, saw a wedding, bought food from a guy on the street. It was nice and one of the many things I have done up till now that "people in foreign countries should never do". Add it to the ice cream list.
learned to count to ten in hindi.
eek, do, tien, djaar, paansh, tsjhee, saath, aath, naw, thus

Had dinner. Was then dropped off at the station where we took the train back to Goregoan (closest train station to home). Or at least, I did, for they had to get off earlier.

On this train, luckily when the girls were still with me, I was stared at for, not kidding, at least half an hour by this small creepy guy with very light grey/blue eyes. Even the girls noticed and were disturbed. So no, I was not being my usual scared paranoid sense, for all those people who have this wild notion that I'm a scared little sh*t. They are obviously wrong; just look at my ever expanding ice cream list. One might even say exponentially expanding considering what else I've done.

So I stayed on the train, got off at Goregoan, took a riksha to Inorbit Mall (aka; my crib), gave the guy a 2 rupi tip, walked home.
Was home around 1 AM or something.

Today I took a rik to Malad station (about as close as Goregoan), met up with Rashmi and one of her friends. took a train to another station (don't remember the name). took a rik to the apartment of a Friend of Rashmi's.

We drank "coffee" (I'll have to find a good word for indian "coffee". it's exactly like calling Heineken beer. exactly like that). hung out a bit. then went to restaurant.

My First Decent Indian Beer. About the strongest they've got.

Not That Strong in fact.

then went back to the guy's place. they heard I brought cards.
I decided to teach them Wiezen. They were okay at it. And remarkably quick on the uptake. turns out they have a similar game. At first they were really conservative, never took any real risks. After a while one of them bid till 13. I guess you could say they grew out of it.

after that we took a ferry to an island. to The Golden Pagoda (http://www.globalpagoda.org/).

I stick to europe and still prefer a good old cathedral any day. one that is not being built with concrete and red and golden paint. one that doesn't force you to go through three security checks and asks your belgian address and number and passport info.

The Golden Pagoda. Taken From the Boat

then ferry back, then rik to trainstation. then train to Malad with the girls.

I got out, they stayed on. I took a rik home, had two more coffee in a cafe coffee day (a coffee chain here), then went home and took a Needed Shower (rik + train + ferry = GERMS!)

Now. the last paragraph can actually be added to the Ice cream list. Let me elaborate.
On the train I was complaining/talking about Indians and India (see other post) to my colleague and her friend. Guy next to us was sorta listening to our conversation. nothing new there, people do that here (see other post).
In Malad, I got off. Guy did too. I went to front of station, guy did too. I was looking for a rik, guy was too. When I say "too", I mean simultaneously or even before me, by the way. It's not like he was following or copying me or something.

Waiting for a rik, he addressed me. we started talking. smoked a cigarette together, fretted about waiting so long for a rik. found out he had to go in the same direction, so I suggested we share a rik (seeing that we had both been waiting for a rik for 20 minutes, and we figured it might be better if we shared one, if we finally would be able to catch one, in the end we were assisted by a cop).
we take rik, head towards inorbit. We decide that we might take a cup of coffee before going home. I have a double espresso, he has an ice tea. We have another cigarette outside, he walks me to my apartment and that was it.

Admit it. An Ice cream list story.

Am having lunch with Rashmi and friend tomorrow. Her friend is picking me up with his motorbike. Another Ice Cream?